October 24, 2022

REAL-LIFE HORROR  Utah’s Eerie Stone Cross  For decades a crudely constructed, 20-foot-tall cement and stone cross stood in a hollow on the northern outskirts of Kaysville, Utah. Marked with a large letter K in the center, the cross was known to locals as Kay’s Cross. Its secluded location, unknown origins, and proximity to the Kaysville Cemetery made Kay’s Cross a fixture of urban legend—though the strange, awful truth behind it is more bizarre than the legends that sprang up around it.  READ MORE → GASTRO OBSCURA Ancient Bread, Modern Xbox Like many of us during the pandemic, Seamus Blackley tweeted a photo of homemade sourdough while stuck at home. But unlike many of us, Blackley is no novice, and that wasn’t an ordinary loaf of sourdough. A trained physicist and video game producer credited with inventing the Xbox, Blackley is also an experienced baker and amateur Egyptologist, and this sourdough was the culmination of a year-long passion project that produced a loaf of bread not eaten for millenia. READ MORE → FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS Stone's Bridge In New England and the northeastern United States, there is no shortage of old historic bridges. However, there is one bridge along the Sudbury River that not only leads to nowhere—but people are not allowed on it. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Design a Whimsical Dinner Party Artist and chef Jen Monroe will guide you through designing a beautiful, bizarre feast fit for a festive gathering, intimate dinner, or whatever eating experience you may be dreaming up. We’ll discuss the art of art-directing your own dinner—walking through visual elements, ingredient inspiration, and recipe development. ENROLL TODAY → FROM MONSTER TO MASCOT A Bayou Beast’s Makeover According to Cajun legend, there’s a ferocious monster that lurks in the woods and wetlands of southern Louisiana. The rougarou, usually described as a towering, hairy monster, is allegedly a human cursed to take beastly form. But its story is changing, along with the coastal wetlands it has long called home. As the stomping grounds for the rougarou have disappeared, so have tales about the beast—until one man made it his mission to save both. READ MORE → BUFFALO, NEW YORK Abandoned Wonder Bread Factory The Wonder Bread Factory, built in 1923, was once an industrial icon of Buffalo’s East Side. While it was in operation, the facility produced that classic midcentury staple, making the surrounding neighborhood smell faintly of bread. The factory is abandoned today, with just enough fading letters intact to make out its former name. READ MORE → SPONSORED BY LOS ANGELES TOURISM Venice Beach’s Outsider Art Long a haunt of beat poets and counterculture artists, Venice Beach was originally founded by a dreaming developer named Abbott Kinney who modeled it on romantic Venice, Italy—complete with moats and gondoliers. Over the decades it has become a hub for people who love its reputation of an easy lifestyle and celebration of risk-taking creativity. Here are nine places to get your creativity flowing. LEARN MORE → ‘TIS THE SEASON 5 Haunted House Stories Haunted houses are so popular that selling a home that is reported to have paranormal activity isn’t all that hard. As author Dan Nosowitz writes, “sometimes a haunting can be a turn-off, but it all depends on the market and, well, the ghosts.” In other words, not all haunted spaces are the same. Take a tour through the troubling histories and fraught futures of some of the world’s scariest places in these Atlas Obscura stories. READ MORE → NIENHAGEN, GERMANY Gespensterwald (Ghost Forest) The Gespensterwald (“Ghost Forest” in English) is located in Nienhagen, Germany, right next to the Baltic Sea. During the day, the forest is filled with dappled light and the sounds of woodland creatures. But at night, the trees sometimes look like they’ve been pulled straight from a horror movie. READ MORE →