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Eight Cat Paradises, Where the Felines Come First
From the religious cat cult of ancient Egypt, to the booming popularity of modern Japanese cat cafes, it’s clear that the human fascination with cats is a far from new concept. With all the fuss made...
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Morbid Monday: Skeleton On Your Back
Huastec Life-Death Figure, front and back view, sandstone (900-1250) (via Brooklyn Museum)While centuries separate us from the creators of this Huastec statue, its dual perspectives of a sturdy young...
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The Seven Summits, Part 2
In Part One of the Seven Summits series, we saw the highest peaks of Australia and Oceania; Antarctica, with its staggering logistical challenges; and Europe, with its large snow fields and infamous...
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Sammezzano: The Most Magnificent Castle You Cannot See
Sammezzano castle (all photographs by Diana Di Nuzzo)The Sammezzano castle in Tuscany near Florence was designed by the Marquis Ferdinando Ximenes Panciatichi of Aragon between 1853 and 1889. Faithful...
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Geo-in-Residency Interactive #1: Atlas Obscura Kcy-ravan
From August to September, Eames Demetrios, Geographer-at-Large for Kcymaerxthaere, is serving as the Geographer-in-Residence at Atlas Obscura. Here he explores the lines between Kcymaerxthaere, a world...
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The Sticky, Cult, & Giant Shoe Secrets of Seattle's Pike Place Market
Pike Place Market in 1968 (via Seattle Municipal Archives)The upstairs of Pike Place Market in Seattle bustles with tourists buying fresh produce and crafts, but the downstairs spills into something...
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Burn It to the Ground: A Guide to the World's Best Fire Festivals
Why are people fascinated by fire? Candles, campfires, bonfires, and flickering flames seem to tap into a primal sense of safety. And if there's anything better than a small fire, it's a massive one,...
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Dinosaurs and Damnation: The Horror of Buddhist Hell Temples
Wat Pa Non Sawan (photograph by Chris Backe)Welcome to Buddhist hell. Between ghastly, oversized concrete statues, and a number of violent scenes, you'll quickly be asking yourself: "what's going on...
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Roadside Attractions: World's Largest Axe
Recently we interviewed Chandler O'Leary of the fantastic illustrated travel blog Drawn the Road Again. We are thrilled to be sharing a series of O'Leary's illustrations of roadside attractions, along...
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From Defense to Desperation, Why There Is a Hidden World of Underground Cities
Derinkuyu Underground City in Cappadocia, Turkey (photograph by Nevit Dilmen/Wikimedia)The history of underground cities is a complex and meandering one, ranging from the Ancient Era in the Middle East...
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Beneath Brazil Are Cave Formations as Otherworldly as Another Planet
Inside Brazil's Caverna da Torrinha (photograph by Coen Wubbels)Stalagmites and stalactites are common calcium salt formations in caves. But have you ever heard of helictites? Needles of gypsum?...
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What Does a Seven-Legged Gnacien Look Like? Disputed Likenessess of...
From August to September, Eames Demetrios, Geographer-at-Large for Kcymaerxthaere, is serving as the Geographer-in-Residence at Atlas Obscura. His Kcymaerxthaere explores the lines of a world parallel...
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The Best New Wonders of September
The foundation of Atlas Obscura is contributed by intrepid users around the world, out exploring the places no one else is noticing, or delving into history that's been all but forgotten. Here we are...
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Brooklyn's Long-Abandoned Kings Theatre Resurrects to Its Movie Palace Glory
Kings Theatre on Flatbush (photograph by Allison Meier)The ruins of America's great movie palaces are now almost as famous as their original splendor. Driven out of business by franchises and waning...
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Soaring with the Sunrise above the Spires of Prague
Aerial view of Prague in early morning (screenshot from Aerial Prague, via YouTube)For three months between the hours of 4:30 am and 7 am, a group of filmmakers flew above the spires of Prague in the...
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The Oracles of Rome: Two Architectural Oddities Predict the Apocalypse
St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome (photograph by Dnalor 01/Wikimedia)The Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome has seen its share of destruction. Since 340, it’s been struck by lightning,...
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Remains of the U-Boats' Watery Reign: The Four Final Iron Coffins
German U-boat with its crew (1918) (via SMU Central University)The German Unterseeboot, or U-boat, was a submarine that appeared seemingly out of nowhere to destroy both military and commercial ships....
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How to Clean a Paris Sewer With a Giant Iron Ball
Old postcard of Paris sewer workers (19th century) (via Claude Shoshany/Wikimedia)When the sewers of Paris get clogged with putrid waste, they're sometimes cleaned the same way they were over a century...
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How to Clean a Paris Sewer With a Giant Iron Ball
Old postcard of Paris sewer workers (19th century) (via Claude Shoshany/Wikimedia)When the sewers of Paris get clogged with putrid waste, they're sometimes cleaned the same way they were over a century...
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The 19th-Century Iron Balls Still Cleaning the Paris Sewers
Old postcard of Paris sewer workers (19th century) (via Claude Shoshany/Wikimedia)When the sewers of Paris get clogged with putrid waste, they're sometimes cleaned the same way they were over a century...
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