When visiting a museum devoted to artifacts from the holy land, there are many items that one would expect to see, but in a collection as immense as this one, there are bound to be some questionable pieces. The best illustration of this was in the “Archeological Display”, a stark room lined with glass cases.The cases displayed suspect items such as thorns cut from the same bush as the crown Jesus wore at crucifixion, and two dried, dusty walnuts that had allegedly been liberated form the birthplace of John the Baptist, along with several other mundane rocks and sticks with assigned biblical significance.

Antonia F. Futterer created this extraordinary collection of religious and historical artifacts during his explorations of the Holy Land in the early 1900’s. While suffering a severe, life-threatening illness, Futterer prayed for recovery, promising a lifetime of service if only he was given another chance. That chance was received, and his new-found faith propelled him to the Middle East to search for the famed Golden Ark of the Covenant. (Sound familiar? Futterer is often refered to as a “Real Indiana Jones”.) While he never found his elusive ark, he amassed a giant collection of artifacts which now reside in a modest 5-room museum in Silver Lake, California. The museum is now lovingly cared for by a matronly follower of Futterer’s teachings, who with the assistance of her two adult children maintain the grounds and exhibits through the small tour fees, gift shop profits, and the grace of god.

Arguably the most treasured piece in the Damascus Room was the game table. Different varieties of quality wood assembled into an ornate mosaic housing mother-of-pearl inlay. Panels of the table could be removed and rearranged to accommodate several different games, including chess and backgammon. After demonstrating the many uses of the game table, we were escorted out of the Damascus Room, our hostess cryptically mumbling, “Terrible times are coming, terrible times...”

A pleasant and unexpected surprise was discovering that Marshall Lakey’s life-sized sculpture of Christ had taken up residence in it’s own little grotto off of the “Egypt Room”. In 1943 Clifford E. Clinton commissioned Lakey to sculpt the figure of Jesus kneeling in prayer for the original location of his legendary eatery, Clifton’s Cafeteria. Beloved by locals for their generous pay-what-you-can policies and eccentric interior designs, Clifton’s has been through many renovations and downsizing, and it was comforting to know that such an important part of their history had found a loving home in Holyland.

After our extensive biblical lesson was over and we had been properly warned about the end of times being right around the corner, we were in need of libations and levity. Upon arrival we found our scheduled meet up location, the Cha Cha Lounge, dark and deserted. A resourceful bunch, we decided to leave a note stuck to the door and explore the previously uncharted Red Lion Tavern across the street. We were rewarded for our ingenuity with giant pretzels, deep fried pickles, waitresses in lederhosen, and “Das Boot”, beer served in a giant, boot shaped glass.

MORE PHOTOS:

www.flickr.com/photos/69615683@N04/sets/72157628907475699/

DO IT YOURSELF:

2215 Lake View Ave., Los Angeles,California, United States Adults: $2.50; children under 16: $2.00. Tours are by appointment only, call 1 323 664 3162

atlasobscura.com/place/holyland-exhibition

Trains depart every 58 seconds on 63 tracks during rush hour at New York City’s Grand Central Terminal as a crushing mass of humanity passes through its vast central concourse. Last week, we descended into the secret depths and vertigo-inducing heights of the city’s showpiece to see what lays hidden out of sight of most visitors.

In this, the deepest, largest basement in all of New York, 2.8 million cubic yards of earth and rock were once removed to create the enormous temple to transportation. When the station opened in 1913, it was the third rail building to stand at that location, but the first to be electrified. Some 70 feet underground, massive converters were required to transform incoming AC power into the DC power needed to power the trains.

photo by Seth Teicher

photo by Annetta Black

photo by Annetta Black

photo by Seth Teicher

Antiquated control machinery sits in place, just as it was when it became outmoded in the 1920s and 30s.

photo by Seth Teicher

photo by Seth Teicher

photo by Seth Teicher

photo by Annetta Black

In stark contrast with the gloomy depths, we next ascended to the nerve center of the building, where every train on every track in monitored and controlled by a dedicated team. This ultra modern system is designed to make the system run as efficiently and safe as humanly possible.

photo by Seth Teicher

From there we climbed higher, up into the catwalks above the main concourse.

photo by Annetta Black

It is hard to imagine today, as we looked over Grand Central's concourse from on high, that at one point the Terminal was slated for demolition. As property values raised and train travel declined in the 1950s, plans were made to destroy the building. After an inglorious decade of decline and in the wake of the destruction of the gorgeous Penn Station, the building was declared a city landmark and thus saved. A massive renovation in the 1980s and 90s returned the Terminal to its former glory.

photo by Seth Teicher

photo by Annetta Black

DO IT YOURSELF

The spaces we visited are off limits to the general public, but for a taste of some of the Terminal's secrets, we suggest going exploring armed with their very detailed self-guided walking tour.

"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life"

Thwarted by parents. Thwarted by fate. Murder-suicide. Double suicide. Poisons and deathly potions. Impaled on swords? Yes. Mauled by lions? Well, no, actually, but he thought she was, and guess what he did? Love here, red in tooth and claw.

In Ovid's story of Pyramus and Thisbe, two young lovers, forbidden to marry because of family rivalries whisper their forbidden love through cracks in the wall. Their story met its fateful end when the lovers decided to escape their families, and meet under a mulberry tree. Thisbe arrived at the rendezvous first, and narrowly escaped a lion attack, dropping her distinctive veil in the process. When Pyramus arrives and finds the blood soaked veil, he throws himself on his sword; when Thisbe returns to the scene, she does the same.

As he fell back to earth, his spurting blood shot upward in the air; so, when decay has rift a leaden pipe a hissing jet of water spurts on high.

By that dark tide the berries on the tree assumed a deeper tint, for as the roots soaked up the blood the pendent mulberries were dyed a purple tint.

The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is thought to be the inspiration for Shakespeare's more famous suicidal lovers, Romeo and Juliet, minus the lion. Mulberries are indeed blood red. And delicious.

The tragic and poetic love triangle of Tristan and Isolde (and Mark) inspired the tale of Lancelot and Guinevere (and Arthur) 

The man driven insane by unrequited love in the tale of  Layla and Majnun is based on a real descent into lovelorn madness 

One hundred and twenty-three years ago today, the bodies of the crown prince of Austria & his young lover were discovered. Chaos ensues. 

LOVED & LOST

	JULIET'S BALCONY Verona, Italy Every year tourists from around the globe, flock to Verona just to see the balcony where Juliet was wooed by her Romeo.
	THE DARAHOA ROOSTER Darahoa, Vietnam This gigantic rooster in Darahoa, Vietnam remembers an ill-fated love between members of two local tribes.
	MAYERLING LODGE  Mayerling, Austria Site of the 1889 murder-suicide of crown prince Rudolf and his lover Mary Vetsera
	TOMB OF INES DE CASTRO  Kiev, Ukraine In Portugal, the tombs of King Pedro I and his mistress Ines de Castro are inscribed with the words "Until the end of the world..."

Join us each Monday on Twitter and follow our #morbidmonday hashtag, for new odd and macabre themes each week: Atlas Obscura on Twitter

PREVIOUSLY:

Morbid Monday: Triumph of Life: Plague Columns
Morbid Monday: Exquisite Corpses: The Art of the Cadaver Tomb
Morbid Monday: Fifteen Planes Enter, Two Planes Leave: The Deadly Dole Air Race
Morbid Monday: Ghost Writing: The Story of Pearl & Patience
Morbid Monday: Phineas Gage: Jerk

Lizbeth Andrews Borden is a folk legend, notorious for killing her father and stepmother, despite being acquitted by a jury.

The date was August 4th, 1892. It was a horrible sweltering day in Fall River, Massachusetts. Andrew Borden, Lizzie’s father, a successful yet notoriously stingy banker, had just returned home from town and retired to the sitting room to take a nap. Abby, his wife and Lizzie’s stepmother, was supposed to be out visiting a neighbor (at least according to Lizzie). There was also a maid, Bridget Sullivan, who was in her room in the attic, resting after washing the windows whilst overcoming a bout of food poisoning (the Bordens were so frugal that they were often sick from recycling leftovers).

Ten minutes after Bridget headed upstairs, Lizzie, who had supposedly been busy with some ironing, screamed for her. Lizzie had found her father sprawled out on the couch with his face smashed in. The maid ran out to get the family physician and when she returned Lizzie told her to go upstairs to check if Abby had come home. Abby was upstairs all right, but lying facedown with the back of her skull in pieces.

Lizzie's mother, on the floor

A week later, Lizzie was arrested. Even though the maid was present in the home, the blame fell on poor old Lizzie, who was known to dislike her stepmother. Her trial took place ten months later, in June of 1893, but there was not much evidence to convict her. The police had recovered a hatchet blade, but there were no traces of blood or human hair. Also, they did not perform any fingerprint testing since that type of science was considered too new and untrustworthy. Lizzie’s own testimony was thrown out because she contradicted herself. As was the testimony of a local pharmacist who claimed that she was in his shop the day before the murders, trying to buy prussic acid. She had told him that she needed it to clean a sealskin cape, but he refused to sell her the toxin.

Andrew's body on the couch where he was found 

The jury deliberated for a mere 90 minutes, finding her innocent. If she had been found guilty, the charges would have necessitated the death penalty, something no Massachusetts woman had been sentenced to for a couple hundred years.

Abby & Andrew's skulls are among the less disturbing pictures we could have chosen.

Lizzie moved out of her parents’ house, and upgraded to a far grander property that she dubbed “Maplecroft.” She remained a spinster, living with her older sister, Emma, for several years. She passed away from pneumonia on June 1st, 1927 at the age of 66.

The case is so utterly iconic that it has led to all sorts of theories. Some think that it was Emma, as she was supposedly out of town. Some think that it was Bridget, the maid, who was irate with the family for making her clean the windows when she had been so ill. Others claim that it was Lizzie’s uncle, John Morse, who had visited the house earlier in the day. There are even claims that she had an illegtimate half-brother, who was seeking revenge. No matter what people speculate, no one has ever been convicted of John and Abby’s murders.

SOMETHING SOMETHING 40 WHACKS

LIZZIE BORDEN HOUSE BED & BREAKFAST Fall River, Massachusetts The Borden house on 92 Second street is now a bed an breakfast and museum that is open to the public year round.

Join us each Monday on Twitter and follow our #morbidmonday hashtag, for new odd and macabre themes each week: Atlas Obscura on Twitter

PREVIOUSLY:

Morbid Monday: Putting Cholera on the Map: John Snow’s Ghost Map
Morbid Monday: The Face of the Emperor
Morbid Monday: Triumph of Life: Plague Columns
Morbid Monday: Exquisite Corpses: The Art of the Cadaver Tomb
Morbid Monday: Fifteen Planes Enter, Two Planes Leave: The Deadly Dole Air Race
Morbid Monday: Ghost Writing: The Story of Pearl & Patience

After a long night of desert mischief and tomfoolery at Hicksville, we headed to The Integratron for some much needed extra-terrestrial rejuvenation, and a sound bath to soothe our pounding heads.

Founded in 1954 by aeronautical engineer and ufologist George Van Tassel, the Integratron offers something called a "sound bath", and though we were not quite sure what a “sound bath” would entail, we were pleasantly surprised to find that while the energy vortex may not have been rejuvenating our poor abused livers, the experience was indeed quite relaxing. For 30 minutes, our host “Tron” played varying tones on a set of quartz crystal singing bowls as we meditated, listened to each other breathe, cough, and in some cases, nap.

As it turns out, Van Tassel was not your run-of-the-mill UFO-chasing desert eccentric. An aeronautical engineer and test pilot who worked for both Lockheed and alongside Howard Hughes at Hughes Aviation, he moved to the Mojave Desert in 1947 to operate an airport and inn.

It was there that he claimed to be contacted telepathically by the Venusians, who were entrusting to him the secrets of cell rejuvenation. Acting on these instructions, Van Tassel began building the Integratron, a 38 ft. high dome inspired by Moses’ Tabernacle and the writings of Tesla. While not the rejuvenation center and time machine that Van Tassel had intended, it is does serve as the only all-wood, acoustically perfect sound chamber in the U.S.

According to Van Tassel, the site of the Integratron is actually a magnetic vortex, an intersection of geometric forces that would amplify energy required for human cell rejuvenation and healing. All that was needed to harness this great gift to the human race was a geometrically suitable channel for the energy to flow through. The 50 ft. in diameter parabolic dome was designed to focus that energy, much like it focuses sound, toward the center with it’s spherical shape.

Not meeting the standards of life-saving rejuvenation chamber just yet, the Integratron still serves a purpose as a meditation spot, event location, and unusual desert stop to feel closer to our Venusian friends in the stars. Outside of the dome itself there is a dry garden with a clump of hammocks serving as “Hammock Village”, and tons of interesting folk art and alien-themed knick-knacks such as the “Alien Clings to Rock” piece you see here.

To enjoy our sound bath, we found a blanket or yoga mat and claimed a spot in the circle, feet facing out. Our host described how the sound chamber works, and demonstrated how if we heard someone breathing or coughing as if they were right next to our ear, it was actually the person directly across from us on the other side of the dome. After a unusually long and stern warning regarding snoring during the bath, we closed our eyes as our host played the singing bowls. Bending the sound in ways that made it feel like it was coming in and out of our heads in waves, the intense sound was both soothing and unsettling. There was surprisingly a lot of snoring, and the earlier warning no longer seemed frivolous. After 30 minutes of hypnotic sound, we felt refreshed and ready to take on the rest of our desert adventure.

Photos by Ryan Swift & Rachel James

MORE PHOTOS

THE INTEGRATRON IN ATLAS OBSCURA

DO IT YOURSELF

The Integratron is located in Landers, CA. They offer walk in self-guided tours, but you must call ahead and make an appointment for docent tours and sound baths. See their website for more info.

This year I rang in the new year at Hicksville Trailer Park, a themed trailer park retreat designed as an adult play land for artists, musicians, and anyone else who needs a bizarre desert getaway. 

While there is much more to Hicksville than the sleeping quarters, the most wonderful thing about this desert oasis hands down is the eclectically themed trailers that make up the “rooms” of this unusual motel. Eight in all, they range in size and luxuries, the consistency lying in the fact that staying in each trailer will give you a completely different experience and atmosphere than your neighbor. Regardless of being created as tributes to some fairly specific subjects, it’s unlikely you’ll have trouble finding one that appeals to you. Whether you’d prefer the plush, purple decadence of The Fifi, the gritty, psychobilly feel of The Lux, or the rustic ranch decor of the corral-encased Pony, you’ll feel absolutely engrossed in whatever theme you choose.

Hicksville is very secretive of its location, sending guests directions the day before reservations are scheduled, and strictly banning all social media locator applications. Its remote desert location allows for privacy and immersion in the experience of the “motel” that creator and owner Morgan Higby Night envisioned as a retreat for artists, musicians and anyone else who wanted to enjoy the magic of Joshua Tree in a safe, inspiring environment.

The gates to the trailer park opened in April 2010, and has since become an underground favorite, getting most of its guests through word-of-mouth. Exotically themed sleeping quarters aside, Hicksville provides all sorts of desert fun, including a hot tub, sa altwater pool, an outside shower, a canteen with full bar capabilities, and a newly added library. Our personal favorite was the BB gun and archery shooting range, where during the initial tour, we were wearily asked by Morgan to “refrain from shooting each other-with anything” implying it has been a frequent issue in the past.

Every trailer is very specialized, and a great amount of detail is applied the inside and out of each one. The Integratrailor may just be the most locally appropriate theme, as Hicksville is in the same desert “neighborhood” as it’s namesake, the Integratron. The Integratron is a giant dome in nearby Landers, built by aeronautical engineer George Van Tassel at the behest of the extraterrestrials that he claimed to communicate with. The inside of the Integratrailor is designed like a spaceship, complete with stars that move across the ceiling as you lie on metallic sheets.

The Lux pays homage to what was by far one of the most influential and long-lived bands in the underground music scene, and coincidentally this authors all-time favorite. Headed by husband and wife team Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, The Cramps were one of the first garage bands, pioneers of the punk scene, innovators of psychobilly, and inspiration for early goth rock. The band stayed active for over 30 years, until Lux Interior’s death in 2009, and The Lux trailer is the perfect memorial to him. Flat black and leopard print decor, nothing but horror flicks on the TV, and a jukebox that plays anything you like, as long as Lux is the one singing.

Designed by Ryan and Marci Hessling of Fifi Mahony’s, a wig store in New Orleans, The Fifi was a decadent palace of a trailer. Every inch dripping in crystal and shades of lavender, The Fifi contains a swanky wet bar, a movie star-worthy vanity, and an assortment of wigs that you are encouraged to try on and feel fabulous in. It was the obvious location for primping, indulgent lounging, and glamorous photo shoots, and had delightfully flattering lighting, as a Fifi should.

After two nights at the fabulous Hicksville, we felt at home and accepted, and when it was time to leave, we were tempted to sit on the ground, arms linked, and protest our eviction. We had actually come up with a fairly elaborate plan to stay while listening to recordsin “The Sweet” trailer, drinking in the new year, and designing our future Hicksville tattoos. We even made a sign. Out of respect for others who may want to enjoy it, we decided instead to think of as many excuses as possible to come back.

Photos by Ryan Swift

MORE PICTURES:

HICKSVILLE TRAILER PALACE IN ATLAS OBSCURA

DO IT YOURSELF:

To make reservations at Hicksville, visit their website. Trailers can be reserved individually, or the site can be rented out in its entirety. Hicksville is also available for events, weddings, and also serves as a recording studio for musicians and editing studio for filmmakers. Many thanks to Morgan Higby Night, for his gracious hospitality, saintlike patience, and for sharing his brilliant vision with us in this magical desert space.

Nineteenth-century London was a literal cesspool. Proper sanitation was unheard of and people dumped their waste into the river. Needless to say, disease ran rampant.

While the prevailing theory taught that illness was caused by bad smells, Dr. John Snow knew differently. It had to be the feces-filled drinking water. Devising a system using statistical analysis, he created the Ghost Map, a diagram of all known cholera cases that accurately showed the source of the outbreak: a contaminated Broad Street water pump. The pump’s handle was removed to try to prevent any further victims.

While it took several decades for his work to be taken seriously, he is now considered the father of spatial analysis and epidemiology. In 1992, a water pump memorial was erected in his honor. Nearby at the John Snow pub, visitors can survey artifacts or join the John Snow Society. The organization holds the annual Pumphandle Lectures, where guest speakers discuss the current state of public health. A symbolic removing and changing of a pump handle caps off the ceremony.

Author Steven Johnson spoke about John Snow in his 2007 TED Talk

NOBODY WANTS CHOLERA

BROAD STREET CHOLERA PUMP  London, England Marking the epicenter of London's 1854 cholera epidemic and the center of John Snow's historic Cholera Map.

Join us each Monday on Twitter and follow our #morbidmonday hashtag, for new odd and macabre themes each week: Atlas Obscura on Twitter

PREVIOUSLY:

Morbid Monday: The Face of the Emperor
Morbid Monday: Triumph of Life: Plague Columns
Morbid Monday: Exquisite Corpses: The Art of the Cadaver Tomb
Morbid Monday: Fifteen Planes Enter, Two Planes Leave: The Deadly Dole Air Race
Morbid Monday: Ghost Writing: The Story of Pearl & Patience

Atlas Obscura Co-Founder Dylan and his wife Michelle are currently on a trip to Southeast Asia for their honeymoon. They are trying to blog, make videos, and write about it as they go. These are their dispatches from the field. 

So far the trip has been incredible. In a few hours we will get on a plane and travel from Vietnam to Luang Prabang in Laos, leaving behind us the howling, bubbling riot of a city that is Hanoi. But before we left we wanted to send a taste of Northern Vietnam. This video doesn't do it justice, but is gives a quick overview of some of the highlights.  More to come.

North Vietnam from Atlas Obscura on Vimeo.

Over the weekend, I linked up with Atlas co-conspirator Annetta Black and Boston Field Agent Ronny for an afternoon circling hanging taxidermied horses, a giant skeletal beast named Felix and a statue of a child sized Hitler kneeling in prayer.

The absurd assemblage of strange pieces were all part of the Maurizio Cattelan retrospective on exhibition at the Guggenheim in Manhattan until January 22nd. Every piece the artist ever created is on display, hanging in the museum's iconic rotunda. 

photo taken on Photosynth by Seth Teicher

True to form, the positioning of the installation was as uncommon as Cattelan's often satirical and always outrageous art. Instead of being festooned on the walls of the cylindrical, ascending passageways of the museum, it was instead affixed to a sturdy metal truss positioned in the center of the building.

photo taken on Photosynth by Annetta Black

Hanging below the skylight, 128 objects each revealed themselves ever so slowly as we made our way up the circular structure. Taxidermied pigeons perched themselves atop various objects, from a barefoot JFK in an open coffin and a humorous sculpture of Pope John Paul II being struck down by a meteor, to a diorama of teeny tiny elevators opening and closing every few moments.

photo by Seth Teicher

We spent about two hours meandering the surrealistic vista, shaking our heads in approval and laughing out loud at how such an eclectic artist had managed to rise to such prominence.

photo by Annetta Black 

DO IT YOURSELF

The Maurizio Cattelan exhibit runs through January 22, 2012. Details available on the Guggenheim website.

SHOOT IT YOURSELF

The unique panorama shots that you see in this post were taken using the Photosynth app. It gets high marks from the Atlas Obscura team! Download it for free "to capture and view the world in 3D" from the App Store.

On Monday, the San Francisco Obscura Society chapter headed out to the Regency Theater in San Francisco.

Built as a Scottish Rite Masonic Lodge, theater, and meeting place in the wake of the 1906 earthquake, the building is historic, grand, and full of strange crawlspaces and mysterious tiny rooms. We met up after dark for a private look at its secrets.

We were greeted by a mosaic of the double headed eagle, symbol of the Scottish Rite. 

We saw many hidden things in the building including some of the original Masonic theater backdrops corresponding the Scottish Rite's 32 degrees. Shown here is a depiction of Hell. The backdrops are located in the main ceremony room upstairs where the Masons used to perform all of their right of passage ceremonies.

Also located in this lodge is the original working Austin pipe organ from 1909.  We got to hear it in action, played by our tour guide Justin.

The building is known to be haunted, and it is made a lot spookier by thing like this trap door in the floor in the back of the lodge on the floor behind the pipe organ.

DO IT YOURSELF

The building is not usually open for tours, however the Regency will soon be transformed and will take full advantage of the multiple ballrooms for the magnificent annual Edwardian Ball, coming up January 20-21. 

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO JOINED US!

The Obscura Society is the real-world exploration arm of Atlas Obscura. Join us on our next adventure!

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PREVIOUSLY: 

Bunny Bumping & Freeze-Dried Friends at the Bunny Museum - Los Angeles
Seeking Hidden Symbolism at Green-Wood Cemetery - New York City
Coney Island Grand Guignol - New York City
Neptune Society Columbarium - San Francisco