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Fright Club

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Iron-rich springs at Australia's Lake Tyrrell provide intense color in <em>Heart of the Salt Lake.</em>
geology

Is This an Australian Salt Lake or a 'Beating Heart Laid Bare'?

Iron-rich springs generate intense color in a stark landscape that, from above, might be mistaken for a crime scene.
Gemma Tarlach October 12, 2021
The Glanville fritillary is common throughout most of Europe and parts of northern Africa.
science

These Butterflies Full of Wasps Full of Microwasps Are a Science Nightmare

Accidentally released on a Finnish island 30 years ago, the parasites are spreading.
Patrick Barkham October 11, 2021
A sitter is clamped into position using a metal frame before having his portrait taken.
victorian

Clearing Up Some Myths About Victorian 'Postmortem' Photographs

Stories abound of dead people being propped up on stands to seem alive. The reality was different.
Sonya Vatomsky October 11, 2021
cemeteries

Podcast: The Spritz Cookie Gravestone

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team October 11, 2021
Two siblings—Aiko and her brother Isamu—pose in their masks in the yard of their family home on Los Feliz Boulevard near Griffith Park, where their parents ran a flower nursery. This photo, taken in 1925, was collected as part of Shades of L.A., an outreach program the library conducted in the 1990s to diversify its photo collection.
libraries

Explore a Century of Halloween in L.A. Through Vintage Photographs

An eerie/fun glimpse into the Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection.
April White October 8, 2021
List

Visiting 10 of Our Favorite Spooky Local Legends

The best kind of lore is the kind right under your nose.
Jonathan Carey October 8, 2021
The misty cloud forests of Costa Rica's Cerro de la Muerte are home to several endangered species—including, say locals, spirits charged with protecting the mountain.
mountains

In Search of Nímbulos, Guardians of Costa Rica's Mountain of Death

Believers say the otherworldly protectors of Cerro de la Muerte's cloud forests face an uncertain future.
Trevor Ritland and Priscilla Palavicini October 6, 2021
Tattoo designs of Lena Liberty by Ed Liberty, Boston, ca. 1935.
collections

How Historians of Modern Tattooing Explore a Long-Hidden Past

The growing field probes everything from family collections to problematic museum exhibits.
Eve Kahn October 5, 2021
"People who come in the daytime say, 'I bet it's scary here at night,'" says Edwards. She offers Halloween tours of the eerie property.
horror

This Halloween, Step Into a Mannequin Graveyard

You can even take these unnerving, almost-human figures home with you.
Hannah Steinkopf-Frank October 5, 2021
murder

Podcast: The Scarpetta House

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team October 5, 2021
<em>Extragalactic</em> won the 1st Classified award in the Nature category of this year's Drone Photo Awards.
volcanoes

Is This an Erupting Volcano or the Eye of Sauron?

An award-winning image, taken via drone, captures the dreadful beauty of one of nature's violent shows of power.
Gemma Tarlach October 4, 2021
Russian Empress Elizabeth used cross-dressing to cement her power. She's shown here in a traditionally male guard uniform.
royalty

The Weekly Cross-Dressing Balls of 18th-Century Russian Royalty

How empresses used "metamorphosis" to show their male courtiers who’s the boss.
Sarah Durn October 4, 2021
murder

Podcast: Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team October 4, 2021
Pustulus Maximus and Balsac the Jaws of Death of GWAR performing in October 2019 in San Francisco.
art

The Artist Collective That Brings Heavy Metal Fever Dreams to Life

For nearly 40 years, a rotating cast of artists has made costumes and props for GWAR—the band behind one of the world’s wildest stage shows.
Eric J. Wallace October 1, 2021
Fur and sack cloth bear (Rusa) costumes.
List

9 Places That Celebrate the Wonder of Masks

Halloween isn't the only reason you might want to cover your face.
Jonathan Carey October 1, 2021
Four children in their Halloween costumes gathered around a jack-o-lantern in the 1960s.
halloween

Welcome to Atlas Obscura's Fright Club!

We love the month of October, so we're giving you 31 days of stories that will get you in the Halloween spirit.
Samir S. Patel October 1, 2021