Stories - Atlas Obscura

women's history

The First Woman to Publish a Book in English Lived in One Room, Walled Off From Society

Julian of Norwich wrote "Revelations of Divine Love" based on a series of visions she had in 1373 while isolated in religious observance.

December 18, 2015

Reindeer May Not Be Able to Fly, But They Do Have Ultraviolet Vision

December 18, 2015

Cheer Up, The Saddest Day of The Year Is A Hoax

December 18, 2015

'What a Christmas Present! Deportation!': The Revealing History of Ellis Island's Holiday Parties

December 18, 2015

space exploration

FOUND: One Planet, Rocky, Relatively Close, Potentially Habitable

December 18, 2015

Fleeting Wonders: Be A Crew Member On A Modern-Day Viking Ship

December 18, 2015

Victorian Cookbooks Were Stuffed with Costumed Roosters and Sphinx Cakes

December 18, 2015

Terror Threats Force Museums To Rethink The Role Of Gallery Guards

December 18, 2015

The Poisonous Beauty Advice Columns of Victorian England

December 17, 2015

classical music

Why Every Kid in America Learns to Play the Recorder

There's more to the instrument than "Mary Had A Little Lamb.”

December 17, 2015

Fleeting Wonders: A Siberian Cat is Running for Mayor

December 17, 2015

Freaks, Geeks, and Obliques: Nonconformist Gyms For People Who Hated Dodgeball

December 17, 2015

100 Wonders: Battleship Island

December 17, 2015

space exploration

FOUND: A Glimpse of a Supernova, Arriving Right on Schedule

December 17, 2015

Inside a Manhattan Coroner’s Grisly, Salacious Case Files

At the turn of the last century, New Yorkers found myriad unusual ways to meet a premature demise.

December 17, 2015

Mistletoe Is a Parasitic, Explosive Plant That Maybe You Shouldn't Stand Underneath

December 17, 2015

Places You Can No Longer Go: Alderaan

December 17, 2015

How 1940s Prisoners of War Escaped Through Their Dreams