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

The World’s Most Famous Ghost Ship Is an Enduring Symbol of Empire

The Flying Dutchman's long afterlife began with a British power trip. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Vodka Became a Currency in Russia

Since the 16th century, the spirit has been the country's gold standard. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Can We Make a 3-D Map of the Whole World?

A lidar project wants to document the entire planet, before everything changes. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Photographing the Afterlives and Second Acts of America’s Movie Palaces

Matt Lambros is inspired by abandoned theaters—and their potential for revival. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The 19th-Century French Frenzy for Species Swapping

Quaggas, ibises, and tapirs, oh my! | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Third Largest Whirlpool

Legend says a witch conjured the Corryvreckan Whirlpool to protect Scotland from a nasty pirate. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

A Nun’s 450-Year-Old ‘Last Supper’ Makes Its Museum Debut in Florence

Plautilla Nelli was likely the first woman in history to paint the iconic biblical scene. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Pirate Who Penned the First English-Language Guacamole Recipe

William Dampier's food-writing firsts included the use of the words "barbecue" and "chopsticks." | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

America’s Oldest Boat Shop Has Been Making Hunky Dories for 226 Years

Lowell’s preserves tradition—and maintains relevance—by adapting to the times. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Site of a Japanese Balloon Bomb Explosion

These experimental weapons brought World War II to Nebraska as well as 26 other U.S. states. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Why Renaissance Paintings Aren't as Green as They Used to Be

Once a brilliant hue, the pigment verdigris is now mostly brown. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Chicken of the Woods: This mushroom tastes just like chicken

Meat-craving vegetarians enjoy the bright orange fungus. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Scientists Are Recreating Dinosaur Breath

At the Field Museum, visitors can now get a whiff of the Cretaceous. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

What a 12-year-old photographer did on her summer vacation in 1929

Two 90-year-old albums document what a 12-year-old photographer did on her summer vacation. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

A Man at the Controls of the World’s Largest Steam Locomotive

After restoring the monster locomotive, Ed Dickens is hitting the rails. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Russia’s Retro Lenin Museum Still Runs on Decades-Old Apple II Computers

The same machine that popularized "The Oregon Trail" was secretly imported just a few years before the USSR collapsed. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

A New Crusade – The Order of Malta

The Order of Malta's new crusade. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Ground Truth – Drawing the Cameroon – Nigeria Border

When Cameroon and Nigeria finally agreed upon their border, it was only the beginning. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Researchers Using AI to Reconstruct Ancient Games

And they aren’t playing around. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

What RV Camping Looked Like 100 Years Ago

As Americans hit the road for Labor Day weekend, we salute the Tin Can Tourists—the DIY auto enthusiasts who started it all. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Green Curtain

Germany's Cold War scar has been reinvented, but it wasn't easy. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

A Man Who Went to War with Canada

For centuries, the United States and Canada’s only remaining land border dispute has been kept alive by a single family. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

In Neolithic Ukraine, Big Buildings Hint at Democratic Assemblies

Until it all came crashing down. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The French Tunnel Sculpture That Took 30 Years to Complete

Artist Daniel Monnier spent a couple of decades away before returning to complete his vision. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Sometimes Trash Is Treasured in America’s National Parks

Bottles, cans, and more can reveal a long history of industry, recreation, and shenanigans. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

An Artist, a Shantyboat, and the Lost History of American River Communities

Wes Modes is documenting life along America's waterways. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Stops on the Hunt for the Holy Grail

Tracing history’s most elusive holy relic will lead you to these real places.  | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The last gourd hat maker in the Philippines

Teofilo Garcia may be the last Filipino to turn gourds he grows into headwear. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

A Fake British Accent Took Old Hollywood by Storm

The story behind the strange way Katharine Hepburn (and others) spoke. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

A Decade Later, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Has Left an Abyssal Wasteland

A nightmare at 6,000 feet. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

El-Kurru’s Carved Graffiti Reveal Another Side of Ancient Nubia

From Kushites to Christians, an old site in Sudan has new stories to tell. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

See What Soldiers Around the World Eat When in the Field (2016)

A corner of YouTube is dedicated to unboxing combat rations. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

For Sale: America’s Largest Private Grove of Giant Sequoias

They're older than Christ and as high as the heavens. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Remembering When London’s Pubs Were Full at 7 A.m

Drinking eight pints of beer a day was once routine. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

London’s Subterranean Victorian Bathrooms Now House Bars and Cafés

People drink gin and coffee where gentlemen once relieved themselves. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Why Fossils Are Mostly Male

One theory is that reckless young bison and mammoths got into more trouble. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

For centuries, massive meals amazed visitors to Korea

Scholars, writers, and missionaries all exclaimed over how much food was available. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

When the Pianos Went to War

Steinway & Sons' Victory Verticals were tougher than your average upright. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Found: A Windfall of Neanderthal Footprints in France

257 small steps for our human cousins, one giant leap for paleoanthropology. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

The Professional Code Breakers of Renaissance Venice

A cabal of early cryptographers helped the government keep secrets and spy on enemies. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Beatrix Potter's secret, coded journal took 13 years to translate (2017)

It took a dedicated superfan 13 years to translate it. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Competitive walking used to captive Britain

In 1815, thousands of people came to watch George Wilson, the "Blackheath Pedestrian," walk 1,000 miles. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Prohibition Tossed a Wet Blanket on America’s Inventors

New research reveals the link between bars and new inventions. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago

Half a Century of Microplastics Found in Sediment Layers, Like Synthetic Fossils

The teeny menaces turned up in a core taken from the floor of the Santa Barbara Basin. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 5 years ago