How to Put a Fake Island on the Map

Frisland never existed, but for centuries, people wanted to believe that it did. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Land of Strays

Where dogs like the rare "Fire-Tailed Border Cocker" run free on the mountainside. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Steve Jobs Memorial Statue – Budapest, Hungary

The world’s first statue of the late Apple co-founder. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Arthropods can tell us about the causes of animal extinctions

These arthropods can tell us about the causes of animal extinctions. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

What language do people speak in the Balkans, anyway?

No one can seem to agree. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Cheeky Statuettes Were Part of Edo-Era Japan’s Answer to Pockets

Ornate netsuke were practical status symbols. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

It’s All Greek to You and Me, So What Is It to the Greeks?

A close look at a strangely global idiom about how little we understand each other. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Why Does the U.S. Army Own So Many Fossils?

Turns out massive flood control projects are a great way to find dinosaurs. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Zibaldone, the 14th Century’s Answer to Tumblr

After their invention by Venetian merchants, forms of these books were kept by everyone from H.P. Lovecraft to Thomas Jefferson. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Structure Underlying Choose Your Own Adventure Books

If you decide to see more, click on this story. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Pink Slime Saved Sushi

Kathleen Drew-Baker’s study of British algae helped rescue Japan's nori industry. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Why Do Canadians Say ‘Eh’?

The story behind Canada’s most distinctive verbal tic. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Heart-shaped traffic lights in Akureyri, Iceland

Instead of solid circles, the stoplights in this northern Icelandic town have glowing red hearts. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

‘Atomic Annie’ Was the World’s First and Only Nuclear Gun

Twenty were made, but only one fired a nuclear shot. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The 98 Rock

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


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

What do you call the corner store

Bodega, deli, packie, offy, party store and more. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

There Is Just One Sculpture on the Moon

“Fallen Astronaut” honors those who died in the Space Race, with a few notable omissions. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The “greased sled” theory of Stonehenge

New research says the megaliths may have been dragged to the site with the help of lard. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Soccer's Ultimate Con Man Was a Superstar Who Couldn't Play the Game

How does an athlete without athletic prowess maintain a 20-year career? | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Scaly-Foot Snail Is the First Deep-Sea Species Endangered by Mining

It’s a dubious honor. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Esrange Rocket Shelters – Esrange, Sweden

The wilderness of northern Sweden is full of shelters to protect people from sounding rockets returning from space. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Neil Armstrong's Missing “A”

He really could have said, "One small step for a man." | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Pulaski Tunnel Trail

This trail leads to a mine that was used as a sanctuary during the Great Fire of 1910. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Le Chêne Chapelle (The Chapel Oak)

Two small chapels housed inside an ancient tree. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Cincinnati Built a Subway System 100 Years Ago–But Never Used It (2016)

Cincinnati is home to the largest unused subway system in the world. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Mystery of Florida’s Cannonball-Eating Spanish Fort

The secret is inside the walls themselves. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

When Crashing Trains Was One of America’s Favorite Pastimes

From 1896 until the 1930s, showmen would travel the country staging wrecks at state fairs. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Trans History of the Wild West

It was a frontier in more ways than one. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

When the Soviet Union Paid Pepsi in Warships (2018)

The company had a long, strange relationship with the U.S.S.R. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Brazil Is an Alternate Video Game Universe Where Sega Beat Nintendo (2015)

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


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Nilometer: An ancient instrument used to measure the waters of the Nile

The nilometer was invented about 5,000 years so Egyptian farmers would know whether to expect famine or flood. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Pratapgad Fort

This fortress played a key role in the battle that would ultimately give rise to the Maratha Empire. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Abandoned

Learn more about “Abandoned” on Atlas Obscura. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Taiwan Is in the Clutches of a Claw Machine Craze

In arcades across the land, at all hours of the day, people vie for both novel and practical prizes. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

A Village in France Will Pay You $2,240 to Decipher a Rock

We hope you like reading in all caps. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Georgia Guidestones

A mysterious monument meant to be a guide into "an Age of Reason." | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Someone Donated His Frostbitten Toe to a Canadian Bar

The legend of the Sourtoe Cocktail continues. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

A Library Handles a Rare and Deadly Book of Wallpaper Samples

The arsenic-laden pages of "Shadows from the Walls of Death" should not be touched without gloves. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Gary Gygax Memorial

Legend says Dungeons and Dragons players can get their diced blessed at the creator of the game's memorial. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

A Unique Bric-a-Brac Market Sells Salvaged Goods from Broken Ships

At Alang on the western coast of India, you may find second-hand doors, lifebuoys, and light bulbs. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Medieval Scholars Believed in the Possibility of Parallel Universes (2017)

A 13th-century conflict between faith and science ultimately led to a surprising outcome: a medieval multiverse theory. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Swiss City That’s Full of Cat Ladders

A photographer captured Bern's eclectic and charming feline structures. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

To Evade Pre-Prohibition Drinking Laws, New Yorkers Created an Inedible Sandwich

It was everywhere at the turn of the 20th century. It was also inedible. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Why Were Medieval Europeans So Obsessed with Long, Pointy Shoes?

Going to foolish lengths for fashion. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Ancient Fingerprints Help Unravel Just Who Was Making Pots at Chaco Canyon

New research shows it wasn't as gendered as once thought. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Found: 20k-Year-Old Seawater from the Ice Age

It was stored inside limestone beneath the seafloor. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The World’s Most Wondrous Public Transportation Options

Atlas Obscura readers recommend their favorite mass transit experiences. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Moving a 320 year old house across an ocean from Japan to California

A historic structure in Japan is making its way to California. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago