The Atlas Obscura Podcast

A river in the Amazon is so hot that anything that falls into it will die … but how did it get this way? Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-boiling-river-of-the-amazon-puerto-inca-peru Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This garden park in Paris, France contains the ruins of a colonial exhibition from 1907. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/le-jardin-d-agronomie-tropicale Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thousands of years ago, a young woman named Ko-kwal-alwoot crouched over a set of tide pools, looked into the water, and saw a face looking back at her that wasn’t her own. Today, her descendants are still telling the story of what happened next.  Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-maiden-of-deception-pass Learn more about the Samish Indian Nation: https://www.samishtr...

Scientists in Denver, Colorado store and conduct tests on miles of ice core samples dating back hundreds of thousands of years.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-ice-core-lab Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This underground oasis in Fresno, California is a winding maze of rooms and passageways filled with lush citrus trees.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/forestiere-underground-gardens Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A grand library in Portugal has some unexpected nighttime caretakers -- tiny bats.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mafra-palace-library-bats Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Noah Purifoy was a pugilistic LA artist who eventually filled a 10 acre plot of land in Joshua Tree, CA with his of-kilter art.    Noah Purifoy’s Outdoor Museum: http://www.noahpurifoy.com/joshua-tree-outdoor-museum Learn more about Dale Davis: https://dalebdavis.com/ Listen to our episode about Leimert Park: https://pod.link/1555769970/episode/1a593d4fba52c8d48fd9e62728a2a16f Listen to our episod...

An underground chamber in Upton, MA puzzled some New Englanders while others long knew its ancient origins.     READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/upton-chamber Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thousands of masks from the former Kingdom of Benin are spread throughout museums across the world.  Is that where they belong? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hashima Island in Japan was once the most densely populated place on Earth. Until – almost overnight – everyone left.  Additional information for this episode was provided by Joshua Synenko of Trent University. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Typically, space junk ends up deep in the Pacific Ocean. This is the story of when it plunged back to earth … onto a street in small-town Wisconsin. Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sputnik-crash-site Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This forest in Oslo, Norway will provide the trees for paper as part of a century long art project featuring famed contemporary authors.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/forest-of-the-future-library Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Last Tenement in Boston’s old West End has come to represent everything that can go wrong with urban planning. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-last-tenement Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

These documents highlight the intellectual legacy of an ancient civilization based in Timbuktu, Mali. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/timbuktu-manuscripts-mali Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Writer and island-hopper Anna Marlis Burgard takes us on a tour of three of the 135 strange, incredible, and wondrous islands she’s explored in the United States. Learn more about Anna's Islands of America adventure: http://www.islandsofamerica.com/ Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-united-islands-of-america   CORRECTION: A previous version of this episode misidenti...

We dig into the tales of TWO whales washing ashore along the southeastern coast of Brazil. And learn how one became a scientific marvel and the other, a local landmark. Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ubatuba-whale Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This island between Missouri and Illinois was a preferred meeting place for duels to the death in the early 1900’s. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Famed Jazz musician Louis Armstrong’s house in Corona, Queens in New York is now a museum preserving his legacy.   READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/louis-armstrong-house Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A community of kitschy lawn gnomes have taken over an Australian roundabout. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gnomesville Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Science writer Peter Brannen takes listeners on a tour of the world’s five major mass extinctions.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We venture out to Long Island, not for the beautiful beaches, or an Islanders game, or to hang with Billy Joel. We're here to explore the fraught history of a gigantic, ominous sea foam-green nuclear power plant. Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shoreham-nuclear-power-plant Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection...

Last month we asked listeners about your encounters with the unknown, and boy did you all deliver! This presents two stories we received from listeners Maggie and Melissa. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The only remaining operational Rotary Jail, found in Crawfordsville, Indiana, shows visitors how inmates were once locked within the building’s walls.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/rotary-jail-museum Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

One of the United State’s most famous pieces of self-built architecture consists of seventeen interconnected towers that rise like inverted ice cream cones from the ground - the tallest reaching over 100 feet.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/watts-towers Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of person...

This museum built of memories in Istanbul, Turkey was created in a book before it was created in real life.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-museum-of-innocence-2-istanbul-turkey Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.