The Atlas Obscura Podcast

SiriusXM and Atlas Obscura

An audio guide to the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places. Co-founder Dylan Thuras and a neighborhood of Atlas Obscura reporters explore a new wonder every day, Monday through Thursday. In under 15 minutes, they’ll take you to an incredible place, and along the way, you’ll meet some fascinating people and hear their stories. Our theme and end credit music is composed by Sam Tyndall.

  • 1 minute 8 seconds
    We want to hear your travel resolutions!

    We're working on a listener-powered episode about travel resolutions and we want to hear yours!

    What are you hoping to change about the way you travel or move through the world? What inspired this resolution? Maybe you wanna travel to a new continent. Maybe you are learning a new language for an upcoming trip. Maybe you are planning to be more adventurous and less organized about where you’re going. Or maybe you’re planning to travel less internationally and explore your city or town more. Whatever it is, we want to hear about it. 

    So give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call in if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at [email protected]


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    20 December 2025, 5:05 am
  • 14 minutes 23 seconds
    12 Days of Wonder: World's Quietest Room

    Experience the Orfield Anechoic Chamber: a room inside a concrete bunker that was once known as the quietest place on earth.


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    19 December 2025, 5:05 am
  • 13 minutes 24 seconds
    12 Days of Wonder: The Unclaimed Baggage Center

    The Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama bills itself as “the nation’s only retailer of lost luggage.” If you’ve ever lost a bag during air travel, it probably wound up there - along with many other treasures and oddities.


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    18 December 2025, 5:05 am
  • 12 minutes 59 seconds
    12 Days of Wonder: Puffin Patrol

    We go to the Westman Islands off the southern coast of Iceland and meet the heroes who save young birds that have wandered from their nests every summer. 


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    17 December 2025, 5:05 am
  • 12 minutes 14 seconds
    12 Days of Wonder: Slowjamistan

    We get out our passports and visit The Republic of Slowjamastan, a nation built on good vibes, good music and a dream of eliminating one very popular type of footwear. 


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    16 December 2025, 5:05 am
  • 13 minutes 44 seconds
    12 Days of Wonder: Chacaltaya

    Hear from the caretakers of a ghost town in Bolivia that was once the world's highest ski resort.  

    READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/abandoned-chacaltaya-ski-resort


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    15 December 2025, 5:05 am
  • 16 minutes 10 seconds
    12 Days of Wonder: Luciadagen

    In honor of Lucia Day on December 13, we’re diving into the origins of a Swedish holiday tradition which evolved from sinister pagan lore to a celebration of light, warmth and music.


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    12 December 2025, 5:05 am
  • 13 minutes 6 seconds
    12 Days of Wonder: World's Loneliest Tree

    About 400 miles south of New Zealand, on the subantarctic Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku, stands a Sitka spruce whose nearest neighbor is 170 miles away.

    READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-loneliest-tree


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    11 December 2025, 5:05 am
  • 18 minutes
    12 Days of Wonder: Return to Recipe Graves

    Gastro Obscura’s senior editor Sam O’Brien returns to the podcast to go deeper with us on her strange beat – recipes etched into gravestones. We probe how food can help heal and remember those we’ve lost.


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    10 December 2025, 5:05 am
  • 10 minutes 46 seconds
    12 Days of Wonder: Hot Ale Flip

    We visit the taverns of colonial America to take a frothy sip of the hot ale flip and how it helped pave the way for contemporary mixology.

     


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    9 December 2025, 5:05 am
  • 17 minutes 7 seconds
    12 Days of Wonder: Empress Anna's Ice Palace

    Empress Anna’s Ice Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia was the site of an incredibly strange wedding. Was it a cruel joke? A strategic power move? Or something else?


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    8 December 2025, 5:05 am
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