April White

Joined Atlas Obscura in 2017

Writer and historian. Author of THE DIVORCE COLONY, the astonishing true story of the 19th-century socialites who revolutionized marriage and found freedom on the American frontier. Former Atlas Obscura senior editor, frequent AO contributor

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Articles by April White

132

Stories

Stories shared by this traveler.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 02: An aerial view of graffiti spray painted by taggers on at least 27 stories of an unfinished skyscraper development located downtown, with Cryto.com Arena visible (LOWER R) on February 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Construction of the $1 billion Oceanwide Plaza luxury real estate development stalled in 2019 after a China-based developer ran out of funding leaving the three-tower project uncompleted. The project is located across the street from the Crypto.com Arena where the Grammy Awards will be held on February 4. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

abandoned

Wonder Is Everywhere: Vanilla Queens, an Ancient Arcade, and More From Around the Web

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

Forget the Mahomes and Purdy. There's a whole world of unexpected sports champions out there—such as unicyclist Eli Brill.

sports

12 Amazing Athletic Competitions You Should Be Watching

Plus: More than 100 offbeat destinations for sports fans who can't make it to the big game.

The local coroner’s report was once classified and now can be yours for a cool $80,000.

politics

For Sale: President William McKinley’s Top-Secret Autopsy Report

After McKinley’s assassination, a local Buffalo coroner was called in to tell the nation how the 25th president died.

An 18th-century depiction of the tsuchinoko, also called bachi hebi, a snake-like Japanese cryptid.

music

Wonder Is Everywhere: A Jumping Japanese Cryptid, Ancient Amazonian Cities, and More From Around the Web

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

Punxsutawney Phil has predicted a longer winter nearly every Groundhog Day.

holiday

A Primer on Both Groundhogs and Hedgehogs

Just in time for their moment in the sun (or not).

The "Point Reyes", a vessel known locally as the Inverness Shipwreck in Tomales Bay north of San Francisco.

meteorites

Wonder Is Everywhere: The Cosmic Dust Curator, a Secret Ancient Forest, and More From Around the Web

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

Social campaigners of the 1920s tried to make mocktails glamorous, but today Prohibition is primarily remembered as the era of speakeasies and bootleggers.

poison

7 Wild Stories From the Prohibition Era

The 18th Amendment had some unexpected side effects, from alcohol prescriptions to the rise of NASCAR.

A female astronomer peers through Yerkes Observatory's massive refractor telescope in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.

observatories

Uncovering the Forgotten Female Astronomers of Yerkes Observatory

It all started with a photo of Einstein.

The Northern bald ibis, 'waldrapp' in German, seen in 2018.

lighthouses

Wonder Is Everywhere: Silk Dress Secret, the Last Lightkeeper, and More From Around the Web

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

Swimmers on Coney Island prepare for a plunge on January 1, 1914.

cars

7 Surprising Traditions to Celebrate the New Year

Welcome 2024 with a (lemon) pig or a polar bear (plunge).

The Simón Bolívar School is one of many traces of Cuba in Western Sahara.

cultures

A Year-Long Trip Around the World, Through Atlas Obscura Stories

From Greenland to Western Sahara to Nepal and beyond, here are some of our best cultural stories from 2023.

There are 72 bridges and other living root structures in the Indian state of Meghalaya, some of which date back 500 years. Among the best known is this double-decker bridge in Nongriat village.

art

Living Bridges, Mechanical Dragons, and the Smell of Rain

The year in amazing arts and wondrous crafts.

High salinity—and the microorganisms that thrive in it—turn part of Utah's Great Salt Lake pink.

science

Wonder Is Everywhere: A Lost Color, a Rare Giant Rat, and More From Around the Web

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

There's a lot about air travel we just don't think about. For instance, why are the seat belts like this?

games

9 Surprising Stories About Air Travel (In Case You're Delayed)

Why are airplane seat belts so weird? And how many words can you make from airport codes?

A popular tourist destination since becoming a filming location for Game of Thrones, The Dark Hedges is a road enveloped by beech trees in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

floods

Wonder Is Everywhere: Avian Love, Medieval Myths, and More From Around the Web

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

The floating Christmas market in Leiden, Netherlands.

architecture

6 Surprising Stories About Shopping

What you really need this store-hopping season are tales about the “Aisle of Shame” and the shop cats of Hong Kong.

Camp Century trench construction in 1960. Caption reads "Metal arch forms being emplaced over undercut trench."

science

Wonder Is Everywhere: Viking Hoaxes, a Secret Nuclear Ice Base, and More From Around the Web

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

Wildlife biologist Serra Hoagland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, is bridging Indigenous traditions and modern methods.

science

7 Memorable Stories to Mark Native American Heritage Month

Tales of tradition, erasure, resilience, and dancing.

These boxes represent just a portion of Madeline Kripke's dictionary collection—around 10,000 volumes and counting.

objects of intrigue

The Low Down on the Greatest Dictionary Collection in the World

From "unabridged" to "slanguage," Madeline Kripke's library is a logophile's heaven (or hell).

Wonder Is Everywhere: Ancient Lampreys, Outdoor Learning, and More From Around the Web

science

Wonder Is Everywhere: Ancient Lampreys, Outdoor Learning, and More From Around the Web

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

This photo reveals interviews with James Brown, Annie Lennox, Al Green, Boris Grebenshchikov (the "Grandfather of Russian Rock"), and many more.

objects of intrigue

Unearthing Gems in a Massive Archive of Rock Star Interviews

“They are unpolished and unvarnished.”

From Cursed Coconuts to Santa Claus, 6 Unexpected Election Day Stories

maps

From Cursed Coconuts to Santa Claus, 6 Unexpected Election Day Stories

Including a guide to some of the most disastrous votes in history.

Te Matua Ngahere—"Father of the Forest"—a giant kauri tree growing in the Waipoua Forest of New Zealand, is the second-largest of its kind.

volcanoes

Wonder Is Everywhere: The World’s Oldest Trees, the Heaviest Ball of Twine, and More From Around the Web

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

A parasitic fungus emerges from the body of a fly in Peru.

subterranean

5 Creepy Tales of Real-World Zombies

And 10 places to wait out a (fictional) undead apocalypse.