November 01, 2022

UNDERSTANDING CITIES What’s Hiding Under Venice?  For centuries, Venice has struggled to make room for its dead. That makes sense, right? When you’re a city built on water, there’s inherently less space when it comes to burials. Venetians used whatever limited space they could find in the city’s 117 islands—even today, some churches, piazzas, and palazzos are built on top of preexisting burial sites. Which was a problem, as you can imagine, when the plague came to town over the centuries.  READ MORE → OCCULT HISTORY Female and Nonbinary Occultists On Thursday, April 18, 1985, Nancy Reagan sat down for tea with an unusual friend, Joan Quiggly. Quiggly happened to be discussing the previous night’s dinner before they got down to business—the president’s schedule. Would this weekend trip to Camp David be a good one? Should they avoid, say, horses? That friend was Joan Quiggly, a psychic medium, who wasn’t even the first medium to hold sway over American politics. In their new book, Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult, Lisa Kröger and Melanie Anderson trace the women and nonbinary people who have shaped the occult—and used it to gain personal and political power. READ MORE → LEGENDS AND MYSTERIES Most Mysterious Graves Usually, graves are pretty straightforward. They tell you the birthdate and death date of the individual, and are often accompanied by a tidbit of information to help flesh out the person’s life. But then there are stranger markers—like a grave marking the death of a witch on a day that never happened. Or a grave for an individual named “XYZ.” Either way, legends and mysteries abound here. READ MORE → OUR NEW GIFT OF WONDER Pre-Order A Holiday Gift Now As the holiday season approaches, you’re probably thinking about what to get your loved ones. (Look at you—so prepared!) We’re here to help. Introducing the Explorer’s Library, an exclusive, limited edition box set that combines our two New York Timesbestselling adventure guides, Atlas Obscura and Gastro Obscura, into one beautiful package. And for more wonder, try The Atlas Obscura 2023 Page-A-Day Calendar, with 365 days of unexpected adventure. Perfect for the curious adventurer in your life—or even you!  PRE-ORDER NOW → GASTRO OBSCURA A Cookbook for the End of the World As the temperatures rise, forests burn, and water and arable land become increasingly scarce, it’s inevitable that humankind may have to get creative with how we might feed ourselves. Enter The Anthropocene Cookbook: Recipes and Opportunities for Future Catastrophes, a recently published book of photos and essays that features more than 60 mind-bending ideas that may help us survive the end of the world. READ MORE → MELROSE, SCOTLAND The Sir William Wallace Statue William Wallace was considered one of Scotland’s great heroes, the “Guardian of Scotland” and played a hugely important role in the battle against England for Scottish independence. This statue was commissioned by the 11th Earl of Buchan to represent the man affectionately known as “Braveheart,” and was erected in 1814. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES November Courses Our lineup of November courses offer deep and dynamic learning experiences across a variety of underexplored disciplines—from lockpicking and experimental perfumery to marbling and fairytale writing. Designed and taught by subject-matter experts, these courses will equip you with the perspectives and skills you need to begin practicing a new, niche craft rarely taught elsewhere, or to bring what you've learned into your community. SEE ALL NOVEMBER COURSES → DIVINATION DESSERTS Fortune-Telling Cakes From the 1700s up to the mid-1900s, some young, unmarried women across the United Kingdom and North America engaged in baking “dumb cakes”—a part of an enormous tradition of soothsaying foodstuffs. The goal: to discover the identity of their future husbands with what one encyclopedia called “a dreaming bread.” It was more like a spooky, complicated sleepover game, where the girls hoped to see their future husbands in a dream. READ MORE → TORONTO, ONTARIO The Little House This is the smallest house in all of Toronto and, probably, a larger area. Is it a spite house? A house for dolls? Not quite. It’s a simple story, really—a contractor noticed the tiny open lot, and decided to build on it. READ MORE → SPONSORED BY MORNING BREW Get Smarter in 5 Minutes Join over 4 million people who read Morning Brew - the daily email covering the latest news across business, finance, and tech. It’s free & only takes 5 minutes to read so that you can get all of the most relevant updates and move on with your day. LEARN MORE →