3899 Items Tagged

History

<em>There is a Future</em>, 2020

Reclaiming Georgia's Stone Mountain Through Haunting Landscape Images

Photographer Sheila Pree Bright wanted to find a new way of seeing the site and its connection to centuries of racism.

Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing April 21, 2023

<em>The Vizier's Gambit</em> just doesn't have the same ring to it.

How Did the Chess Pieces Get Their Names?

One player’s pawn is another’s farmer. And at one time, the queen was the virgin, and rather powerless.

Frank Jacobs April 21, 2023

Madison Dry Goods Museum

Madison, North Carolina

Madison Dry Goods and Country Store

The upstairs museum delves into the Lawson family murder, whose eight victims were embalmed at this store in 1929.

The women of the Source Family pose on a Rolls-Royce for an ad for the release of a recording of the cult's band, Ya Ho Wha 13.

The Cult Roots of Health Food in America

How the Source Family, a radical 1970s utopian commune, still impacts what we eat today.

Diana Hubbell April 19, 2023

Seagate Castle

Irvine, Scotland

Seagate Castle

Once the overnight home of Mary Queen of Scots.

The "tyrant of Lake Lucerne" is now a taxidermied attraction—sometimes on display at the Orange County Regional History Center—and his descendants occupy the city's lakes.

objects of intrigue

Meet the Ornery Granddaddy of Orlando's Famed Swans

Billy was a local celebrity in the early 1900s. And he might have been a murderer.

April White April 18, 2023

Gantheaume Point

Minyirr, Australia

Gantheaume Point

Spectacular rock formations host dinosaur footprints and an old hydrotherapy pool.

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Northern Miniature Railroad

Three historic trains run on a half-mile track that features a tunnel.

Mexico City, Mexico

República de Guatemala 28

A trompe l'oeil mural remembers the original colonial building that once stood here.

<em>La Belle Limonadière</em> was famous for her beauty.

The Sweet History of Lemonade

This humble drink isn't so simple.

Anne Ewbank April 17, 2023

The so-called Edith Deviation follows a natural valley.

Colorado Is Not a Rectangle—It Has 697 Sides

The Centennial State is technically a hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagon.

Frank Jacobs April 14, 2023

One of the 2.000 mummified ram heads found in the Temple of Ramses II, in the historical city of Abydos, Egypt.

Wonder Is Everywhere: 2,000 Ram Skulls, a Cold War Mystery, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.

April White April 14, 2023

Meyer lemons are distinctly sweet and fragrant.

How America's Beloved Meyer Lemon Caused a Mid-Century Citrus Panic

The fragrant fruit hid a dark secret.

Mandy Naglich April 12, 2023

The Boiling River, or <em>Shanay-timpishka</em>, in Peru was long thought to be a myth.

10 of Our Absolute Favorite Atlas Obscura Podcast Episodes

Wait'll you hear these wonders of audio storytelling.

April White April 12, 2023

Podcast: Ashley House

A history that intertwines the American Revolution with the seeds of abolition in the North.

The Podcast Team April 11, 2023

Over the years, dendroglyphs—motifs and images carved into tree bark—have been documented on 22 boab trees in the Tanami Desert of western Australia.

Saving the Mystery Symbols Carved into Australia's Boab Trees

Researchers are rushing to document the Indigenous art before it is lost to time and climate change.

Shoshi Parks April 7, 2023

For perhaps thousands of years, local Cappadocians retreated underground when enemies approached. Their subterranean city, illustrated here, was rediscovered by accident.

The Mysterious Underground City Found in a Man’s Basement

How a renovation project in Turkey led to the discovery of a lifetime—a lost city that once housed 20,000 people.

Frank Jacobs April 7, 2023

A display case at Denmark's Nationalmuseet shows the detritus and historical artifacts a metal detectorist might uncover. Every year, thousands of valuable items are discovered.

How Denmark Became a Nation of Metal Detectorists

The valuable ancient artifacts unearthed by these amateur archaeologists are now on display at the national museum.

Amy Crawford April 6, 2023