Author: Ms. R.

Atlas Obscura’s Wondersky columnist Rebecca Boyle is an award-winning science journalist and author of the upcoming Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are (January 2024, Random House). She regularly shares the stories and secrets of our wondrous night sky. Once upon a time, Orion, a masterful hunter, boasted that he could kill all the animals of Earth if he wanted. Horrified, the Earth goddess Gaia had him murdered by……

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On February 25, 1957, the deceased body of a young boy was found in a wooded area of a small Philadelphia neighborhood. The child was found in a cardboard box, severely beaten and malnourished, unclothed and wrapped in a blanket. He was estimated to be between the ages of four and six. Blunt force trauma was presumed to be the cause of death. Sadly, nobody ever claimed the child. And despite countless tips and leads being called in to……

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Marietta, built during the years 1812-1813, is an important example of a Federal-style brick house. It was the home of prominent politician and jurist Gabriel Duvall. Duvall had a distinguished career as a representative in both the Maryland State Legislature and the U.S. Congress before being nominated to the Supreme Court by President James Madison. Scholars haven’t been particularly kind to Duvall. Debates involving choosing the most insignificant Supreme Court Justice still feature him as a leading candidate for……

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THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE OCTOBER 21, 2023, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. When Dora Goldsmith wanted to know what newly deceased ancient Egyptians smelled like, she took an unorthodox approach: She partially mummified herself. Goldsmith is a PhD researcher working on her doctorate thesis in Egyptology at Freie Universität in Berlin. In an 18th-Dynasty recipe from a papyrus currently in the Louvre, Goldsmith found a recipe for an embalming fragrance,……

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In the village of Caravaggio is a sanctuary dedicated to the worship of Santa Maria del Fonte (Saint Mary of the Spring), who, according to Catholic tradition, appeared to a shepherdess on May 26, 1432, at this very location.  The sanctuary consists of a monumental church, surrounded by landscaped gardens and four symmetrical porticoes.  Underneath this huge structure is a corridor running the whole width of the church. The corridor is divided into five sections, or cells. Approaching the……

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The beating heart of Oklahoma’s beef industry—and in fact the largest cattle market in the world—can be found just outside of the capital city at the Oklahoma National Stockyards.  ONSY visitors will witness one of the last surviving stockyards of its kind, a 120-acre facility with live cattle, sprawling pens, and modern cowboys situated amidst a town comprised of century-old small businesses primarily catering to the work done within the stockyards. Tours of the stockyards traverse the grounds from……

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As one makes their way up Friar Gate, (so named for a friary that once stood here in the 1300s) they might enjoy the sight of many respectable Georgian houses lining both sides of the street. Once they pass the old railway bridge and make their way up to the crest of a hill, they may also notice something peculiar surrounding the base of two London plane trees. It is here, that the visitor will see a vast collection……

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The advent of rail systems throughout the 19th century altered the trajectory of many countries, but few more than the nascent United States. And while North American transportation has largely moved away from trains in the time since, one group’s efforts to preserve the legacy of historic railways and cars birthed an Oklahoma City museum now home to over 50 antique cars with over 200 active members.  Visitors to the Oklahoma Railway Museum can explore vessels as small as……

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Today, 39 tribal nations, each with its own distinct language and history, reside within Oklahoma. In some regards, that makes the state a more culturally and linguistically diverse place than the European continent. Of course, this consolidation was not by choice. And while the story of the First Americans is known far and wide, one museum in Oklahoma City takes a more comprehensive and hopeful approach to the 20,000-year history of the continent.  A 175,000-square-foot museum on the banks……

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Excerpted and adapted with permission from Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature’s Toxins—From Spices to Vices, by Noah Whiteman, published by Little, Brown Spark. Copyright © 2023 by Noah Whiteman. All rights reserved. My family moved to the rural township of Toivola, near the hamlet of Meadowlands, Minnesota, the summer before I entered sixth grade. The timing permitted a few months of unfettered exploration before school started. Conveniently, a 39‑mile abandoned railroad grade ran right in front of……

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