Why Scientists Fall for Precariously Balanced Rocks

“They’re nature’s hilarious accidents." | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Grave of Walter White

The fictional star of "Breaking Bad" is memorialized with a real-life gravestone in his hometown. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

The Art of Vegetable Carving

Japanese design meets produce. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

A Cartographer Drew a Freehand Map of North America

Just ink and colored pencil, it took Anton Thomas almost five years. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

The Strange Saga of Kowloon Walled City

Anarchic, organic, surreal, this enclave was once among the most densely populated places on Earth. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Why Calendars Are So Weird, and What Might Be Done About It

Imagine a calendar that is the same every year—sort of. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Around the World in Rare and Beautiful Apples

From the sweet to the offbeat. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

The Manhattan Eruv

This nearly invisible wire transforms much of the city into one big, symbolic home on the holy day. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

How an English Energy Crisis Helped Create Champagne

Desperate bottle-makers turning to a new fuel resulted in a sparkling innovation. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Things Found Between the Pages of Old Books (2018)

Atlas Obscura readers shared hundreds of stories about their surprising discoveries. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Seven sets of spectacular standing stones in Scotland

These ancient monuments have captivated the imagination for thousands of years. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Bogs Lose Their Carbon-Chomping Powers When Roads Cut Through Them

In Canada, roads disrupt wetland water flow and multiply methane emissions, a new study finds. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Why the Soviets Sponsored a Doomed Expedition to a Hollow Earth Kingdom (2016)

How a search for the hidden land of Shambhala turned into a geopolitical power play. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Sant

Of all the variations on the beloved character, Russia's Ded Moroz might have the strangest history. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

When Crocodiles Attack: The Ramree Island Massacre

During World War II, Ramree Island off the coast of Burma was the site of a number of military battles, but the truly terrifying action only began after the... | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

An Ancient Indian Art Utilizes Mathematics, Mythology, and Rice

Computer scientists have studied these “pictorial prayers.” | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Solved: The Mystery of an Ancient Maya Massacre

Clues about the victims’ diet cracked the case. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

A Sea Lily Fossil in Utah Just Solved an Evolutionary Mystery

“This tears off one branch in the tree of life and rearranges it another way.” | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

A White Lie Gave Japan KFC for Christmas

One cunning business maneuver created a tradition and saved a franchise. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Scientists Safeguard Almost a Million Vials of Frozen Animal Semen

It involves tiny straws and a whole lot of liquid nitrogen. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Antarctica Is Stark, Beautiful, and Will Shrink Your Brain

The impact of 14 months at the edge of the world. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

The Adventurous Seafaring Women of the Age of Sail, in Their Own Words

Answering the call of the sea. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

In England, Coroners Decide What Is Treasure and What Is Not

“It’s a bizarre holdover from a previous age.” | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

The Library of Congress Unrolled a 2000-Year-Old Buddhist Scroll

“It was the most fragile object we have ever encountered.” | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Aspendos Theater – “The best-preserved ancient theater in the world”

The best-preserved ancient theater in the world. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

For Sale: The Only Bar in a 14-Person Montana Town

You could own the busiest watering hole for miles. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

The Chinese City Famous for Eggs with Two Yolks

Gaoyou ducks are bred to produce tasty double-yolkers. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

The Day Without News

On April 18, 1930, the BBC made a surprising announcement. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Tuned Mass Damper of Taipei 101

Enormous pendulum helps keep Taiwan's tallest building from swaying. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Slovenia’s Horse-Based Burger Chain

Hot Horse's main dish is very popular with the late-night crowd. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Acorn Woodpeckers Hoard Thousands of Acorns in a Single Tree

That’s not even the weirdest thing about them. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Saga of the Cannibal Ants in a Soviet Nuclear Bunker

And how scientists tried to free this formic Donner Party. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

1883’s most absurd language guide. (2016)

Meet 1883's most absurd language guide. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Strange Emptiness of Egypt in 19th-Century European Photographs

John Beasley Greene photographed early European archaeology in Egypt—but he paid little attention to those who lived there. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Rise and Fall of the Cash Railway

During the late 19th century retail boom, shop owners were plagued by robberies at sales counters and rampant employee pilfering. As the average person... | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Uncertain Future of the World’s Largest Secondhand Book Market

At the College Street market in Kolkata, India, independent booksellers fear the arrival of a massive mall. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Picturing Manhattan’s Shortest Buildings from the Ground Floor

A photographer set out to document single-story buildings—the anti-skyscrapers. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Cheese Makers Keeping Monterey Jack’s Local Legend Alive

Only one farmstead in Monterey County still makes the famed cheese. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Found: 17th-Century Warships at the Bottom of a Swedish Channel

They could be related to the famous, ill-fated "Vasa." | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Some Ships Keep Sailing Even After They’re Wrecked

A century-old iron scow is inching closer to the brink of Niagara Falls. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Japanese Ghost Town Buried Deep in a Canadian Forest

Archaeologists have dug up sake bottles and delicate rice bowls. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Liverpool’s Crosby Beach Is a Mile of World War II Blitz Rubble

An undergraduate archaeologist is trying to make sure the prewar city isn't forgotten. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

How Stalin and the Soviet Union Created a Champagne for the Working Class

In 1936, the Party suddenly switched from denouncing bubbly to mass producing it. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

America's First Banned Book

The author, known as the "Lord of Misrule," had the audacity to erect a maypole in Massachusetts. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Ghostly Japanese Fireball Spirits That Live on in Pokémon

The digital descendants of 'yōkai' can be spotted in many Japanese games. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Dark Side of the Bourbon ‘Angel’s Share’

It's the dark side of the "angel's share." | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Many Lives of Demogorgon, from Scribal Error to ‘Stranger Things’

How vague and various descriptions made a medieval mistake into a lasting horror. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Valley of the Cheese of the Dead

In this remote Swiss town, residents spent a lifetime aging a wheel for their own funeral. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago