All Stories

Riya Patel lives and works at the LGBTA+ Community Campus Rajpipla in Gujarat, India.

prince

How an Indian Prince Built a Queer Sanctuary in Gujarat

The LGBTA+ Community Campus Rajpipla occupies 15 acres of farmland where a palace once stood.

Cities such as San Francisco are full of history—but there's opportunities for discovery everywhere.

obscura academy

How to Dig Into the History of Your City, Town, or Neighborhood

Even a short local walk can hold countless stories.

Houses of the “Floating City,” located in front of the city of Manaus, on the Rio Negro, in the 1960s.

amazon

The Life and Death of the ‘Floating City’ of Manaus

To some, this Brazilian neighborhood was a tropical Venice. To others, it was a slum on the water.

The asteroid that led to a mass extinction 66 million years ago likely struck the Earth at a very high speed—around 12.5 miles per second—and at the deadliest possible angle.

extinction

What a Buried Crater in Mexico Says About the Asteroid That Doomed the Dinosaurs

And why the scars left by meteoritic impacts tell us about life, the universe, and everything.

It's huge, with a great sense of humor.

automata

This Gigantic Laughing Kookaburra Is Out to Brighten Your Day

A sculptor hitched the cackling bird to a trailer and is taking it on the road.

Robert Falcon Scott’s 1902 Discovery Hut, at Hut Point, with Observation Hill in the background.

antarctic

Preserved Antarctic Huts Reveal the Isolated Existence of Early Explorers

They "were essentially stuck in their bunks for the whole winter."

People send Scott Wiener pizza boxes from around the world for preservation.

pizza

Meet the Owner of the World's Largest Pizza Box Collection

1,550 and counting.

Meet the Jackson Town Council of 1920-23, aka the "petticoat rulers": (from left) Mae Deloney, Rose Crabtree, Mayor Grace Miller, Faustina Haight, Genevieve Van Vleck.

anniversary

Remembering When Women Ruled a Wild West Town

In 1920 the "bad-man rendezvous" of Jackson, Wyoming, elected an all-female government. Will it be another hundred years till that happens again?

Theresa McCulla of the American Brewing History Initiative with a collection of historic beer-advertisement posters at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2018.

pandemic

How a Beer Historian Is Documenting COVID-19's Impact on Brewing

The biggest blow to beer since Prohibition.

The metal-clad men of the Middle Ages would scale ladders, among other exercises, to stay fit.

how to

To Work Out Like a Knight, Try Donning Armor and Extolling Virtue

Being fit and chivalric is as much a mental state as a physical one.

The monument, pictured here in August 2017, was once partly covered by wood. It has since been dismantled altogether.

race

How an Infamous Confederate Obelisk Finally Came Down

The monument in Birmingham, Alabama, became a flashpoint in the fight for racial justice.

Karakuri dolls have been an ornate element of Japanese craftsmanship since the Edo period.

automata

What It’s Like to Build a Traditional Japanese Automaton From Scratch

All you need is a good imagination. And a whole lot of patience.

Ingredients that underpin the cuisine include pitseed goosefoot (left), a type of physalis known as ground cherries, among other names (center), and sunflowers pressed into oil (right).

chefs

The Cherokee Chefs Bringing Back North America’s Lost Cuisine

Researching traditional foods led them to the revelations of an archaeological dig in Kentucky.

"It's scary and dark out in the dark forest."

obscura academy

Read 8 Pieces of Creative Writing Inspired by Atlas Obscura Stories

We gave you the opening lines. You gave us inspired storytelling.

Pasta, marshmallows, and citrus combine to make peak comfort food.

food

Celebrate the Heyday of Sweet American 'Salads' With These 7 Dishes

Highlights from an era of convenience, creativity, and Cool Whip.

This is just the beginning.

construction

How to Make a Wild, Wondrous, and Complicated Contraption With All the Stuff in Your House

The social-distancing era is the perfect time to build a Rube Goldberg machine.

In 1832, cholera killed more than 10 percent of Sligo's population.

epidemics

The Deadly Irish Epidemic That Helped Bring Dracula to Life

Forget Vlad the Impaler. A 19th-century cholera outbreak in Sligo may have been Bram Stoker's chief inspiration.

Sacred Harp Singing directional sign for the Lookout Mountain Sacred Harp Convention at Pine Grove Church, Collinsville, Alabama.

south

‘Sacred Harp’ Singing Treats Every Human Voice as Holy

In the rural American South, these non-denominational sing-alongs are part of a long musical tradition.