Best Atlas Obscura Podcasts (2025)

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12 Days of Wonder: Hot Ale Flip 10:46

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5h ago10:46

10:46

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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.By SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura

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12 Days of Wonder: Empress Anna's Ice Palace 17:07

1d ago17:07

17:07

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? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.…

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WWDTM: Andy Richter 48:44

2d ago48:44

48:44

We're live in Phoenix with special guest Andy Richter and panelists Alonzo Bodden, Luke Burbank, and Shantira Jackson! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

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Episode 239: Blank Pages 18:03

1h ago18:03

18:03

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm. The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit …

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12 Days of Wonder: Toy Story 13:09

5d ago13:09

13:09

Mexico City is known for its museum and art scene. The collection at El Museo del Juguete Antiguo – The Antique Toy Museum – encourages visitors to lean into their imaginations – and reflect on the rich history and culture in this city. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of per…

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12 Days of Wonder: Tumbleweed Christmas Tree 14:12

5d ago14:12

14:12

This is how you do Christmas in the desert. Every year, the city of Chandler, Arizona creates a Christmas Tree made entirely of the diaspore of this Western plant. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.…

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The Last Seltzer Factory in Brooklyn 11:04

7d ago11:04

11:04

Seltzer has been around for thousands of years. And one factory in Brooklyn, New York called the Brooklyn Seltzer Boys is preserving the history of this simple drink. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.…

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Fasnacht 13:36

7d ago13:36

13:36

Around 60 people live full time in the town of Helvetia, West Virginia. But once a year, the population swells to 20 times its size – when masked revelers dressed as moons, suns, monsters, possums, and everything in between descend. This is Fasnacht, a Swiss-German celebration of Fat Tuesday that was brought to the area by immigrants in the 19th ce…

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A Blue-Green Glow in Orange, New Jersey 16:44

9d ago16:44

16:44

In the early 1920s, walking around Orange, New Jersey at night, you might have seen young women coming out of a factory, with hair, skin and clothes softly glowing in the dark. Some called them “ghost girls.” Newspapers would later call them “radium girls” because the glow on these women came from radium-based paint that they used to make glow-in-t…

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WWDTM: Paul Giamatti, Laufey, and more! 47:16

10d ago47:16

47:16

This week, we celebrate Thanksgiving with some of the segments we're most grateful for Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

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Coqui Snacks 12:01

10d ago12:01

12:01

When you think of Orlando, Florida and the area around it, a certain cartoon mouse might come to mind. But in recent decades the area has also become a destination for Latin American food and culture. Today we visit Coqui Snacks, a cozy snack shop in Kissimmee offering up classic Puerto Rican comfort foods…including a popsicle called a limber, whic…

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The Hand Collection (Classic) 8:49

11d ago8:49

8:49

You can learn a lot about a person from their hands. In this episode, we hear the story of a doctor who made it possible for us to hold onto the stories of presidents, astronauts, musicians, artists and more… through bronze molds of their hands. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/adrian-e-flatt-m-d-hand-collection Hosted by…

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Thanksgiving Special: Church of Turkey 15:28

12d ago15:28

15:28

Gastro Obscura writer Sam O’Brien takes co-host Kelly McEvers on a tour of the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous tributes to the turkey – and makes her case for why these big, beautiful birds are worth paying attention to. Read Sam’s article on the history of the turkey: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/history-of-the-turkey-thanksgivi…

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HTDE: Carsickness And Traffic Jams 19:58

13d ago19:58

19:58

Ian and Mike look to the skies to help a listener solve her problem with motion sickness. Plus, a survivor of the longest recorded traffic jam in history shares how she got through it. You can email your burning questions to [email protected]. How To Do Everything won’t live in this feed forever. If you like what you hear, scoot on over to their very o…

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Weaving Together the History of Carpets 22:00

14d ago22:00

22:00

Carpets are everyday objects we rarely stop to think about. But they’re far more than decoration or something soft to step on. Each one holds an origin story – threads that run through centuries of history, connecting small villages of master weavers to sprawling, power-hungry empires. Historian Dorothy Armstrong, author of Threads of Empire: A His…

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From The Memory Palace Audiobook: Fine New England Granite 17:53

9d ago17:53

17:53

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Buy the audiobook wherever you get audiobooks (like libro.fm!) The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a …

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The Bottle Tree Ranch 14:09

15d ago14:09

14:09

When Elliott Long’s dad started planting a forest of “bottle trees” with trunks of steel and old bottles for leaves, Elliott immediately understood that one day, it would be his job to keep his dad’s forest alive. He wanted nothing to do with it. And then his dad died, and Elliott had a decision to make. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. Se…

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Frozen Dead Guy (Classic) 17:01

16d ago17:01

17:01

Atop a mountain in a picturesque Colorado town is the frozen corpse of a Norwegian grandpa. We get the tale of how this came to be, from the person who for years has trekked up and down the mountain for this unique preservation mission. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/frozen-dead-guy-days Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz…

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WWDTM: Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper 47:51

13d ago47:51

47:51

This week, Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper join Joyelle Nicole Johnson, Zach Zimmerman, and Faith Salie Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

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The Atlas Obscura Podcast Presents: The Detour 14:22

18d ago14:22

14:22

Today, we’re sharing an episode from The Detour: a show about going places, that actually goes places. Host Sam O’Brien and geologist Becky Nesel take a trip to the Shawangunk Mountains (aka the Gunks) just a couple hours north of New York City. And Becky shows Sam what makes these mountains unique – including an incredibly rare ecosystem that migh…

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Italy’s Bomb Squad (Classic) 12:28

18d ago12:28

12:28

We chat with writer Alessio Perrone about what he learned from the people who hunt for Italy’s unexploded bombs, leftover from times of war. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/italy-unexploded-ordnance Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal da…

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The Revolutionary Life of the Black-Owned Bookstore with Char Adams 26:25

20d ago26:25

26:25

Char Adams is the author of Black Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore. She chronicles Black-owned bookstores in America – from David Ruggles, all the way to the stores that opened up in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter uprisings. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection an…

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The Museum of Yogurt 16:20

21d ago16:20

16:20

In 1905, a Bulgarian named Stamen Grigorov made a discovery. Inspired by a wave of researchers studying the secret to long life, he decided to put under the microscope a food that he ate daily: yogurt. Today, the Bulgarian bacteria he found is memorialized in a one-of-a-kind museum in his hometown. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.…

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The Chinampas in Xochimilco 15:20

22d ago15:20

15:20

Reporter Teresa de Miguel joins host Kelly McEvers to talk to her about these floating gardens called Chinapas in Xochimilco, Mexico City. Today, many of these chinampas are vanishing but efforts are being made to preserve them. This story Teresa reported was a collaboration between the Associated Press and Mongabay . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWi…

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Snake Island (Classic) 13:55

23d ago13:55

13:55

A tiny island off the coast of Brazil is known for being a dangerous place … purely because its inhabitants are, well, snakes. But we speak to a researcher who’s seen it up close and says it’s time for this place to shed its reputation. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/snake-island-ilha-de-queimada-grande Hosted by Simple…

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WWDTM: Tiffany Haddish 47:04

20d ago47:04

47:04

This week, Tiffany Haddish joins panelists Brian Babylon, Paula Poundstone, and Roxanne Roberts Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy