The Ugliest Orchid Take a moment today to have a moment of sympathy for Gastrodia agnicellus, which was just playfully dubbed as “the ugliest orchid in the world.” To nab the superlative, G. agnicellus beat out a lot of competition: There are roughly 28,000 naturally occurring orchid species and more than 100,000 bred hybrids. Unfortunately for poor G. agnicellus, many of the other contestants happen to be ravishing, and G. agnicellus’s flowers are fleshy and tube-shaped. Appearances aside, however, this orchid is one of 156 species that the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, named this year, and it’s a reminder of the astonishing array of life on Earth.  READ MORE →

FROM THE ARCHIVES The World’s ‘Fried Chicken Capital’ You can only try pohovana piletina in two places. One is Vojvodina, Serbia, where the unique style of fried chicken was born. The other is Ohio, where “Barberton-style fried chicken,” as it’s known there, became one town’s claim to fame. What started as a comforting meal for an immigrant family came to define a community, turning a humble Ohio town into the “Fried Chicken Capital of the World.” READ MORE →

DAWSON CITY, YUKON Dawson City Museum Nestled along the banks of the Yukon River, Dawson City stands as if frozen in time, preserving for the world the colorful legacy of the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 19th-century. This history is chronicled in the Dawson City Museum, a testament to life in Dawson and the rush to strike it big in the adjacent goldfields. Fun fact: The museum also doubles as the local courthouse. READ MORE →

ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Write Your Own Murder Mystery Party Always wanted to write your own whodunnit caper? We've got a course for that. In this five-part lecture series, writer Abi Inman will walk you through researching, writing, and hosting your own murder mystery party. After all, nothing brings people together quite like donning a costume and trying to solve an elaborate fictional murder. ENROLL NOW →

FROM THE ARCHIVES Protecting Olive Trees In the sleepy Palestinian village of Al Walaja, on the outskirts of Bethlehem, Salah Abu Ali wakes every morning to tend to his family’s orchard. This is where Ali spends most of his day, pumping water from the spring above or tending to the soil. It is where he sometimes sleeps at night, and where he hosts people that have made the pilgrimage to the Holy Land—many of whom have come for the tree, an olive tree that some believe to be the oldest in the world. READ MORE →

ODENSE, DENMARK St. Canute's Cathedral Despite its regal, elegant appearance, the site of this church has a dark history. It’s named after Danish King Canute IV, who ruled Denmark from 1080 to 1086, and was murdered at this location. According to legend, Canute—along with his brother, Benedict, and 17 followers—was killed in the cathedral when he tried to force the Jutland peasants to form a war party and attack England. READ MORE →

GABLENZ, GERMANY Rakotzbrücke Devil's Bridge Nestled among the verdant foliage in Kromlau, Germany’s Kromlauer Park, is a delicately arched devil’s bridge known as the Rakotzbrücke, which was specifically built to create a circle when it is reflected in the waters beneath it. Like many similarly precarious spans across Europe, the Rakotzbrücke is known as a “devil’s bridge,” due to the colloquialism that such bridges were so dangerous or miraculous that they must have been built by Satan. READ MORE →

ALCOVA, WYOMING Devil’s Gate This rock formation was once a noticeable feature of the frontier, serving as a landmark for fur traders and the westward emigrant trails of the 1800s. The Oregon, Mormon, and California Trails all came through the area. The Devil’s Gate might’ve earned its name because it’s believed to be the site of several murders, giving it a bedeviled reputation, but according to a report in 1843, the name derives from legends of a beast that prevented local Native Americans from hunting in the area. When a brave warrior decided to hunt the beast, the monster became enraged and tore a cleft in the rock with its tusks and escaped. READ MORE →

SPONSORED BY NISSAN The Road to Sky’s the Limit For all of the images of Hollywood glamour, beach living, and beautiful people, Southern California has a lot of peculiarities that don’t get nearly as much attention. This route from Los Angeles to Twentynine Palms—ending at the volunteer-run observatory of Sky’s the Limit—seeks out the strange and novel, providing a refreshing foil to SoCal clichés. READ MORE →