Is This the End of the Cannonball Run?

For a century, a “fraternity of lunatics”—inspired by a driving pioneer and a 1980s movie—has raced across the United States. Is the newest record unbreakable? | Continue reading


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Explore a Database of 1k Unique Foods

Including black apples, green oysters, and hallucinogenic honey. | Continue reading


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The Unsolved Murder That Haunted a Beloved Italian Poet

A stirring mosaic marks the spot where Ruggero Pascoli was killed in 1867, shaping his son Giovanni's prolific art. | Continue reading


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Thor's Rock – Thurstaston, England

A geological wonder shrouded in myth. | Continue reading


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What Energized This Arctic Hare to Keep Going and Going and Going?

The animal known as BBYY traveled hundreds of miles, breaking records and shattering expectations. | Continue reading


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When Groundhog Was on the Menu in Punxsutawney

From picnics to club dinners, the critter has a long culinary history in Pennsylvania. | Continue reading


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The Wondrous Wordplay of Lunar New Year Food

Layers of meaning surround the names of nearly every dish. | Continue reading


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The Once-Extinct Auroch May Soon Roam Europe Again

After a decade, scientists are getting close to bringing back the massive wild cattle. | Continue reading


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Ants in Panama Are Masters of Damage Control

An incident with a slingshot led scientists to a greater understanding of the relationship between the insects and their host trees. | Continue reading


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The Strangely Successful History of People Mailing Themselves in Boxes (2015)

The communication from FedEx’s media relations team was brief. “Dan,” a FedEx employee identified over email only as “Media Relations” wrote, “The shipment... | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

In Southern France, Unique Boats Revive a Lost Way of Life

Provence's négo chin boats have made a comeback thanks almost entirely to one man in love with his local waterway. | Continue reading


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A Big Mac Became a ‘Historical Artifact’ in Iceland

A 12-year-old Big Mac, to be exact. | Continue reading


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Eating the red soil of Rainbow Island

The landscapes on Hormuz are striking—and edible. | Continue reading


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Null Island

A busy island at the center of the world that doesn’t actually exist. | Continue reading


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One of the Most Famous Victorian Dishes Is a Hilarious Lie

Brown Windsor soup was reportedly a favorite of the Queen. The only problem? It may not have existed. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The Future Is Floating for the Netherlands and Other Low-Lying Countries

Houses and other buildings that rise and fall with water levels are becoming more common in Dutch cities. | Continue reading


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The Wide World of Disease-Based Dutch Profanity (2020)

"Get the corona!" is starting to make an appearance. | Continue reading


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Shipwrecks, Stolen Jewels, Skull-Blasting Are Some of This Year’s Best Mysteries

These unfinished tales still flummox historians, scientists, artists, and chefs. | Continue reading


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The Most Unusual Gifts Ever Given

And you can visit these lasting expressions of gratitude. | Continue reading


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10-Year Old Eagle Huntress Kicks Butt at a Kazakh Tradition

10-year old Aimoldir Dayanbek is out there beating grown men. | Continue reading


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Remembering the Remarkable Queens Who Ruled Ancient Nubia

Scholar Solange Ashby is uncovering the once-revered, now little-remembered female leaders of the Kushite kingdoms. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Klo and So Museum of Historic Sanitary Objects

These are probably the most beautifully-crafted toilets you've ever seen. | Continue reading


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How Microsoft Created a Revolution in Soviet Computing (2015)

In 1990, as computers started to become a common sight in homes around the United States, a particular problem developed. Call it the QWERTY challenge: What... | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Louis Armstrong Shaped the Sound of Ghana

You can still hear echoes of the trumpeter's 1956 visit in Accra's clubs today. | Continue reading


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The Indian Village Where Every Person’s Name Is a Unique Song (2020)

The residents of Kongthong never reuse the same melody, even after a person dies. | Continue reading


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Ruins of the Crystal Palace

The remains of Crystal Palace Great Exhibition of 1851. | Continue reading


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The King's Knot – Stirling, Scotland

These formal gardens were designed to be admired from the vantage point of the castle. | Continue reading


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With Musical Cryptography, Composers Can Hide Messages in Their Melodies (2018)

By mapping notes to letters, some musicians sneak secret words into tunes. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The Origins of ‘Horn OK Please,’ India’s Most Ubiquitous Phrase

Why all of the trucks in India bear one seemingly nonsensical expression. | Continue reading


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The Quest for the Real-Life Treasures of Atari’s Swordquest

In the 1980s Atari offered golden treasures as gaming prizes, most of which were lost to time. Until now. | Continue reading


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The British Once Built a 1,100-Mile Hedge Through the Middle of India

This quixotic colonial barrier was meant to enforce taxes. | Continue reading


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Americans Once Celebrated Thanksgiving with Tricks, Treats, and Mayhem

Ragamuffin Day looked a whole lot like Halloween. | Continue reading


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The Centuries-Old Plays Helping to Revitalize a Once-Lost Language

One challenge: finding actors who speak Cornish. | Continue reading


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Indigenous Recipes to Try for Thanksgiving

From maple-glazed squash to hominy-turkey stew, these dishes celebrate the people and flavors of this land. | Continue reading


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Even Rainbows Have a Dark Side

Humans were once united by the belief that you should never, ever point at one. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Luis Soriano Had a Dream, Two Donkeys, and a Lot of Books

The schoolteacher’s long-running Biblioburro program delivers reading materials to children in Colombia. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Lenin Was a Mushroom Hoax

The fake news that took the former Soviet Union by storm. | Continue reading


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Why a Computer History Museum Owns a Legendary Teapot

For computer-graphics researchers, it's both a tool and a meme. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Building the World’s Largest Dry-Stone Wall Maze

More than 4,000 tons of sandstone and a whole lot of patience. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Everything You Thought You Knew About ‘Hobo Code’ Is Wrong

Rail riders past and present leave messages for each other, but not the ones you’ve probably heard about. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

To Build an 18th-Century Ship, Shipwrights Had to Remaster a Lost Craft

It took a lot of careful planning to once again bend wood with giant steam boxes. | Continue reading


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The Debonair Restaurateur Who Inspired the First Chinese-American Cookbook

Chin Foin forever changed America's relationship with Chinese food. | Continue reading


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Asteroid that destroyed Middle Eastern city may explain Biblical story of Sodom

A massive space rock impact event may have inspired the tale of godly wrath. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The Greatest Unsolved Heist in Irish History

Scandal, conspiracy, and cover-ups in the theft of the "Irish Crown Jewels" from Dublin Castle. | Continue reading


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At Colonial Williamsburg, a ‘Landscape of Resistance’ Is Thriving Once Again

The gardens of enslaved people left a lasting legacy. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Scholars Cracked a Medieval Alchemist’s Code

Written in a puzzling Latin cipher, it contains his formula for eternal life. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

One Man’s Quest to Preserve the World’s Smallest Oil Refiner

The dusty, rusty site in eastern Wyoming is a rare relic of the 20th-century petroleum boom. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Etruscan Necropolises of Tarquinia and Cerveteri

Wandering this ancient burial place offers a glimpse of the afterlife in the fresco-adorned tombs of an ancient Etruscan civilization. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago