There is a mirror said to reveal the truest, most precise reflection of oneself. It’s called the Aranmula Kannadi. The tradition of mirror-making has been passed down for generations by self-taught artisans in a small village in India. Journalist Eliot Stein has visited the village, and he talks about the philosophical meaning behind these mirrors – and reveals what happens when he comes face-to-face with his own reflection. 

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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The Dutch city of Utrecht is built around an iconic canal lined with historic homes. But for the fish of the city, the view isn’t quite so picturesque. Each spring, migrating fish get trapped in the mazelike waterways of the city. Ecologist Mark van Heukelum came up with an innovative idea to help them out – a fish doorbell.

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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Daylight saving time is nearly upon us. Today, we’re visiting two places with very different approaches to harnessing the sun. One imposes rules on it, wreaking havoc on residents and travelers… and the other tries to physically manipulate it. 

Plus: We want to hear your unforgettable spring break stories. Where did you go? What made this trip so memorable? Did everything go as planned… or did things go wrong? Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or you can record a voice memo and give it to us. At hello@atlasobscura.com.

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We look into the story behind a regionally famous – and controversial – beer tap in Des Moines, Iowa. 

Read Mandy Naglich’s article about Ruthie in Vice.

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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Lake Karachay in Ozersk, Russia is the site of a former secret Soviet Union nuclear facility - that’s inspired art despite the little that’s publicly known of the site.

This week, we’re bringing your stories of places that – for one reason you another – you can’t visit.    

Plus: We want to hear from you! What’s a place in your life that YOU can’t visit? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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Dylan is joined by Marisa Scheinfeld, a photographer who has dedicated years to exploring the lost and abandoned properties of the Borscht Belt: a stretch of hundreds of hotels, resorts and summer camps where Jewish Americans would go to escape. Check out more of Marisa’s work here, including her book, The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacation Land.

This week, we’re bringing your stories of places that – for one reason you another – you can’t visit.    

Plus: We want to hear from you! What’s a place in your life that YOU can’t visit? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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How far would you go to find the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake in the United States?

This week, we’re bringing your stories of places that – for one reason you another – you can’t visit.    

Plus: We want to hear from you! What’s a place in your life that YOU can’t visit? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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This paddleboat gave some Black children a place to learn even when they were denied formal education on land.  

This week, we’re bringing your stories of places that – for one reason you another – you can’t visit.    

Plus: We want to hear from you! What’s a place in your life that YOU can’t visit? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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The world’s biggest treehouse was inspired by a message from God. 

This week, we’re bringing you stories of places that, for one reason you another, you can’t visit.    

Plus: We want to hear from you! What’s a place in your life that YOU can’t visit? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com. 

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We’re willing to bet that AO listeners didn’t go on the typical spring break trips. We want to hear your off the beaten track spring break travel stories. Where did you go? What made this trip so memorable? Did everything go as planned? Or did things go wrong? We want to hear it all. 

Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or you can record a voice memo and give it to us. At hello@atlasobscura.com. 

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The Old Cahawba Archeological Park is perhaps one of Alabama's most famous ghost towns. But it once was the center of life in this southern state. We unravel the surprising tale of this onetime capital city.

SEE IT IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/old-cahawba-archeological-park

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Maybe when you think of Los Angeles you think of mega highways, gridlock traffic, and urban sprawl. But our guest today argues that it is actually an underrated destination for enjoying the outdoors. Rosecrans Baldwin, author of Everything Now: Lessons from the City State of Los Angeles, shares his favorite places in the city to enjoy nature, from urban parks to mountain trails…and then he’ll also take us even further out there, to a wilderness survival course and a class on talking to plants.

More about today’s guest: https://www.rosecransbaldwin.com/

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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A giant salamander has been lurking in the rivers and streams of Appalachia for more than a hundred million years.  And in just the last few years – after surviving one of the worst hurricanes in decades – they've become a local symbol of pride.

This episode was produced in partnership with Visit North Carolina. 

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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We go to Tallahassee and learn the incredible civil rights history of Florida's capital city.  

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We asked you to send us stories about the places where you’ve stayed the night – some of you had some interesting experiences that live in your head forever. 

Plus, we want to hear your stories about your unforgettable spring break travel stories. Where did you go? What made this trip so memorable? Did everything go as planned? Or did things go wrong? We want to hear it all. 

Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or you can record a voice memo and give it to us. At hello@atlasobscura.com.

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This museum in Kentucky is either your dream place or your nightmare, depending on how you feel about dummies. Because there are more than 500 of them there, resting in peace.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-worlds-only-ventriloquism-museum-in-northern-kentucky

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As we approach Valentine’s Day, Atlas Obscura co-host Kelly McEvers shares two stories about a state that has a special place in her heart: New Mexico. 

The Chile Pepper Institute was produced by Baudelaire Ceus, and The Lightning Field was produced by Chris Naka and Manolo Morales. 

Learn more about how to book a visit to the Lightning Field: ​​https://www.diaart.org/visit/visit-our-locations-sites/walter-de-maria-the-lightning-field  

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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Centralia, Pennsylvania has attained a sort of cult favorite status, often discussed as a place you cannot and should not visit. But in this episode, writer and friend of the show Colin Dickey has a different take on this ghost town. He says Centralia is thriving and has a new lush chapter – despite "burning" for the past 45 years.

Read Colin's latest piece about Centralia on Atlas Obscura HERE. 

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Jane August has set a goal to visit every single one of NYC’s roughly 200 museums. She’s chronicling her journey on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram at @JaneAugust. 

We want to hear from you! What is your favorite, underrated museum in your area? Tell us about it, and why you love it. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

Plus, check out Atlas Obscura’s own list of unusual museums in NYC: https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/new-york/museums   

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In honor of Black History Month, we are bringing you two stories about people who used nature to change their environment and communities. 

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Behind the Ben & Jerry's factory in Vermont sits a very peculiar graveyard... one dedicated to dearly departed ice cream flavors.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ben-jerry-s-flavor-graveyard 

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We visit a remarkable institution where people with Hansen's disease, or leprosy, learned to play music, had Mardi Gras parties, and published their own newspaper.    

Check out Wendy Chin-Tanner’s novel, King of the Armadillos, based on her father’s experience at Carville.

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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In 1930, the King of Thailand gifted a tree to the University of Hawaii in Manoa for developing a treatment for leprosy. For decades, the tree has stood as a symbol of the groundbreaking scientific achievement. However, the woman who created the solution was missing from the story.

Read Alice Ball’s Master’s Thesis on the Kava Plant, and Dr. Hollman’s JAMA article crediting Alice Ball. And check out The Ball Method Film.

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com

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In 1912, Piltdown, England wasn’t known for much. It was a quiet rural area with farms, winding tree-lined roads, and a pub. But then, a lawyer announced he’d made an incredible discovery in a local gravel pit: a skull that was part ape, part man. England was enthralled. Was this the missing link between humans and our ancestors? Could England be the birthplace of humanity?

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This story is about a heist that took place back in 2013 – not at a museum, or a gallery, or a royal palace, but at a garden. What these thieves were after… were Venus Fly Traps. We visit the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden in Wilmington, North Carolina to learn about plants that eat meat, a venus fly trap lover with a vanity license plate, and the shocking $20,000 heist that’s still an unsolved mystery.

Learn about visiting the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden…

If you’re in the market for a Venus Fly Trap, check out this guide from the US Fish and Wildlife Service about how to avoid poached plants

.

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We're working on an episode about interesting places to lay your head -- and we'd love to hear YOUR story about the places you have stayed during your travels. Tell us why and how you picked that place, and what made the experience of staying there good, bad, funny, interesting, or impactful? 

Maybe you had a terrible experience at a five star hotel after booking it months ahead of time, or maybe you got lost finding your way to a cabin  We wanna hear it all. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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A one-room museum located in the basement of a church-turned-community arts center is crammed with mementos from a pretty spectacular period in history. We hang with some retired dancers who recall the time when Chinatown in San Francisco was filled with late night cabarets famed for their showgirls.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/showgirl-magic-museum-san-francisco-california

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Decades before New York City’s subway system opened to the public, an eccentric inventor set about building his own underground system – IN SECRET – beneath Broadway. It wasn’t powered by steam engine…or electrical engine…or even horses. It was powered by pneumatic tube (yes...

Toward the end of his life, the great inventor Thomas Edison became obsessed with one final project: finding a source of rubber that could grow in the United States. It would transform his Florida home into a bonafide botanical laboratory. This episode was produced in partne...

A stranger on an overnight bus ride causes a woman to contemplate her future. This essay originally appeared in Off Assignment.    

Plus, Off Assignment is offering a writing course this spring, called Writing the Mundane. Early bird pricing is on until February 9! Sign up here: https://offassignment.com/writing-the-mundane

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