If you encounter any bugs or problems with the site you can
report them here. Thanks.
Use your Atlas Obscura account
Or use your Facebook account
jamesb
I am drawn to the little differences from place to place. The major differences are fine (language, attire, culture) but you expect those. It's the little things you interact with every day, something as simple as a light switch or keyhole. Those are the things culture shock are made of. -James Bolenbaugh
| 30 days |
All time |
| New places added |
0 |
17 |
| Edits to places |
0 |
54 |
| Comments |
0 |
11 |
Recent Activity
-
March 17, 2010
jamesb
added Sutyagin House
Claimed to be the world's tallest single-family wooden structure house... or better put, one of the most amazing looking structures ever built
Why build it? According to him 'Because he can'... or at least could.
The Sutyagin house was a wooden house in Arkhangelsk, Russia. The 13-story, 144-ft tall residence of a local entrepreneur... »
Outsider Architecture | Edited by jamesb, Dylan and 2 others
-
February 22, 2010
jamesb
added The Berkeley Pit
New fungal and bacterial species call this deadly lake home
Copper from this former open-pit mine helped to electrify America. Now it is filled with more than 40 billion gallons of acidic water, heavy metals, and unique microscopic lifeforms.
The... »
Watery Wonders, Martian Landscapes, Disaster Areas | Edited by jamesb, bopo and 2 others
-
December 9, 2009
jamesb
added The Shanghai Tunnels
The seamy, underground secrets of Portland's criminal past
From 1850 to 1941, Portland was considered one of the most dangerous ports in the world. It earned the moniker "Forbidden City of the West" due to the Shanghaiing trade and the white slavery that... »
Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Subterranean Sites | Edited by jamesb, mrobscurity and 2 others
-
November 11, 2009
jamesb
added Mill Ends Park
The worlds smallest park was dedicated in 1948 as the only colony for leprechauns west of Ireland
Many residents in Portland have driven past Mill Ends Park dozens, nay hundreds of times, and never even noticed it was there. Deemed the worlds smallest city park in 1976 by the Guinness Book of... »
Extraordinary Flora, Small Worlds and Model Towns | Edited by jamesb
-
November 1, 2009
jamesb
added The Lightship Frying Pan
-
August 15, 2009
jamesb
added Broken Kilometer
One kilometer of thick brass rod laid out before your eyes
The Broken Kilometer, 1979, is composed of 500 highly polished, round, solid brass rods, each measuring two meters in length and five centimeters (two inches) in diameter. The 500 rods are placed... »
Museums and Collections, Outsider Art | Edited by jamesb and leiris
-
August 14, 2009
jamesb
added Walter De Maria's Vertical Earth Kilometer
A two-inch thick solid brass rod that extends an astounding one kilometer straight into the earth
The Vertical Earth Kilometer, located in the Friedrichsplatz Park in Kassel, Germany, is a one-kilometer long brass rod five centimeters (two inches) in diameter. The full length of the rod is... »
Outsider Art, Subterranean Sites | Edited by jamesb, Henry and others
-
August 12, 2009
jamesb
added The Lightning Field
In the remote high desert of New Mexico, a strange array of poles beckon fury from above
Comprised of 400 polished stainless steel poles installed in a grid array of one mile by one kilometer, "The Lightning Field" by sculptor Walter De Maria, is recognized as one of the... »
Natural Wonders, Outsider Art, Intriguing Environs | Edited by jamesb and AllisonEng
-
August 12, 2009
jamesb
added Chocolate Waterfall
One of the world's tallest, oldest, and most disgusting chocolate cascades. Definately the first of it's kind!
Located directly inside the front door of the Candy Basket shop in Portland, Oregon this chocolate waterfall has been around since 1991. The twenty-one-foot towering cascade is crafted from... »
Peculiar Fountains, Inspired Inventions | Edited by jamesb and Henry
-
August 10, 2009
jamesb
updated the City Museum description
-
August 10, 2009
jamesb
added Cathedral Park
A heavenly experience, right here on Terra Firma
Portland, Oregon is home to the most parks, as well as the biggest (Forest Park) and the smallest (Mill Ends Park, a colony for leprechauns) in the country. But, even in a city that's world famous... »
Fascinating Fauna, Intriguing Environs | Edited by jamesb
-
August 4, 2009
jamesb
added Velveteria: The Velvet Painting Museum
The only museum in the world dedicated to the art of black velvet paintings
When you think of black velvet paintings, you usually imagine scantily clad, overly-proportioned, exotic women hanging in the back rooms of smokey tiki lounges, or collecting dust in your... »
Museums and Collections, Outsider Art, Unique Collections | Edited by jamesb
-
July 30, 2009
jamesb
added The Vacuum Cleaner Museum
These machines have been collecting dust for decades
Tucked away in a not-so-dusty corner of Stark's Vacuum Cleaner Sales & Service in downtown Portland is a collection that would make any prop master, house wife, or history buff slobber with... »
Unique Collections, Inspired Inventions, Electrical Oddities | Edited by jamesb, wythe and others
-
July 29, 2009
jamesb
added 24 Hour Church of Elvis
The World's First 24 Hour Coin-Operated Art Gallery!! Plastic, Styrofoam, and Elvis--If you can't get rid of it, you might as well worship it!!
Over the last two and half decades, Portland-area residents have been treated to the many evolutions of the 24 Hour Church of Elvis, which is arguably the most realistic "thing" in the Rose City.... »
Wonder Cabinets, Unique Collections, Purveyors of Curiosities | Edited by jamesb and wythe
-
July 22, 2009
jamesb
updated the Lepenski Vir coordinates
Lepenski Vir is an important archeological site with remains of a settlement from the Mesolithic era, with the remains of over 136 houses of an early settled hunter gatherer Cro Magnion group.... »
Incredible Ruins | Edited by stanestane, Dylan and others
-
July 21, 2009
jamesb
updated the Suoi Tien Cultural Theme Park description
Have fun at the world's first Buddhist waterslide park
Suoi Tien Cultural Theme Park is a Vietnamese water-filled fantasy land, located rather unromantically next to a rubbish dump 15 kilometres South of Ho Chi Minh City. Suoi Tien, or "the fairy... »
Follies and Grottoes | Edited by ilbonito, Dylan and 2 others
-
July 21, 2009
jamesb
added Bagby Hot Springs
Hollowed out cedar log tubs set in an ancient towering forest
A gold rush in the late 1800s brought Robert Bagby, a prospector and hunter, to the Mount Hood area. He apparently never found much gold there, but he did discover and promptly name these hot... »
Watery Wonders | Edited by jamesb and Nathan_Risinger
-
July 20, 2009
jamesb
commented on Land of the Lost
thank you anonymous, re-listed as NJ.
-
July 20, 2009
jamesb
updated the Land of the Lost coordinates
Creaky dinosaurs grow in the backroads of Monmouth County, New Jersey
Long before the Transformers, Jim Gary was transforming automobiles into dinosaurs. Jim Gary started tinkering young, building his own car out of junk parts before he was even old enough to... »
Outsider Architecture | Edited by M Rebekah Otto, kidcity and 2 others
-
July 20, 2009
jamesb
added The Ruins of St. Peter's Seminary
One of Scotland's most important modern structures, it just made the '100 Most Endangered Sites' list
Strolling through the countryside of Scotland you expect to see the ruins of an ancient castle or two - the hillsides are full of them. However, tucked away in the woods outside Cardross lies an... »
Intriguing Environs, Curious Places of Worship, Incredible Ruins | Edited by jamesb and Annetta
-
July 18, 2009
jamesb
updated the G-Cans: the World's Largest Drain directions
The world's largest drain sits below the city of Saitama, Japan
The G-Cans project (Shutoken Gaikaku Housui Ro, or the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel) is a massive underground waterway and water storage area built by the Japanese... »
Subterranean Sites | Edited by Dylan, mrobscurity and 3 others
-
July 17, 2009
jamesb
added Umatilla Chemical Depot
A stunning landscape with bunker after bunker of chemical weapons as far as the eye can see.
Heading West to Portland, Oregon via automobile, you stand a good chance of passing by some very unusual and imposing terrain.
As you're cruising on I-82 towards the junction with I-84 you'll... »
Intriguing Environs, Architectural Oddities | Edited by jamesb and Arisalta
-
July 16, 2009
jamesb
added The Duplicative Forest
Remember that scene in the Matrix, when Neo is in the big white room with all the weapons flying by? Well, this is what it would look like if he had wanted trees instead of guns.
Driving west on I-84, after you have just passed the thousands of bunkers at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, you start to wonder if some of those chemicals have leaked into the air causing you to... »
Natural Wonders, Fascinating Fauna, Intriguing Environs | Edited by jamesb and A Facebook user
thank you anonymous, re-listed as NJ.