September 09, 2022

GASTRO OBSCURA  The Ban on Sliced Bread  The year was 1943, and Americans were in crisis. Across the Atlantic, war with Germany was raging. On the home front, homemakers were facing a very different sort of challenge: a nationwide ban on sliced bread, which was just one of many resource-conserving campaigns during World War II. The ban was declared on January 18, 1943; less than a week after the ban, the whole thing began to unravel.  READ MORE → SPY SAGAS Wartime Knitting Spies Whether women knitted codes into fabric or used stereotypes of knitting women as a cover, there’s a history between knitting and espionage. During World War I, where there were knitters, there were often spies; a pair of eyes, watching between the click of two needles to perform steganography, a way to hide a message physically. Spies could pass on a custom piece of fabric and read the secret message, buried in the innocent warmth of a scarf or hat. READ MORE → HELSINKI, FINLAND MiG-21 BIS on Verkkokauppa What do you expect to find at an electronics store? Cables, certainly, gadgets and gizmos aplenty, electronic equipment, maybe even a computer or two. Rarely do you find a military jet airplane on top of the store. And yet, that’s exactly what you’ll find at the flagship store of Vekkokauppa in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Horror Story Writing In this four-part seminar, trace the roots of the horror genre and begin crafting a story of your own. Award-winning author and lifelong horror fan Nino Cipri will be your guide through the process, from generating ideas to the final revision and submission process. Along the way, we’ll talk about horror’s roots in oral traditions, embracing and subverting tropes, and why we keep coming back to horror. ENROLL NOW → LINKS TO THE PAST Boston’s Long Island Boston Harbor’s Long Island is home to a picturesque church, the ruins of a Cold War-era Nike missile launch site, a cluster of vacant brick buildings, and more than a dozen concrete pillars, the ruins of a bridge that once linked Long Island to the mainland. These ruins are a symbol to some: Politicians see a rebuilt viaduct as a bridge to the future, while for others, the haunting ruins of the viaduct form a bridge to the past, with fears that construction could destroy Native American graves and other links to a millennia-old history, including a 17th-century genocide. READ MORE → ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA Rock Hill's Poetree This humble tree, located down an alleyway in the heart of Rock Hill, South Carolina, is blooming year-round with scribbles from its visitors. Its branches are equipped with strings and clips, inviting those who stumble upon it to contribute their own writings. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to contribute to the Poetree. READ MORE → THE ATLAS OBSCURA PODCAST Fairhaven Historic Markers In this episode, we pay a visit to Fairhaven, Washington, where, like in a lot of historic neighborhoods, the sidewalks are studded with small plaques dedicated to local history. But the markers in Fairhaven are a little bit darker and a little bit weirder than you might find elsewhere. LISTEN ON OUR SITE →    LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS →    LISTEN ON SPOTIFY →    LISTEN ON STITCHER → SWEET TREATS Japan’s Fruit Sandwiches Stroll the aisles of any Japanese convenience store, and you’ll find that furutsu sando, or fruit sandwiches, are a common sight. Cooks carefully arrange the fruit so that slicing the sandwich reveals geometric or even flowery patterns, suspended in the cream. But fruit sandwiches aren’t a modern invention—they have roots dating back to the second half of the 19th century. READ MORE → URIBANTE, VENEZUELA The Drowned Church of Potosi Between 1985 and 2008, fishermen and daytrippers traveling by boat along the lake formed by the Uribante Reservoir in Táchira, Venezuela would be presented with an unusual and eerie sight: a lone and mildewed cross rising crookedly out of the water. But then the cross started to rise higher and higher out of the water. It turned out that the cross was literally just the tip of something much more massive. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA TRIPS See Iceland’s Spectacular Winter Between strange encounters with peculiar elves and supernatural creatures, Icelanders have their fair share of mythical tales. Join us as we traverse the paths of ancient legends, guided by experts as they reveal the geologic, human, and mystical history of this land—topping it off with the appearance of the otherworldly glow of the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights). BOOK THIS TRIP →