Podcast Episodes

The Timbuktu Manuscripts

These documents highlight the intellectual legacy of an ancient civilization based in Timbuktu, Mali.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/timbuktu-manuscripts-mali

Published on 3 years, 8 months ago

Islands of America

Writer and island-hopper Anna Marlis Burgard takes us on a tour of three of the 135 strange, incredible, and wondrous islands she’s explored in the United States.

Learn more about Anna's Islands of Am…

Published on 3 years, 8 months ago

Ubatuba Whale(s) Re-listen

We dig into the tales of TWO whales washing ashore along the southeastern coast of Brazil. And learn how one became a scientific marvel and the other, a local landmark.

Read more in the Atlas: https:/…

Published on 3 years, 8 months ago

Bloody Island

This island between Missouri and Illinois was a preferred meeting place for duels to the death in the early 1900’s.

Published on 3 years, 8 months ago

The Louis Armstrong House Museum

Famed Jazz musician Louis Armstrong’s house in Corona, Queens in New York is now a museum preserving his legacy.  

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/louis-armstrong-house

Published on 3 years, 8 months ago

Gnomesville

A community of kitschy lawn gnomes have taken over an Australian roundabout.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gnomesville

Published on 3 years, 8 months ago

The Ends of the World

Science writer Peter Brannen takes listeners on a tour of the world’s five major mass extinctions. 

Published on 3 years, 8 months ago

Shoreham Power Plant Re-listen

We venture out to Long Island, not for the beautiful beaches, or an Islanders game, or to hang with Billy Joel. We're here to explore the fraught history of a gigantic, ominous sea foam-green nuclear…

Published on 3 years, 8 months ago

Listener Encounters with the Unknown

Last month we asked listeners about your encounters with the unknown, and boy did you all deliver! This presents two stories we received from listeners Maggie and Melissa.

Published on 3 years, 8 months ago

The Rotary Jail Museum

The only remaining operational Rotary Jail, found in Crawfordsville, Indiana, shows visitors how inmates were once locked within the building’s walls. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura…

Published on 3 years, 8 months ago