Frisland never existed, but for centuries, people wanted to believe that it did. | Continue reading
Where dogs like the rare "Fire-Tailed Border Cocker" run free on the mountainside. | Continue reading
The world’s first statue of the late Apple co-founder. | Continue reading
These arthropods can tell us about the causes of animal extinctions. | Continue reading
No one can seem to agree. | Continue reading
Ornate netsuke were practical status symbols. | Continue reading
A close look at a strangely global idiom about how little we understand each other. | Continue reading
Turns out massive flood control projects are a great way to find dinosaurs. | Continue reading
After their invention by Venetian merchants, forms of these books were kept by everyone from H.P. Lovecraft to Thomas Jefferson. | Continue reading
If you decide to see more, click on this story. | Continue reading
Kathleen Drew-Baker’s study of British algae helped rescue Japan's nori industry. | Continue reading
The story behind Canada’s most distinctive verbal tic. | Continue reading
Instead of solid circles, the stoplights in this northern Icelandic town have glowing red hearts. | Continue reading
Twenty were made, but only one fired a nuclear shot. | Continue reading
A desperate final message left by a POW on the run serves as a memorial for himself and the 97 that died with him. | Continue reading
Bodega, deli, packie, offy, party store and more. | Continue reading
“Fallen Astronaut” honors those who died in the Space Race, with a few notable omissions. | Continue reading
New research says the megaliths may have been dragged to the site with the help of lard. | Continue reading
How does an athlete without athletic prowess maintain a 20-year career? | Continue reading
It’s a dubious honor. | Continue reading
The wilderness of northern Sweden is full of shelters to protect people from sounding rockets returning from space. | Continue reading
He really could have said, "One small step for a man." | Continue reading
This trail leads to a mine that was used as a sanctuary during the Great Fire of 1910. | Continue reading
Two small chapels housed inside an ancient tree. | Continue reading
Cincinnati is home to the largest unused subway system in the world. | Continue reading
The secret is inside the walls themselves. | Continue reading
From 1896 until the 1930s, showmen would travel the country staging wrecks at state fairs. | Continue reading
It was a frontier in more ways than one. | Continue reading
The company had a long, strange relationship with the U.S.S.R. | Continue reading
When video games moved from arcades to living rooms, a whole new industry was born as Atari, Sega, Nintendo and others competed to dominate the world's home... | Continue reading
The nilometer was invented about 5,000 years so Egyptian farmers would know whether to expect famine or flood. | Continue reading
This fortress played a key role in the battle that would ultimately give rise to the Maratha Empire. | Continue reading
Learn more about “Abandoned” on Atlas Obscura. | Continue reading
In arcades across the land, at all hours of the day, people vie for both novel and practical prizes. | Continue reading
We hope you like reading in all caps. | Continue reading
A mysterious monument meant to be a guide into "an Age of Reason." | Continue reading
The legend of the Sourtoe Cocktail continues. | Continue reading
The arsenic-laden pages of "Shadows from the Walls of Death" should not be touched without gloves. | Continue reading
Legend says Dungeons and Dragons players can get their diced blessed at the creator of the game's memorial. | Continue reading
At Alang on the western coast of India, you may find second-hand doors, lifebuoys, and light bulbs. | Continue reading
A 13th-century conflict between faith and science ultimately led to a surprising outcome: a medieval multiverse theory. | Continue reading
A photographer captured Bern's eclectic and charming feline structures. | Continue reading
It was everywhere at the turn of the 20th century. It was also inedible. | Continue reading
Going to foolish lengths for fashion. | Continue reading
New research shows it wasn't as gendered as once thought. | Continue reading
It was stored inside limestone beneath the seafloor. | Continue reading
Atlas Obscura readers recommend their favorite mass transit experiences. | Continue reading
A historic structure in Japan is making its way to California. | Continue reading