Clik here to view.
Photos of Majestic Theaters Turned To Ruin
The entrance of the Majestic Theatre, which opened in 1922 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Today, the auditorium is used as a storage space for a local cabaret theater company. (All photos: Matt...
View ArticleClik here to view.
See Imagined Artifacts From the Japanese Space Race That Never Happened
A moon rock vending machine—part of Jorge Mañes Rubio's "Mission U-TOPIA" project. (All photos: Jorge Mañes Rubio)Everyone knows the story of the Space Race. Deadlocked on Earth by the tense standoff...
View ArticleClik here to view.
America's Boom in Abandoned, Vacant Schools
An abandoned school (Photo: Nitram242/Flickr)Boynton Beach's old high school is a beautiful building. It was built in 1927, by William Manley King, a south Florida architect of some renown, and if you...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Georg Elser Plaque in München, Germany
Shortly after Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland, and almost five years before the famed July 22nd assassination plot at the Wolf's Lair, a lowly carpenter named Georg Elser came within minutes of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
FOUND: A Very Special Sarcophagus
The sarcophagus (Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority)Inspectors for the Israel Antiquities Authority went on a mission Tuesday night. They had received a tip, Live Science reports, that at a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The New York Prison that Doubled as a Clubhouse For Alimony Cheats
(Image: British Library/Public domain)Shooting pool. Smoking cigars. Hanging out with a bunch of other divorced guys, crowing about being freed from the shackles of the ol' ball and chain.Not exactly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Entreprenörskyrkan in Stockholm, Sweden
Slathered with a gleaming coat of white and a minimalist aesthetic, Stockholm's Entreprenörskyrkan, or "the Entrepreneurs Church" took a former Greek Orthodox Church and turned it into a beacon of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fleeting Wonders: Those Wacky MIT Kids Built A Roller Coaster
The newest iteration of the MIT Freshman Orientation Coaster. (Photo: Atlas Obscura)Ah, freshman college orientation—a time of boisterous dorm rivalries, a capella tryouts, and helping your...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The American Media's Awkward Fawning Over Hitler's Taste in Home Decor
A view of the window in the Great Hall of the Berghof, 1936. (Photo: Bavarian State Library: Heinrich Hoffmann Collection, Picture Archive, Bavarian State Library)When digging through archives for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Roadtripping Through Illinois on Route 66
Created in partnership with Enjoy Illinois and the Illinois Obscura Society. While popular culture tends to associate Route 66 with the West, its roots are solidly Illinois.During our adventure, we...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Culvert Road in Medina, New York
The man-made Erie Canal was created to allow easier access from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes region and all stops in between. A number of bridges cross the canal, but there is only one way to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile Site in Cooperstown, North Dakota
Cold War America is on full display at the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile Site, North Dakota’s coolest State Historic Site.The Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility and the November-33 Launch Facility are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Man Who Sailed Across the Atlantic... Without the Benefit of Fingers
A portrait of Howard Blackburn, now at the Cape Ann Museum (Photo: Ben Furnas)In the city of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Howard Blackburn was famous for not having any fingers.Although, it wasn't so...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Aurora Hunters Who Spend All Year Chasing the Lights
Aurora from Andoya island, Norway. (Photo: Arctic light - Frank Olsen/WikiCommons CC BY-SA 3.0)When the sky turned red over Laramie, Wyoming, Todd Salat had never seen anything like it. Oh my gosh, he...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Lawn Day’s Journey from Scythes and Donkeys to Power Mowers
A donkey-drawn lawn mower. (Photo: Paul Townsend/flickr)A version of this post originally appeared on the Tedium newsletter.The recent drought that has gripped the state of California—and kept a lot of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I Spent 4 Years Working at Drunken, Decadent Debutante Balls in New Orleans
A debutante ball in the 1930s. (Photo: Public Domain/WikiCommons)“I'm deeply reconsidering my career choice,” a distraught fellow lighting designer tells me. It's 5 a.m. on the morning of a massive...
View ArticleClik here to view.
FOUND: A Super-Sized Stonehenge
How the stones might have looked before they were buried (Image: LBI ArchPro, Juan Torrejón Valdelomar, Joachim Brandtner)Just under two miles from Stonehenge, there's another large monument called...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Military Technical Museum of Lesany in Týnec nad Sázavou, Czech Republic
The Military Technical Museum of Lesany (or Vojenské technické muzeum Lešany) 'is a remarkable museum located near Prague. It houses over 400 military vehicles, mostly tanks, but also missile systems,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Objects of Intrigue: Teaching Machines of the 20th Century
Sidney Pressey's 1920s teaching machine. (Photo: Gomer Bolstrood/Public domain)Classrooms where each student learns by staring intensely at their own gadget may seem to be a millennial phenomenon. But...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fleeting Wonders: The Hottest September 8th On Record?
Fall is now officially ice cream season. (Photo: Ruth Hartnup/Flickr)If you hear someone groaning “this is the hottest day ever” today, they may be correct—within certain parameters. As the weather...
View Article