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.
Hitler’s Toilet (Classic)
It roamed the seas, served an evil dictator, survived a war, and ended up in a New Jersey auto-repair shop bathroom.
Tonopah Mining Camp
We step into the shoes of the miners who once labored in the Nevada mountains, via a trip to the Tonopah Historic Mining Park. This episode was produced in partnership with Travel Nevada.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tonopah-mining-parkLEARN MORE about the Tonopah Historic Mining Park and Travel Nevada
Koutammakou
A race is on to save this world heritage site that straddles the border of Togo and Benin. It’s home to remarkable earth tower homes called Takienta, and the Batammariba people, whose existence is threatened by climate change and migration.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/koutammakou-batammariba
Woman with the Handbag
We go to Sweden, where some people are intent on making a woman a permanent symbol of resistance, whether or not she would have wanted itREAD MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/woman-with-the-handbag-statue
Tick Collection
We go to Statesboro, Georgia to the US National Tick Collection to learn what ticks, often thought of as little monstrosities, can teach us.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/us-national-tick-collection
Tina Turner Museum (Classic)
The Flagg Grove School in Brownsville, Tennessee has become a museum dedicated to its most famous student. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tina-turner-museum
Micropia (Classic)
Take a trip to Micropia, the world’s only museum dedicated to microscopic organisms, and learn about our invisible life companions.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/micropia
American Chestnut Foundation (Classic)
The story of the unimaginable destruction of the American Chestnut tree and the group of scientists, academics and tree lovers who are desperately trying to bring them back from the edge of extinction.LEARN MORE: Visit https://acf.org/ to find out more about this massive conservation effort
The Mirror Lab (Classic)
A spinning furnace tucked under the football stadium at the University of Arizona is building giant telescope mirrors. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/richard-f-caris-mirror-laboratory
Åtvidaberg Sun Cannon (Classic)
Sun cannons have been around since the 1600s. But as far as we know, there’s only one left that’s still up and running. We pay it a visit. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/atvidaberg-sun-cannon
Chili Pepper Institute
Habaneros! Jalapenos! Green! Red! These days, an appreciation for chilis is pretty mainstream. But that wasn’t always the case. We head to New Mexico to learn how this food became such a huge part of our culture, and visit an institute dedicated to its continual improvement. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chile-pepper-institute
Fugitive Train Wreck
A North Carolina town has become a draw for people who want to see the wreckage of the train wreck from the movie “The Fugitive.” But a more interesting – and true – story happened just a pistol shot away.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-fugitive-train-wreck-sylva-north-carolina
Theatricum Botanicum
A once-blacklisted Hollywood star created a magical theater in Topanga Canyon, California, that still endures and inspires today.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/theatricum-botanicum
Voynich Manuscript
One of the oldest books in the world is also the most misunderstood. A medievalist tells us about the Voynich, which is in the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/beinecke-rare-book-manuscript-library
Big Bertha Drum (classic)
She’s about 8 feet wide and 500 pounds. And her history spans all the way from the stockyards of Chicago...to a nuclear test during the Manhattan Project...to a stadium at the University of Texas at Austin. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/big-bertha-drum