October 25, 2021

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Nicolas Cage's Pyramid Tomb Nicolas Cage has a history with the city of New Orleans, having purchased the infamously haunted LaLaurie Mansion, historic Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel, and now an unnamed tomb in the city’s beloved St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, home to the grave of another of New Orleans’ supernatural heavies, Marie Laveau. Is the pyramid a nod to the National Treasure movies? Or is it a tip-off to his alleged ties to the probably-fictitious secret Illuminati society? We may never know. READ MORE → GASTRO OBSCURA ‘Witch Cakes’ Depending on whom you ask, the Salem Witch Trials were the result of fear, confusion, psychological trauma, or possibly even a hallucinogenic fungus. But as the fervor was just beginning, the village reverend blamed another culprit: cake. The cake in question was an anti-witchcraft cake, baked using flour and the bewitched’s urine before being fed to a dog. And according to one source we interviewed, it looks just like a spiky bagel. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA EXPERIENCES | HALLOWEEK Monster of the Month: Bunnyman Who–or what–is this terrifying menace lurking under the Colchester Overpass in Fairfax County, Virginia? Why is he dressed like that? And where did he get that axe? Join Colin Dickey to unravel the mystery of the Bunnyman of Fairfax County, a suitably Halloween-esque Monster of the Month. GET TICKETS → FRIGHT CLUB Scattered Body Parts Though it might sound macabre, the collection, preservation, and display of bits of human bodies is common across cultures around the world. The practice can be commemorative, in the form of small keepsakes or impressive trophies. It can be used as a form of dominance or humiliation, or come about as the result of scientific endeavors. These preserved body parts—whether they were embalmed and sealed in a golden case or accidentally preserved by the acidic environment of a peat bog—have a strange allure about them, offering a tangible connection to the past. READ MORE → A Tale of Dragons Scott Bruce—a medieval historian and also the editor of Penguin Classics anthologies on hell and the undead—knows a thing or two about what scares us. His latest collection, The Penguin Book of Dragons (October 2021), is a guide to the fantastic beasts and where to find them in the world’s mythological and literary traditions. From 19th-century newspaper reports of monsters in America’s Wild West to ancient Japanese beasts that were more worried about giant centipedes than puny human weapons, Bruce explores how the idea of what a dragon is varies by place and time—something that it shares with our notions of the afterlife. We spoke with Bruce about ghosts, gravedigging, and why we need dragons. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA EXPERIENCES | HALLOWEEK Pick Your Path at the Academy of Natural Sciences You’re in control! Through a series of audience polls, you get to decide where we stop and what we discover at the Academy of Natural Sciences, making this live, online tour truly one-of-a-kind! Will we pay a visit to a two-headed cat in the wet specimens collection or stop by a giant, wooden-eyed fish? You decide! GET TICKETS → NAGASAKI, JAPAN Gunkanjima Island Few places in the world have a history as odd, or as poignant as Gunkanjima’s. The tiny, fortress-like island (also known as “Hashima” or “Battleship Island”) lies just off the coast of Nagasaki. The island is ringed by a seawall, covered in tightly packed buildings, and entirely abandoned—a ghost town that has been completely uninhabited for more than forty years. READ MORE → FROM THE ARCHIVES The Mystery of a Lonely Skull In 2015, cave explorers inching through a vertical passage in northern Italy’s Marcel Loubens Cave discovered a partial human skull. The cranium was missing its jawbone, and sat upended on a slim ledge near the top of the shaft. No other human remains were found there, and there was no sign of who might have placed the skull there, or when, or why. But scientists have finally cracked the code of the lonely skull. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA TRIPS Spain's Orange Blossom Coast Sink into the rhythms of the Mediterranean along Spain’s Costa de Azahar, or Orange Blossom Coast. Seek out hidden gems while visiting off-the-beaten-path towns. Whether walking among 2,000-year-old olive trees, watching a pilota match, or viewing an art collection in a small medieval village—this is slow travel at its best! VIEW FULL ITINERARY → JÖNKÖPING N, SWEDEN Visingsö Oak Forest Going back to the Vikings, oak trees have been used in Sweden for vessels of all kinds, including naval ships. With this in mind, in the early 19th century, the Swedish Crown sent out a delegation to search for ideal spots to plant for future ship production. Visingsö, a narrow island in the middle of Vättern (Sweden’s second largest lake), was selected for its nearly perfect conditions for lumber production, but unfortunately, by the time the trees were ready almost 150 years later, ships had long been converted to steel. READ MORE → OMACHI, JAPAN Jibachi Senbei In the Japanese village of Omachi, elderly wasp hunters set traps in the forest. The digger wasps they ensnare are intended for jibachi senbei—rice crackers with a smattering of wasps baked into every bite. The insect-studded snack is the brainchild of a Japanese fan club for wasps and a local cracker-baker. READ MORE → SPONSORED BY LOUISIANA OFFICE OF TOURISM Restless Spirits of Louisiana If ghost stories help us confront a harrowing past, it’s no surprise that Louisiana is filled to the brim. From a ghostly cathedral to supernatural sawmills, there's so much hidden history to discover in this unique itinerary of restless spirits in the Pelican State. READ MORE →