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.
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Armchair Explorer
The world's greatest adventurers tell their best story from the road. Each episode is cut documentary style and set to music and cinematic effects to create an immersive storytelling experience. 'Best travel podcasts 2020'- The Guardian, 'Thrilling Stuff'-Sunday Times, 'Ear Candy for Listeners' - Washington Post
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The Library on the Border
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House sits half in Canada, half in the United States. For over a century, it was a symbol of friendship between the two nations. Then, the library got caught in the crossfire of a much bigger struggle.
National Parks Week: Discovery Tree
We visit one of California’s longest-running tourist attractions: A giant stump that helped spark the movement to preserve the state’s natural places.For more unusual stories, lists, and offbeat itineraries, check out the Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to the National Parks.
National Parks Week: The Allagash Four
On a summer day in 1976, four friends had a strange experience in the Northwoods of Maine that would come back to haunt them decades later. Today, we’re exploring the hidden morbid side of the national parks system with our friends from National Park After Dark. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For more unusual stories, lists, and offbeat itineraries, check out the Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to the National Parks.
National Parks Week: Montezuma Well
We visit a mysterious sinkhole in Arizona that has befuddled an exclusive group of divers who’ve gotten a glimpse of a strange world at its sandy bottom. For more unusual stories, lists, and offbeat itineraries, check out the Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to the National Parks.
National Parks Week: Yellowstone’s Zone of Death
A 50-square-mile patch of Yellowstone National Park in Idaho might just be the perfect place to commit a crime. For more unusual stories, lists, and offbeat itineraries, check out the Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to the National Parks.
National Parks Week: Talk a Walk, Find A New Species
In March of 2024, a park ranger and volunteer were taking their regular walk together around Big Bend National Park. They came across a teeny tiny fuzzy little plant with unusual ribbon-like flowers bursting out of the center – something neither of them had ever seen before. As it turned out, they had stumbled on a rare scientific discovery. Learn more about the woolly devil, and check out iNaturalist. For more unusual stories, lists, and offbeat itineraries, check out the Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to the National Parks.
Little Lambs, Big Back Story
Spring is a popular time to visit Colonial Williamsburg, not least because it’s “lambing season,” the time of year when baby lambs are born and take their first steps (which is obviously very, very cute). But small as they are, these lambs have a big baaa-ckstory (sorry) – they are part of a breed that was once guarded like a trade secret, was smuggled into the American colonies, went extinct in the US in the early 20th century, and then was brought back right here at Colonial Williamsburg. This episode was produced in partnership with Visit Williamsburg. Find out more at Visit Williamsburg.
Dolly Parton’s Dreambox (Classic)
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Atlas Obscura Presents: Traveling Back in Time for Coconut Cake with The Sporkful
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Museum of Friends
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Why Is There a Dinosaur Here?
The roadside dinosaur has been part of the Americana cannon since the 1930s, and we’ve got theme parks and Sinclair gas station mascots as a result. Today, Places Editor Diana Hubbell and producer Johanna Mayer head to two spots on opposite ends of the United States to ask one question: Why is there a dinosaur here?Learn more about Steve’s Dinosaur House, and check out his Facebook page for the most up to date visiting hours.
Welcome to Summer (Classic)
It’s Memorial Day, and the unofficial start of summer! To kick off the season, we hear a sampling of listener-submitted stories of summer adventure in the wild, strange, and wonderful world in which we live. Plus: Birds!
We’re Looking for Stories about Places that Celebrate Lesser-Known Queer History
It’s almost Pride Month, and we want to hear your stories about places that celebrate lesser-known queer history, or that have a deep personal connection to you. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902, and leave us a message telling us your name and story. Or, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
Kalakuta Museum (Classic)
Iconic musician Fela Kuti declared his home in Lagos, Nigeria, an independent state. He called it Kalakuta - and in 1977 it was invaded by the Nigerian Army.
A Disappearance from the Ocean View Hotel
In 1926, a wildly popular evangelical preacher named Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared from Venice Beach, in front of the Ocean View Hotel. When her body wasn’t found, she was presumed to have drowned. There’s just one curious thing: Over the next few weeks, people kept on seeing her.