FROM THE ARCHIVES America’s Deadliest Tree Do not eat the fruit on this tree. Do not touch the tree trunk or any branches. Do not stand under or even near the tree for any length of time whatsoever. Do not touch your eyes while near the tree. This is the manchineel, known sometimes as the beach apple, or more accurately in Spanish-speaking countries as la manzanilla de la muerte, which translates to “the little apple of death,” or as arbol de la muerte, “tree of death.” The name speaks for itself, really. READ MORE → VAIAKU, TUVALU Funafuti Airport Airstrip Despite its white sand beaches and lively coral reefs, Tuvalu is the least visited country in the world. That’s not particularly surprising when you consider there is only a single, weekly flight to and from the remote island every Tuesday. The other six days of the week, the runway at Funafuti International Airport transforms into a public park. READ MORE → GASTRO OBSCURA The World’s Oldest Tree Consider the gingko, a tree of paradoxes. They drop infamously smelly fruit, yet line city streets; the seeds are delicious, yet underutilized; and it’s commonplace, but also the oldest living tree species on earth, an actual “living fossil” that people regularly walk by without a second thought. The fossil record shows that ginkgo biloba trees existed in their current form as far as the Middle Jurassic Period, or 170 million years ago. READ MORE → GASTRO OBSCURA COURSES Recreating Ancient Recipes Turn your kitchen into a vessel for gastronomic time travel! Become a culinary archaeologist using historical recipes and modern ingredients to create dishes from ancient Mesopotamia, ancient Rome, and the Mediterranean Middle Ages. Join Vacation With An Artist (VAWAA) along with culinary historian Ursula Janssen and learn the art of recreating ancient dishes. ENROLL NOW → GASTRO OBSCURA Dining Among the Dead There are plenty of precedents for dining among the dead. After what was likely a public viewing of King Midas’s coffin, ancient Phrygian mourners ate spicy stew, then sealed the king in his tomb. During the rural cemetery movement of the 1800s, Americans picnicked beside the graves of loved ones. And today, Mexican families bring food to panteónes as offerings for returning spirits and for their own nourishment on Day of the Dead. But there’s no need to wait for a holiday or funeral to participate in this ancient tradition; there are several restaurants open year-round that operate inside cemeteries, crypts, and crematories. READ MORE → XILITLA, MEXICO Leonora Carrington Museum The museum galleries are haunted by a veritable menagerie of bronze sculptures both small and enormous. They portray strange and nightmarish phantasmagoric entities that look like they could belong in Guillermo Del Toro movie Pan’s Labyrinth. However, these eerie gothic masterpieces are the artistic legacy of Leonora Carrington, one of the most prolific artists in Surrealism whose work is little-known outside of Mexico. READ MORE → THE ATLAS OBSCURA PODCAST Cueva de Los Tayos In 1976, a group of explorers descended into a cave in Ecuador. They were searching for treasure in a cave that was rumored to contain piles of gold, otherworldly sculptures, and a metal library filled with extraterrestrial lost treasures. More than a hundred people signed up for the hunt, including government officials, scientists, professional cavers, and Neil Armstrong. Spoiler: the cave didn’t contain any alien wonders. But it did hold something just as rare. LISTEN ON OUR SITE →    LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS →    LISTEN ON SPOTIFY →    LISTEN ON STITCHER → FRIGHT CLUB Dracula Lives! A.W.S. Rosenbach was the best-known book collector and dealer of the late 19th and early 20th century. He loved Sherlock Holmes and the works of Lewis Carroll—both of which are well represented in museum that was established in his will—but he probably wouldn’t have been into the pieces that are now among the most famous in the collection: more than 100 pages of Bram Stoker’s original notes on Dracula and an expanding collection of early vampire literature. READ MORE → MEYBOD, IRAN Yakhchāls Though they look like giant clay beehives, these structures in the deserts of Persia were used to make something much more needed in ancient times: ice. The giant conical structures allowed ice to be made and collected during the colder months and used throughout the year for things like preserving food and making faloodeh, a traditional Persian frozen dessert made with thin noodles and semi-frozen syrup. READ MORE →