December 30, 2022

Thanks For Being With Us! Time flies when you’re having fun. With the end of 2022 in sight, we’re taking a look back at some of our favorite stories this year. This year, we explored 1,500 places from every corner of the world, learned about amazing science breakthroughs, and met fascinating folks, from daring circus performers to beekeepers fighting to protect a sacred honeybee. It’s been an amazing 2022, and we want to thank you for being with us every step of the way! Onwards to more wonder in 2023—but before you go, check out some good luck traditions. It couldn’t hurt to try some of these.  SEE ALL STORIES → FOR GOOD FORTUNE Lemon Pigs Every so often you’ll see lemon pigs all over social media—a New Year’s tradition to ring in the New Year. But there isn’t an actual, long-held tradition—instead, the lemon pig has a stranger backstory. And a certain appeal that seems to result in them trending about once every 50 years. READ MORE → FOR *MORE* GOOD FORTUNE Twelve Grapes When clocks strike midnight on New Year’s Eve in Spain and parts of Latin America, many revelers are too busy to pop champagne, set off fireworks, or kiss their spouse. Instead, they’re stuffing 12 green grapes in their mouths—an attempt to ward off bad luck in the new year. Eating one grape at each of midnight’s 12 clock chimes guarantees you a lucky year—if and only if you simultaneously ruminate on their significance. READ MORE → AND FOR EVEN MORE GOOD FORTUNE Walk For Luck Picture a dark, gloomy forest on a winter’s night, silent aside from the delicate crunch of crisp snow under your feet. You’ve spent all day in darkness, avoiding eating, drinking, or socializing, and told no one of your plans. Now it’s midnight, the only things separating you from your objective are the woods and a handful of threatening creatures who want to lead you astray. That is, according to folklore, how some adventurous Swedes have spent the first moments of a new year. READ MORE → YEAR IN WONDER 2022’s Best Mysteries Okay, enough looking to the future. We’re taking a look back over this year, specifically over our favorite mysteries. Here at Atlas Obscura, we love hunting for answers to some of the surprising mysteries that have perplexed historians, scientists, artists, and treasure hunters for decades. In 2022, we found debunked urban legends (the truth was far weirder), a new plant species, a very important misspelling, and, possibly, at least one elaborate prank. Dig in. READ MORE → YEAR IN WONDER For Science! We like to think that science is a journey, not a destination. It’s an endless process of collecting data, devising a hypothesis, and then testing it from every angle like a velociraptor probing its enclosure fence. And it can get messy. Just ask the paleontologists who had to push their stuck truck out of the mud on the way to a remote dig where finding fossilized poop would be their greatest success. More of our favorite science stories from scientists in the field—in all their messy glory—at the link below. READ MORE → YEAR IN WONDER Our Favorite Illustrations We tell a lot of unusual stories at Atlas Obscura, and some of them present a unique challenge: How do you make a story about blood jam, radioactive cats, or a lanky, bird-like mountain monster come alive visually? Well, we called upon the imaginative skills of artists around the world to bring these subjects to life. They bring a wide variety of styles to our work, but never fail to deliver on something arresting and evocative. Here are some of our favorite illustrated stories of the year. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA PUZZLES Ring It In Crossword Thanks for joining in with our puzzles every week! Closing out this year is a crossword from creator Stella Zawistowski and editor Laura Braunstein, members of Inkubator. Grab your friends and family and try your hand at solving this puzzle today. PLAY NOW → ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Curate a Personal Collection Join Alexis Hyde, former curator and Director of the Museum of Broken Relationships in Los Angeles, to explore what museums and collections really are, how they take shape, and how to responsibly curate one of your own. Over the course of four weeks, you’ll not only become a more engaged museum-goer, but also a better docent of your lived experience and the world around you, incorporating museum systems and philosophies into your own life. LEARN MORE →