168 Items Tagged

Secret

These Real-Life Rooms Feel Like a Glitch in Reality

These hidden chambers, secret basements, underground laboratories, and dirt-filled rooms prove that strange liminal places are all around us.

Holyn Thigpen June 2, 2026

Remnants of the streetcar station.

Treat Yourself to a Scavenger Hunt Through DC’s Most Delightful Destinations

13 places, 5 hints, and 70 secret doors.

Sponsored By washington.org

Pembroke Dock, Wales

Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre

This Welsh dockyard was the site of the not-so-secret construction of the Millennium Falcon for the original Star Wars trilogy.

Alet-les-Bains, France

L'église de Saint-Salvayre

This mysterious church sits discreetly above the Aude countryside, right in the heart of "Grail Country."

Association Française des Amis des Chemins de Fer

A model train wonderland hidden beneath Gare de l'Est station.

Of the 151 species they studied, all of them, including this tree frog, <em>Dendropsophus rhodopeplus</em> (shown under blue light), displayed some level of fluorescence.

Biologists Threw a Fluorescent Frog Rave in the Amazon, for Science

Turns out many of the frogs glow, maybe to communicate.

Roxanne Hoorn August 22, 2023

Burkhan Khaldun, Genghis Khan’s sacred mountain, in northeastern Mongolia, may hold his burial site.

Mongolia’s 'Forbidden Zone' Is Guarding an 800-Year-Old Secret

Is the vast Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area the final resting place of Genghis Khan?

Frank Jacobs July 28, 2023

Secret Nun Cookies at Monasterio del Corpus Christi

Order cookies baked by cloistered nuns in a 400-year-old monastery.

Alley of the Kiss

11 Sites for Clandestine Romance

Because famous—and famously doomed—lovers have been sneaking around forever.

Diana Hubbell February 14, 2023

In the new 2022 column "Secret Obsessions," we asked talented people to take us down a rabbit hole.

In 2022, Celebrities Spilled Their Secret Obsessions to Us

From ghost hunting to masala chai, singers, authors, and other influencers revealed their unexpected interests.

Sarah Durn December 28, 2022

IFC Center

New York, New York

IFC Center Peephole

The best way to get a sneak peek at the movies.

The Confessional Secret Room

New Orleans, Louisiana

The Hidden South Confessional

Inside this art and oddity-filled shop, a small room filled with secrets.

During World War II, members of the secretive Office of Strategic Services Maritime Unit trained and tested cutting-edge equipment on a quiet California island.

Remembering the World War II Frogmen Who Trained in Secret off the California Coast

Recruits learned the arts of infiltration, sabotage, and survival at a hidden base on Santa Catalina Island.

Andrew Dubbins June 30, 2022

10 History-Filled Bars Hiding in Plain Sight

There are plenty of stories in these unusual watering holes—if you can find them.

Diana Hubbell June 7, 2022

Alchemists were a puzzling bunch. Take, for instance, this 1618 engraving by Matthaeus Merian the Elder, which is full of alchemical secrets encoded in complex symbols.

7 Puzzles That Perplexed People for Centuries

From the secrets of Venice’s codebreakers to China’s intricately carved puzzle balls, these historical ciphers will inspire your curiosity.

Sarah Durn May 3, 2022

Inside a former garage is a dusty recreation of a production office.

West Hollywood, California

Back Lot

Peek inside Howard Hughes' garage at this Hollywood-themed art installation.

A traditional hobo moniker tells other rail riders that Ace was traveling west in 1927.

Everything You Thought You Knew About ‘Hobo Code’ Is Wrong

Rail riders past and present leave messages for each other, but not the ones you’ve probably heard about.

Maggie Downs November 16, 2021

This 1618 engraving by Matthaeus Merian the Elder depicts the alchemical universe with the Philosopher's Stone at its center.

How Scholars Cracked a Medieval Alchemist’s Secret Code

Written in a puzzling Latin cipher, it contains his formula for eternal life.

Sarah Durn November 11, 2021