New Jersey might not be the first place that comes to mind when thinking about Hindu temples, but the Garden State is actually home to one the largest Hindu communities outside India anywhere in the world, so it's only fitting that one of the world's most impressive Hindu mandirs is also located in the state. Constructed between 2011 and 2023 by the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a Hindu denomination, in Robbinsville, the Swaminarayan Akshardham campus stretch...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
The Immortal Cave, also known as Xian Dong Yan, houses a temple inside a natural sea cave. Once among the top tourist attractions in the port city of Keelung, Taiwan, its glory has faded over the years. Even the landscape vastly changed. In the past, you could hear the tides from inside the cave; today the entrance faces cranes and a container yard instead. Still, the cave offers an intriguing journey that blends nature with faith. Walk up the stairs and you enter a giant sea cave with worshi...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
Casablanca is one of those movies that need no introduction. The plot explores a panoply of themes such as love, morality, and politics against the backdrop of WWII. An undeniable part of this movie’s charm is its exotic setting. A blend of Moroccan and French colonial architecture dominates most scenes, and the attention to details was painstaking. This is especially impressive if one considers that the entire set was constructed at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. In the mov...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
It's worth a trek out to rural eastern North Carolina to visit the Sylvan Heights Bird Park, home to 2,000 birds, including parrots, toucans, flamingos, and other exotic birds from around the world, with opportunities to learn about the species and conservation efforts. Don’t miss the chance to feed the parakeets (they’ll land on your shoulder).| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
Connecting the small town of Hnífsdalur and Bolungarvik is a 4-mile cliff-side road that was reputed to be the most dangerous road in the world. Before its construction in the 1950s, residents of Bolungarvik could only reach Hnífsdalur and beyond by hiking over a steep hill. The road provided a much needed transportation route. Unfortunately, the road hugs the side of a precipitous mountain, boulders the size of small cars can rain down unexpectedly. Add to it the relentless battering fro...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
This station, between Leadhills, in Lanarkshire, and Wanlockhead, in Dumfries and Galloway, is the highest point on the Leadhills and Wanlockhead narrow gauge railway. This is currently a tourist railway but it used to be part of a commercially important railway, for both freight (usually lead ) and passengers. Before it closed, it formed part of the highest standard gauge railway in the UK. It was a branch of the Caledonian Railway. The passenger trains on this railway operated i...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
On an unassuming hill in the vast expanse of Epping Forest, there is an inconspicuous country lane that appears to defy the natural law of gravity. Here, vehicles parked at the bottom of the hill with their handbrake released appear to somehow slowly and ominously roll up the hill. Local legends speak of an old execution site atop the hill in a nearby field, wherein the spirits of the long-since extinguished are said to be pulling vehicles up the isolated road to join them in the afterlife. O...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
On the dusty Main Street of a small ranching town, in the middle of Paraguay’s endless Chaco territory, a collection of one-room museums tells one of the often overlooked stories of an already overlooked country: the story of Paraguay’s Mennonites. Many arrived in the 1920s and 30s after fleeing the anti-religious legislation of the newly formed USSR, the refugees found a hot, dry landscape full of swamps and strange creatures. Many had recently fled through Siberian winters to China and ...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
Aarhus began as Aros, a fortified Viking settlement at the mouth of the Aarhus River in the late 700s. Excavations show it was an important center for trade and craftsmanship, and many downtown streets preserve traces of the city’s Viking past in their names and layout. Since 2019, Aarhus has replaced the standard red and green walking figures at several pedestrian crossings with small Vikings holding axes and shields. The lights are installed at multiple locations, including points that fo...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
In front of the main entrance to Hong Kong’s Conrad Hotel stands a cast-bronze statue created by the late American artist Kirk Newman. Completed in 1990, the statue portrays one of the artist’s favourite subject areas, exploring the complexities of people in the modern world. The statue itself comprises 15 human figures, performing a variety of actions commonly seen in the city. Among the more eye-catching are a man performing tai chi, a tourist photographing skywards, and a businessman ...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
In the quiet streets of Belleville, Kansas stands a house that seems to know it’s being watched. Built in the late 1800s on a quiet Belleville street, the house hosted a succession of reclusive women. Locals eventually named it the Witch House, though the reasons differ by teller. Its reputation grew from warnings and half-remembered stories that no one would own. Those who linger on the road have reported strange phenomena: flickering lights in the basement that begin only when people step...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
In the premises of the Pune Head Post Office, there are several interesting historical objects kept on display for the public, silent reminders of a bygone era. In the post office’s garden near the front porch, two semi-spherical stones coated in vibrant red paint (the color closely associated with the postal service) stand as anchors. These weathered stones once played an unusual but important role in postal history. Back when animals carried the mail, elephants (and horses) were used to t...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. --- Dylan Thuras: Hey all, Dylan here. So today we are sharing stories about neighbors. Stories from Atlas Obscura staff, friends of the show, basically anyone who had a good story to tell us about something that happened with their neighbors. It’s got front yards, it’s got backyards, it’s got pets. And after you hear this episode, we would like to hear from you. We want to hear your stories about your neighbor...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. --- Hi, this is Dylan Thuras, and you have reached the Atlas Obscura podcast line. I am not home right now, but please leave me a message all about your stories of traveling internationally for the very first time. Tell me your story after the beep. This is an edited transcript of the Atlas Obscura Podcast: a celebration of the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places. Find the show on Apple Podcasts, Spoti...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
This is a transcript of an episode of Untold Earth, a series from Atlas Obscura in partnership with Nature and PBS Digital Studios, which explores the seeming impossibilities behind our planet’s strangest, most unique natural wonders. From fragile, untouched ecosystems to familiar but unexplained occurrences in our own backyards, Untold Earth chases insight into natural phenomena through the voices of those who know them best. Catherine Jones: Mono Lake isn't a place that you necessarily he...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
“There’s no frogs in this stew,” says Lavern Meggett, laughing. A daughter of the Gullah Geechee matriarch and best-selling author Emily Meggett, Lavern and her siblings now continue their mother’s culinary legacy, often while hosting events on the remote island where they grew up, off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. “Here’s what my mom would say: Everybody would come over after a long week of work, and sit down to a meal. It's more like a Saturday thing for us, not a Sun...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
“Biscuits are the bread of the South,” says the Alabama-born chef Rob McDaniel. “They’re not something just for breakfast.” In a region where opinions about who bakes the best from scratch can get heated, McDaniel pays homage to his grandmothers by serving hot biscuits fresh out of the oven with whipped cane syrup butter at Helen, his family-style restaurant in Birmingham. “Everybody’s got her own method,” he says. “Both of my grandmothers made biscuits, but very differently...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
Since the U.S. capital first moved from Philadelphia in 1800, only four presidents have been sworn in outside of Washington, D.C. Chester A. Arthur and Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office at their family homes after their predecessors died. Lyndon Johnson was famously sworn in aboard Air Force One after John F. Kennedy’s assassination. And Theodore Roosevelt, who at 42 is the youngest man ever to assume the office of the presidency, did so in September 1901 at a private residence in Buf...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. --- Dylan Thuras: If you’re a nun and you’re facing a problem you don’t know how to solve, you might pray on it. If you’re a nun and facing a really big problem that you really don’t know how to solve and you’ve exhausted all the other options, maybe you really, really pray on it. I don’t mean just regular prayers here. I mean you go nuclear. Something called the novena. Nine full days of prayer and med...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. --- Dylan Thuras: A couple of months ago, during one of our normal podcast pitch meetings, producer Gabby Gladney suggested an idea for an episode about this parade that she grew up going to. And I immediately shouted in delight. Gabby Gladney: I suggested doing an episode about the Art Car Parade in Houston because that is where I’m from. I grew up going to the Art Car Parade every year, and I was not expecting an...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. --- Dylan Thuras: So Eden, I wanted to start by asking: What is the date that you have planned that you are the most proud of? Eden Dawn: I’m in Portland, Oregon, and out on the west coast we have Tillamook. So out in Tillamook, which is a pretty little town, one first step as to many good dates, stop for Mexican food, because almost every date is made better with chips and guac and a margarita. Then you go to the ...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
The first weekend in October is always the annual Harvest and Husking Bee at Tsyunhéhkw∧ Farm. Located just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin on part of the Oneida Nation, Tsyunhéhkw∧ (joon-HEY'-kwa) is a tribally owned, organic, regenerative farm that focuses on growing Oneida white corn. The farm plants about 10 acres annually, which produces around 8,000 pounds of finished corn. Oneida white corn–also known as Iroquois or Tuscarora white corn–looks a little different than its moder...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
This is a transcript of an episode of Untold Earth, a series from Atlas Obscura in partnership with Nature and PBS Digital Studios, which explores the seeming impossibilities behind our planet’s strangest, most unique natural wonders. From fragile, untouched ecosystems to familiar but unexplained occurrences in our own backyards, Untold Earth chases insight into natural phenomena through the voices of those who know them best. Miles Berkey: We have Kinderbergia oregana, Polytrichum moss, Rh...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. --- Dylan Thuras: Every summer, along a small thimble-shaped stretch of Alabama’s coast, something strange stirs up from the water. Something so odd and kind of spectacular, it feels unreal. Watt Key: People that see it for the first time are spellbound. They just can’t believe it. You just never seen anything like it. I’ve told people before, it’s kind of like saying you saw Bigfoot. You kind of have to see ...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
A celebration of Norwegian independence, or public art gone wrong?| Atlas Obscura
Burgers and fries in the shadow of a dreaded Nazi symbol.| Atlas Obscura
Evidence of a bullet that nearly killed King Charles I—or is it?| Atlas Obscura
A Portuguese museum display features a bizarre assortment of objects.| Atlas Obscura
Riga’s historic porcelain industry is preserved in this small, hidden museum.| Atlas Obscura
Though Cincinnati is best known for breweries, another effervescent beverage has a long history in the Queen City: the nectar soda. Home to the oldest pharmacy college in the U.S. west of the Alleghenies, the Eclectic Medical Institute (1845-1952), and Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists, Cincinnati was long on the forefront of the pharmaceutical industry. The city had a number of apothecaries with soda fountains, as well as confectioners serving countless carbonated concoctions—some claiming to cur...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
Indigenous Brazilians have fermented alcoholic beverages from the cassava root for thousands of years. These beer-like beverages go by names like cauim, caxiri, and tarubá. Fermentation is an important step in cassava processing—the raw root has chemicals that can turn into cyanide in the human body. Native peoples found that a bit of human saliva and some naturally occurring yeast could eliminate these toxins and improve the nutritious value of the tuber. When the technology of distillati...| Atlas Obscura - Latest Articles and Places
Legend has it that a monk hid meat in these dumplings to fool God.| Atlas Obscura
Definitive guidebook and friendly tour-guide to the world's most wondrous places. Travel tips, articles, strange facts and unique events.| Atlas Obscura
To survive the arena, they ate a mash of barley and beans.| Atlas Obscura
In Florida, these naughty monkeys live on their own mini-monkey Alcatraz.| Atlas Obscura
Today, where disposable instant messaging, emails, texts and tweets are all around us, it is a pleasant surprise to find out that the grandfather of quick...| Atlas Obscura
He believed in eating like the original vegetarians: Adam and Eve.| Atlas Obscura
A conversation with Natasha Pickowicz on cross-cultural inspiration and her upcoming cookbook.| Atlas Obscura
A new natural fuel is discovered. It's so efficient, the initial science is unbelievable; so powerful, it revolutionizes an entire industry. Deposit-holding...| Atlas Obscura
"Butter eater" was once a terrible insult.| Atlas Obscura
Fish and dairy can make for a delicious mix, despite popular belief.| Atlas Obscura