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The 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.

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Location:

United States

Description:

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.

Language:

English

Episodes

Koutammakou

5/31/2023
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

Duration:00:12:26

Woman with the Handbag

5/30/2023
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 it. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/woman-with-the-handbag-statue

Duration:00:12:03

Tick Collection

5/29/2023
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

Duration:00:11:00

Tina Turner Museum (Classic)

5/26/2023
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

Duration:00:13:22

Micropia (Classic)

5/25/2023
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

Duration:00:14:42

American Chestnut Foundation (Classic)

5/24/2023
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

Duration:00:13:19

The Mirror Lab (Classic)

5/23/2023
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

Duration:00:15:56

Åtvidaberg Sun Cannon (Classic)

5/22/2023
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

Duration:00:12:35

Chile Pepper Institute

5/19/2023
Habaneros! Jalapenos! Green! Red! These days, an appreciation for chiles 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

Duration:00:12:36

Fugitive Train Wreck

5/18/2023
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

Duration:00:12:09

Theatricum Botanicum

5/17/2023
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

Duration:00:11:57

Voynich Manuscript

5/16/2023
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

Duration:00:17:48

Big Bertha Drum (Classic)

5/15/2023
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

Duration:00:10:21

Kilwa Kisiwani (Classic)

5/12/2023
We dig through more than 1,000 years of dirt, history, colonialism, and myth on the Swahili Coast. Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kilwa-kisiwani-ruins

Duration:00:15:38

Butter Sculptures

5/11/2023
Where can you find the smoothest, most scrumptious edible art? If you ask our host, Dylan, it’s in the Minnesota State Fair butter sculpture room. He’s joined in this episode by Gastro Obscura writer Sam O’Brien, who got the scoop on the yummy centerpieces.

Duration:00:16:49

Close to the Edge

5/10/2023
We all dream of the perfect vacation when everything goes right. This episode is about the opposite. Hear stories of people having near death travel experiences. TELL US YOUR STORY: We want to hear your stories too! Give us a call at (315) 992-7902, and leave a message telling us your name, and about your own near-death travel experience. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Duration:00:15:30

Iowa Remnant Prairies

5/9/2023
Elusive patches of land in America’s Midwest can show us what the environment was like 150 years ago and tell us about the future.

Duration:00:14:28

National Poo Museum

5/8/2023
We spend time with the world’s foremost poo enthusiasts, who operate a museum in England where poo is elegant, elevated and celebrated. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-poo-museum

Duration:00:11:27

Mississippi River Basin Model (Classic)

5/5/2023
A walk through this scale model has you feeling like a giant, and striding from Baton Rouge to Omaha in an hour. LEARN MORE about the model and the group trying to revive it, here: https://friendsofmrbm.org/

Duration:00:13:08

The Nutmobile

5/4/2023
The next time you go out on a road trip, keep your eyes peeled for a peanut-shaped car that got its start as an advertising play during the Great Depression

Duration:00:13:21

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