The Atlas Obscura Podcast

Stitcher Studios & 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.

  • 15 minutes 40 seconds
    Christine's Cell

    In the year 1329, a woman named Christine Carpenter was enclosed in a tiny cell in the walls of a church in Shere, England. She was expected to spend the rest of her life praying in almost complete isolation. But the reason we know her name is that she did something very unusual – she broke out.

    Learn more about our guest Professor Diane Watt’s work about the lives of medieval women in England, and about St. James’s Church in Shere.  

    8 January 2025, 5:05 am
  • 18 minutes 13 seconds
    Art on Wheels

    Dylan and producer Gabby Gladney dive into the colorful world of art cars, from Houston’s epic parades to DIY creations in Minneapolis. 

    Then, Dylan talks to his own father about the multiple art cars they’ve had over the years. 

    7 January 2025, 5:05 am
  • 16 minutes
    Cabbage Patch BabyLand General Hospital

    Writer Joshua Rigsby takes a very strange journey into the birthplace of Cabbage Patch Kids. After he returns, he can never look at the dolls the same way again.  


    Read Joshua’s essay about his trip to BabyLand General Hospital, and check out his bookstore, Pretty Good Books.

    6 January 2025, 5:05 am
  • 1 minute 36 seconds
    New Year, New Travel Resolutions

    We’re (almost) back! And we want to hear your New Year’s travel resolutions. 

    Send a voice memo to hello@atlasobscura.com. Or, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message.

    4 January 2025, 5:05 am
  • 16 minutes 6 seconds
    The Divorce Colony (Holiday Classic)

    For a brief period the small frontier city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota drew in socialites and celebrities who were desperate to end their marriages.

    3 January 2025, 5:05 am
  • 22 minutes 51 seconds
    In the Doldrums with Bernie Harberts (Holiday Classic)

    Ultimate slow travel adventurer (and friend of the show) Bernie Harberts returns to tell us what happened when he spent months floating alone at sea. Bernie is also an author and filmmaker. 

    You can read more about Bernie's travels at his website www.riverearth.com.

    2 January 2025, 5:05 am
  • 15 minutes 40 seconds
    Broken Angel (Holiday Classic)

    The 1980s birthed a gleaming creature that spread its wings of scrap wood and glass over the intersection of two iconic Brooklyn, NY neighborhoods for thirty years. 

    READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/broken-angel

    1 January 2025, 5:05 am
  • 14 minutes 17 seconds
    Beishan Broadcast Wall (Holiday Classic)

    On the tiny Kinmen Island, a bow-tie-shape strip of land between China and Taiwan, sits a giant weaponized wall of sound that still stands--and still broadcasts--today.

    READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/beishan-broadcast-station-art

    31 December 2024, 5:05 am
  • 13 minutes 58 seconds
    Anne Spencer’s Garden (Holiday Classic)

    This garden in Lynchburg, Virginia is the key to unlocking the writing and mind of Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer.

    30 December 2024, 5:05 am
  • 1 minute 21 seconds
    A Quick Hello from Dylan. Plus: We Want Your Dating Travel Stories!

    Just a little check in. Plus: We want to hear your stories of traveling with a significant other for the first time – the good, the bad, and the strange.

    You can send an email or voice memo to hello@atlasobscura.com. Or, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message.

    28 December 2024, 5:05 am
  • 12 minutes 37 seconds
    Milo Bitters (Holiday Classic)

    A listener in Lawrence, Kansas takes us on his journey of discovering the secrets of his hometown.

    27 December 2024, 5:05 am
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