Author: Ms. R.

Nestled deep within the wilds of Stanley Park stands the Two Spirits carving. The mysterious statue follows the guerrilla art movement championed by artists like Banksy. In this vein, no artist has claimed to have created it and Stanley Park government officials refuse to recognize it.  The statue is a rebellion and speaks to the untamed spirit of Stanley Park itself. Carved into a decomposing stump, the face morphs and changes as you walk around the carving. From one angle,……

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Though most people associate American celebrations of Mardi Gras with New Orleans, the pre-Lenten festival was actually first observed in the New World by French settlers at Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff, which eventually grew into the city of Mobile, Alabama. This museum, which opened in 2005, tells the story of how the Mardi Gras evolved from that first celebration in 1703 into the modern tradition. The museum is filled with displays, photographs, posters, and more, but one of its biggest draws……

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Situated in Tainan’s massive Taijiang National Park, between Sicao Green Tunnel, one of the city’s most popular tourist destinations, and the imposing, 300-year-old Dazhong Temple, a small, unassuming building contains two complete sperm whale skeletons—a beached mother and child, now exhibited with charming red bows in the hollows of their skulls. The skeletons form the centerpiece of the exhibition hall, but around the perimeter glass cases contain numerous preserved specimens of marine life, including seashells, crabs, baby sharks, tropical……

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. Earlier this spring we shared the story of the city of Melbourne’s program to track trees, which morphed into a love fest. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we hear from you, with your love letters to trees that play a special role in your life. Want to be in an upcoming Atlas Obscura episode? We’re collecting listener stories right now about traveling with……

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THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE MAY 18, 2024, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. Music is all about context. The same high-energy track that keeps you moving at a concert might feel disruptive and annoying if blasted at a restaurant. A 2018 study published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Sciences even found that the louder a restaurant’s music is, the more likely customers are to order unhealthy foods, possibly……

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The Ostrich is a quaint coaching inn in the quiet Berkshire village of Colnbrook, Slough. Many sources claim the establishment is England’s third-oldest inn, dating it back to 1106, though others say it may only be as old as the 16th century. Beyond being one of England’s oldest, it is also often claimed to be one of the most haunted. The story goes, that in the 17th century, the inn was owned by a landlord named Jarman. With the……

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In Siberia’s Yana Highlands, a chunk of land roughly the shape of a giant stingray has been sinking down into a very large pit. Called the Doorway to the Underworld, the Batagay Megaslump (also known as the Batagaika Crater) is 200 acres and continues to widen. Scientists have known for a while that the permafrost crater has been continually melting and growing, but the expansion is even faster than they’d realized. In a new study, scientists were finally able……

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