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Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst 

SiriusXM and Atlas Obscura

Your guide to the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places. Kelly McEvers and a neighborhood of Atlas Obscura reporters transport you to a new wonder every day. Along the way, you'll meet fascinating people and hear their stories.

The Atlas Obscura Podcast

School is back in session for many. So all week, we're bringing you stories from our archive about schools with a little something extra -- unusual traditions, ceremonies and customs. Students at Reed College study things like philosophy, history and English. But for the past 50 years they’ve also had access to a scientific instrument many people have never seen. We visit the World's only nuclear reactor operated by liberal arts undergraduates. 

If you have stories about schools with strange, unusual or wondrous traditions or ceremonies tell us about it. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or better, you can record a voice memo and give it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

 

 
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Back to School: Reed College Reactor

School is back in session for many. So all week, we're bringing you stories from our archive about schools with a little something extra -- unusual traditions, ceremonies and customs. In the 1980s, a group of friends on the track team at Sul Ross State University hauled a discarded dorm room desk to the top of a mountain. They left a notebook there to keep track of their run times and leave little notes for each other. Then… other people found it. And then… it started a tradition. 

If you have stories about schools with strange, unusual or wondrous traditions or ceremonies tell us about it. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or better, you can record a voice memo and give it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

 

 
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Back to School: The Sul Ross Desk

School is back in session for many. So all week, we're bringing you stories from our archive about schools with a little something extra -- unusual traditions, ceremonies and customs. The Flagg Grove School in Brownsville, Tennessee has become a museum dedicated to its most famous student.

If you have stories about schools with strange, unusual or wondrous traditions or ceremonies tell us about it. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or better, you can record a voice memo and give it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

 

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Back to School: Tina Turner Museum

School is back in session for many. So all week, we're bringing you stories from our archive about schools with a little something extra -- unusual traditions, ceremonies and customs. For years, students at Bennington College snuck into a locked room for a glimpse of strange and magical instruments created by professor Gunnar Schonbeck. Today, we join his orchestra. 

If you have stories about schools with strange, unusual or wondrous traditions or ceremonies tell us about it. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or better, you can record a voice memo and give it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

 

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Back to School: Gunnar Schonbeck Exhibit

School is back in session for many. So all week, we're bringing you stories from our archive about schools with a little something extra -- unusual traditions, ceremonies and customs. In this episode, producers Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy have stories from the campuses of Gallaudet University and Cornell University .

If you have stories about schools with strange, unusual or wondrous traditions or ceremonies tell us about it. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or better, you can record a voice memo and give it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

 
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Back to School: Rites of Passage

Thor Pedersen is the first person to visit every country in the world without flying. That is 203 countries by land and sea. He sits down with Kelly to unpack his epic quest, which he chronicled in his book, The Impossible Journey.

 

 
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Unpacking an Incredible Journey with Thor Pedersen

We meet Becky Sigwright, who captains a wind-powered boat that’s been sailing around Maine since before the invention of the telephone. This episode was produced in partnership with the Maine Office of Tourism.

 
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Captain Becky’s Wind-Powered Boat (Classic)

We asked you to send us your stories inspired by Brad Ryan’s quest to travel to all 63 U.S National Parks with his grandmother. And some of you had some really interesting things to say. 

Plus, we wanna hear your stories about the unusual, distinct or memorable tours you’ve taken anywhere in the world. Tell us what the tour was about. What did you learn? How did it go? Who was the tour guide? Where in the world was this tour? Did you enjoy it? Was it worth it? If not, why so? 

Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call again if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. 

 

 
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Your Intergenerational Travel Stories

We head to the cliffs of Balneario El Condor in Argentina to visit a parrot city… and the parrot suburbs. And we meet the biologist who risks his life to study them. 

Learn more about the parrot colony and Juan Masello’s work. 

 
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Studying the World’s Largest Parrot Colony with Juan Masello (Classic)

For thousands of years, a massive bat colony has lived in a cave about 30 minutes from San Antonio, Texas. Ryan Huling, author of the Book "The Hidden Nations of Animals," tells us all about it. 

If you want to hear about Ryan’s journey to visit other animal colonies, check out our episode titled: “The Animal Worlds We Rarely See."

 
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These Bats Hang in the Suburbs

In an homage to the 1995 movie Four Rooms, Dylan talks with historian Susan Wilson about how the history of Boston – and the United States at large – was influenced by events that occurred in four different rooms of the iconic Omni Parker House Hotel. 
 

This episode was recorded live at the WBUR Festival in Boston on May 31, 2025. 

Check out Susan Wilson’s books and her other work on her website.

 
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Four Rooms at the Omni Parker House Hotel

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst

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