Halloween Feature

The Startling History of the Jump Scare

By Gavia Baker-Whitelaw · October 28, 2024
Halloween Feature

5 Macabre and Mysterious Stories About Candy

By Samantha Chong · October 11, 2024
Halloween Feature

Foxfire Brings Magical Light to the Dark Forest

By Leigh Ann Henion · September 25, 2024

Haunted Halloween Harvest

Atlas Obscura Scares Up the Best of the Season

October is our favorite month to celebrate the macabre, the mysterious, and the monstrous. Join us on a wild ride through a landscape of unsolved hauntings, terrifying legends, and hidden places almost too creepy to be real. It's going to be ghoulish good fun.

Tales of Terror: The mother of all witches, creepy cryptids, the many faces of death, and more.

With chattering squirrels, chirping birds, and often lush vegetation, cemeteries are full of life—including multiple lichen species.

cemeteries

A Cemetery's Immortal Residents and the Scientist Who Studies Them

Lichens growing on gravestones appear immune to aging. What does their life cycle teach us about death?

In Mexico, today's teyollohcuani is a terrifying, shape-shifting, vampire-like witch, but the figure has deep precolonial roots and a complex evolution.

vampires

Mexico's Vampire Witch Has a Twisted Origin Story

The terrifying teyollohcuani is a shape-shifter of ancient indigenous lore, dark colonial history, and pop culture.

Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle.

witchcraft

The Greatest Witch Movie Ever Made

Why do modern witches embrace "The Wicker Man"?

An Extra-Creepy Atlas: Create your own Road Trip of the Damned with these unsettling Places you can visit IRL (in this life or the next).

Alishan, Taiwan

Pagoda of the Tree Spirit

A monument to placate the spirits of an ancient forest.

Mask of the Bat God

Mexico City, Mexico

Mask of the Bat God

This ancient jade mask depicting the Zapotec bat god was found in the ruins of the pyramids of Monte Alban.

Odesa, Ukraine

Odesa Catacombs

The largest catacomb system in the world.

You Are Fearless. You Have Scrolled Deep Into the Atlas Obscura Crypt.

Venture even deeper into the shadows for more spine-tingling Stories, positively paranormal Places, and other spooky surprises.

Scroll down at your own risk

A glorious night sky seen through Owachomo Bridge in Utah's Natural Bridges National Monument, which was named the world's first International Dark Sky Park in 2007.

vikings

Archaeologists Explore Life After Dark in the Ancient Night

Studying our ancestors' nocturnal lives reveals the value of reclaiming darkness.

The wendigo of North America's Great Lakes region is a symbol of both the desperate season of winter and boundless human greed.

vampires

The Wendigo and 6 Other Ancient Monsters From Indigenous Folklore

These ancient terrors, from Australia’s bunyip to Brazil’s capelobo, still haunt—and hunt—us.

dinosaurs

Was ‘Dracula’ the Biggest Flying Creature Ever?

In prehistoric Transylvania, a giant darkened the skies.

In Sardinian folktales, the accabadora was an older woman who slipped into the homes of those lingering near death to send them on their way.

death

Death as a Woman: The Accabadora of Sardinia

In Sardinian folktales, an older woman gives those at death's door a nudge. But was she real?

Few folk figures have endured like Baba Yaga, who has been described as witch, mentor, villain, trickster, and now, perhaps, a feminist icon.

witches

Who Is Baba Yaga?

Trickster, mentor, probable goddess—Slavic folklore's most famous villain is so much more than a witch.

Mound House, Nevada

VW Beetle Spider

On the side of Highway 50 East, between Carson City and Dayton, Nevada, sits a giant metal spider made from a vintage Volkswagen Beetle.

Load More Content

Still hungry for more mischief and mayhem?

Satisfy your appetite for all things Halloween, from tasty treats to unsolved mysteries, with these classics from years past.