The Atlas Obscura Podcast
An audio guide to the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places. Co-founder Dylan Thuras and a neighborhood of Atlas Obscura reporters explore a new wonder every day, Monday through Thursday. In under 15 minutes, they’ll take you to an incredible place, and along the way, you’ll meet some fascinating people and hear their stories. Our theme and end credit music is composed by Sam Tyndall.
Episodes
We go to the Westman Islands off the southern coast of Iceland and meet the heroes who save young birds that have wandered from their nests every summer.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-puffin-colony
The story of the Fendika Cultural Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is the story of Melaku Belay and his journey from homelessness to international acclaim as a community leader.
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This abandoned hospital outside Boston, Massachusetts was originally conceived as a place to help people with mental health issues. But it wound up doing a lot of harm.
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This collection, preserved by the United States Library of Congress, features locks of hair from cultural icons from Ludwig van Beethoven to General Ulysses Grant.
One of Australia’s greatest stories of escape and survival centers around this rock formation in Point Lonsdale.
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How To! Host Amanda Ripley goes in search of the answer to the question “how to set up a roadside attraction that will bring visitors to your town” with expert Erika Nelson - the founder of the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Things.
The Flagg Grove School in Brownsville, Tennessee has become a museum dedicated to its most famous student.
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The Sterling Hill Mine in Ogdensburg, New Jersey is the site of a geological marvel that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/flourescent-rocks-of-sterling-hill-mine
This radical puppet collective has shaped the small New England town of Glover, Vermont for decades. This “Small Town, Big Story” episode is produced in partnership with GoUSA TV.
To watch the video, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUrbyGqQDtc
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bread-and-puppet-museum-and-theater
These trees sprang from seeds that were brought to outer space.
Moon Tree Website: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html
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The Sporkful team dives deeper into the history of the unknown whiskey bottle and the lives of those it touched.
Dan Pashman and the Sporkful team attempt to unravel the history of a bottle of whiskey found at an estate sale when the brand seems to not exist.
Under the forests of Nyack, New York lays a series of dark and decrepit tunnels with militaristic roots but now attract graffiti artists and plenty of teen lore.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/claus-land-mountain-tunnels
This site, and the enormous telescope that sits on it, is loved and lost to both scientists and everyday Puerto Ricans.
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Our team goes on a quest to find Prospect Park’s elusive -- and perhaps most magical -- resident rodent.
A carefully curated collection of miscalculations in Edinburgh, Scotland serves as a warning for our gullibility, especially when it comes to money.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/library-of-mistakes
This beautiful beach made of sand and worn down coral is covered in the wreckage of tanks once used by the U.S. military for target practice.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-tanks-of-flamenco-beach-culebra-puerto-rico
Larry Spring’s Museum of Common Sense Physics in Fort Bragg, California begs the question: what do you do with a science museum where the science preserved inside is a kind of folk art?
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/larry-spring-school-common-sense-physics
Thousands of sheep take over downtown Ketchum, Idaho during the annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival. This “Small Town, Big Story” episode is produced in partnership with GoUSA TV.
To watch the video, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwlilGi6k7s
The African Heritage House in Mlolongo, Kenya is one of the greatest collections of African art in the world - and it has an unusual backstory.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/african-heritage-house
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