Claim OwnershipThe Atlas Obscura Podcast
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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.
918 Episodes
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Travel to Denver Colorado and meet Steve Berke who helped found the first International Church of Cannabis in 2015. Learn more about it here.
1The San Francisco Cannabis Buyers’ Club was one of the first marijuana dispensaries in the country. Its members were people with AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses, and inside the club had stages, TV lounges, puzzles, and other things that would bring people together. Today, we meet the unexpected mix of gay rights organizers and cannabis advocates behind the club, and we hear about their unorthodox route to opening it – including why they tried to get busted by the police.
An ancient cemetery in western China may hold the answer to a question asked by many a stoner: where on Earth did humans first smoke weed to get high? Learn more about the cemetery in this 2019 paper in Science Advances. Keep up with Rob Spengler’s archaeobotany lab here.
In 1976, an airplane carrying 6,000 pounds of smuggled weed crashed into a remote lake in Yosemite. A group of climbers had a heyday. Read John Long’s account of the crash, and check out Greg Nichols’ reporting on the same subject. Plus: Where is the weirdest place you’ve ever cast a vote? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and tell us about your local unusual polling location. Or, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
Cannabis is now legal in more than half of U.S. states, but it remains federally illegal – which makes doing research on the plant extremely difficult. Today, we meet a clever group of scientists who found their way around these laws… by literally driving around them. Learn more about the CannaVan, and check out some of Rasha and Emma’s original reporting.
A South Carolina ghost story is a harbinger of hurricanes and a window into history. Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/south-carolina-hurricane-ghost
In 1944, a strange spate of “gas attacks” in a small Midwestern town reveals what was really lurking in mid-century America. Read Colin Dickey’s article about the mad gasser, and check out his Monster of the Month series.
Listener stories about places that give off big creepy vibes – from an abandoned ice factory to a haunted university music building.If you want to hear more about Luz Fleming’s ghost story, there’s a whole episode about it called Bennington Ghost Stories on a podcast called Yard Tales.
To avoid traumatizing kids, many summer camps are banning scary stories. But can a little fun with fear be a good thing? Check out Roxanne Hoorn’s article about this fading tradition.
In 1976, a television crew filming an episode of the show “The Six Million Dollar Man” descended on a rundown funhouse in Long Beach, California. While filming, they accidentally broke the arm off a wax dummy. Except...it wasn't a wax dummy. It was a real body. The body of a notorious train robber from the early 1900s, named Elmer McCurdy. Check out the Atlas entry for Elmer McCurdy’s grave. For more information on Elmer, we recommend Mark Svenvold’s book “Elmer McCurdy: The Misadventures in Life and Afterlife of an American Outlaw.”
The Smallest Mollusk Museum in New York City is part of a fleet of tiny museums that might just have a big impact on the world.
Kelly and Zach Weinersmith walk Dylan through the practicalities of making a home on the red planet. Check out their book A City on Mars everywhere books are sold.
Outside the French Quarter lies Hidden South, an antique shop like any other. And hidden amongst the oddities is a bathroom full of secrets.
Producer Alexa Lim visits a collection of natural aromas in Berkeley, California. She gets a whiff of some of the world’s lesser known smells, and stumbles down the rabbit hole of the hidden world of scents.
In the 1930s and 1940s, a young Black woman named Bessie Stringfield decided she’d strike out on her own and hit the road – and ended up crisscrossing the United States eight times, and becoming the first Black woman to ride a motorcycle through each of the lower 48 states. If she ran out of money, she’d join a circus. If she couldn’t find a place to stay, she’d sleep out under the stars. Read more about Bessie Stringfield in this Atlas Obscura article by Natalie Zarrelli. Check out the work of cartoonist Joel Christian Gill online.
For a brief period the small frontier city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota drew in socialites and celebrities who were desperate to end their marriages.For more stories from the Divorce Colony, check out April White's book:The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier.
Reporter Diana Hubbell brings us to an island off the coast of Georgia, and tells Dylan the story of an eccentric heiress, a daring mission, and the fight for North America’s most unusual pig.Read Diana’s James Beard Award-winning article called “Saving the Hogs of Ossabaw Island.”
Producer Talon Stradley takes us on a tour of three skinny houses – each with a big story inside. Do these skinny houses have you curious about spite houses? Check out that episode here.
Comedian, actor, and podcaster Jacob Wysocki takes Dylan on a tour of a very special expo: The Reptile Super Show! Listen to Jacob’s full experience at the Reptile Super Show (and his journey to other expos) here.
We’re bringing you stories about places that you can no longer visit – this time we have stories about a hometown hangout spot, a beloved amusement park, a mural building in Queens, and a disappearing natural wonder. Plus: We want to know about places that give you the creeps. Places that get under your skin and give you that eerie feeling. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
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mackenzie BC has the world's largest Tree Crusher. look it up. road is paved. lots of vacancies. bring your fishing rod.
Love this concept, but all the submissions sound like the audio is off, which was sadly distracting from the content. 🙁
I've loved this series, and today's essays transported me to two entirely different places. I'm always astounded by how satisfying the art of vicarious travel can be when there just isn't a way to be there yourself. 🧠✈️
The world is amazing, so much to discover. I'd never heard of Centralia before today!
How wholesome, free potatoes for all!
excellent episode. we'll worth waking up to. Northern BC here. No one wants to come see the world's largest tree crusher built in Longview Texas and trucked up here in 1966 and now sitting as municipal lawn furniture. I see an Atlas Obscura episode in this one. we got some Magenta Kush up here too.
very moving episode. I am not sad the rain and snow showed up where I am 55n 124w because we need to keep the fires to a minimum.
interesting to hear these findings. I've listened to a fair number of other podcasts, not mentioning these theories about Dyatlov (these make sense to me, at least).
"she ans her husband" not "her and her husband"...
It wouldn't have taken a lot of research to find out how to correctly pronounce the name of the building the episode is about. I'm Italian and the mispronunciation annoyed me so much I had to stop listening. You can do better!
So Kool and relaxxing
holy shit until Bob started talking I thought live clowns inhabited the motel
is this taken from Radio Ambulante's report? https://radioambulante.org/audio/los-gigantes-del-lago-hipopotamos-colombia
So the email address is hullo@atlasobscura.com?
@10:46 & 11:06: Cavalry, not Calvary.
"normal" people"... as well-intentioned as this comment may have been, normalcy is a concept full of assumptions, more so when thinking creating a space such as Libre is even possible for the "average Joe".
Really like Atlas Obscura. Enjoy most episodes. What I don't like is Yohana Mayer narration. The text is good but the drop voice and rappyness at the end of every sentence. When she speaks with someone during an interview , her voice is pleasing and without the rasp and fall off. I will continue listening but not her broadcasts.
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