If You Love Pokémon Go, Thank This 15-Year-Old Alternate Reality Game
His story was fake, the game was not. (Photo: Quentin X/Fair Use/Warner Brothers)We get it: Pokémon Go is a really fun new way to experience the world, and make it seem more mysterious and magical than...
View ArticleWhy Pokémon Go Players Are Going to Keep Finding Dead Bodies
Pokémon Go will lead to some less-than-cute discoveries. (Image: shah141/DeviantArt)For the second time in a week, a Pokémon Go player has found a dead body. In the more recent incident. a player was...
View ArticleMeet the Snake-Hatted Woman and Elastic Skin Man of the Harvard Theatre...
German broadside depicting the varied performances of the ‘Fire-King’ Paul Schwarzenberg and the contortionist C. Coppal, 1839. (All photos: Courtesy of Houghton Library, Harvard University) If you’re...
View ArticleThe Incredible Complications of Living Atop the U.S.-Canada Border
Canadian customs at Pohénégamook, which shares the border with Estcourt Station, Maine. (Photo: Kevin Williams)Estcourt Station is a smudge of a village that straddles the Maine-Quebec border at the...
View ArticleVictorians Drank Soda Out Of Monstrous Gilded Machines
A typically opulent 1880s soda fountain, in a drugstore in British Columbia. (Photo: Bettman/Getty Images)On a hot day, a cold soda can feel downright luxurious. Pop the tab, tip your head back, and...
View ArticleRussia Is Trying to Build a Bomber That Can Fire Nukes from Space
Russia is building a hypersonic stealth bomber than can launch nuclear bombs from spacehttps://t.co/9Kyp7KtFrIpic.twitter.com/MzjpWRZmtS— IBTimes UK (@IBTimesUK) July 14, 2016Russian officials have...
View ArticleThe Eternal Mystery of How This Bear Locked Itself Inside of a Car
Here we have a bear—a cub, actually, from the looks of it—that somehow found itself trapped inside of a station wagon. "How did he get in?" A deputy says on the video. "I don't see a broken window."How...
View ArticleWatch a Man Walk His Pet Tortoise Around the Streets of Tokyo
Think dogs are a man’s best friend? One tortoise begs to differ.In this video posted by the YouTube account Strange Happenings, one 62-year-old retired funeral parlor owner goes out for a leisurely...
View ArticleHere are the CIA's Possible Security Guidelines For Pokémon Go
A wild Pinser appears in Brooklyn. (Photo: Author)It’s 2016, Pokémon are (augmentedly) real, and everyone is losing their minds. After a week of traffic accidents, cliff accidents, trespassing, and...
View ArticleA History of Embarrassing Presidential Campaign Logos
"The poster craze in candidateville," an 1896 political cartoon by C.J. Taylor. (Photo: Library of Congress / LC-DIG-ppmsca-28889)Every four years, American backyards, TV screens and now mobile phones...
View ArticleDecoding the 2016 Republican National Convention Seating Chart
Setting up the 2012 Republican National Convention. (Photo: Mallory Benedict/PBS NewsHour / CC BY-SA-2.0)The Republican National Convention kicks off tomorrow, and with not a moment left to spare,...
View ArticleIconic Punk Rocker Defaces the British Library's Punk Rock Exhibit
A selection of UK fanzines from the punk and immediate post-punk era. (Photo: Jake from Manchester, UK / CC BY-2.0)Punk—the music, fashion, and cultural phenomenon that heralded a drastic shift in...
View ArticleAt the First GOP Convention, the Party Chose a Rich Mutineer as Their Candidate
1856 campaign poster for John C. Frémont. (Image: Public domain)In 1856, the newly formed Republican Party nominated its first candidate for the American presidency. Hundreds of delegates had gathered...
View ArticleFound: More Dog Skeletons at a 2,000-Year-Old Canine Graveyard
Dog bones. (Photo: University of Alberta/Robert Losey)Not far from Salkehard, Russia, archaeologist Robert Losey is digging up dog bones. As Live Science reports, Losey, an associate professor at...
View ArticleShipwrecks, the 'Poison Cauldron' and 4 Other Incredible Underwater-Themed...
(Photo: Courtesy of Adel Souto)Tired of the terrestrial lifestyle? We here at Atlas Obscura have just the cure. For Underwater Week, we’ve compiled a list of upcoming water-themed events taking place...
View ArticleA Centuries-Old Man-Made Cave Is Being Demolished to Make Way for an Airport
The process will not be this futuristic. (Photo: Idaho National Laboratory/CC BY 2.0)Mumbai’s aggressive growth is set to erase a man-made 5th century cave to make way for the new Navi Mumbai...
View ArticleThe Most Popular Sea Creature in Cartography
A sea creature as a cartography tool. [Photo: PJ Mode Collection at Cornell's Digital Library/CC BY-SA 3.0]Many animals have been used in cartography to represent countries or landmarks, but one in...
View ArticleWatch a Terrifying Stargazer Fish Ambush its Prey to Upbeat Jazz
Stargazers are a family of saltwater fish that developed eyes on the tops of their heads in order to gaze at the stars—or to spy on prey swimming above, blissfully unaware of the predator camouflaged...
View ArticleThe Same Dead Whale Keeps Washing Up In California
Here's why Wally the dead whale keeps returning to Southern California beaches https://t.co/wQ5ycoZEEopic.twitter.com/M7APKDUHCG— LB Press-Telegram (@presstelegram) July 16, 2016On June 30th of this...
View ArticlePokéGyms Have Nothing on These Hidden Real-World Gyms
The world's oldest basketball court. (Photo: Paris YMCA)Pokémon players currently swarming the world in search of Psyducks and Pinsers can send their creatures into battle at the nearest virtual...
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