Recent Activity

• January 28, 2012 tripandtravel1 updated the Hang Son Doong
  

  Hang Son Doong

  World's largest cave was only discovered twenty years ago and is just now being explored by a team of scientists

  Hang Son Doong (roughly translates to Mountain River Cave in English) is the world's largest cave and it is so large that it could hold a modern-day skyscraper inside of its caverns, so large that... »

  Natural Wonders, Curious Caves, Architectural Oddities, Subterranean Sites | Edited by Nicholas Jackson and tripandtravel1

• January 28, 2012 tripandtravel1 updated the Woolaroc
  

  Woolaroc

  An oil baron's wild paradise and the winner of an ill-fated air race

  In August 1927, eight small planes lined up for a historic air race across the Pacific, from Oakland to Honolulu. At the controls of the Woolaroc monoplane was WWI veteran and Hollywood stunt... »

  Museums and Collections, Unique Collections | Edited by allison, Annetta and 2 others

• December 18, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the Thistle Ghost Town
  

  Utah, US

  Thistle Ghost Town

  A small flooded ghost town with a few scattered structures remaining.

  The town of Thistle, Utah was established in 1883. It flourished for a time as a farming and ranching community, and became a major stop on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Then, in... »

  Ghost Towns, Disaster Areas | Edited by Liddell, Dylan and others

• December 18, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the Art Car Museum
  

  Art Car Museum

  At the "Garage Mahal" in Houston, car culture is about more than just driving

  Some people wash and wax their cars, making sure that the finish is exactly as clean and shiny as the day they bought it. The art car movement goes in the entirely other direction. While those... »

  Museums and Collections, Outsider Art, Obscura Day Location | Edited by Alicekh, Dylan and 2 others

• December 18, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the Elsewhere Collaborative
  

  Elsewhere Collaborative

  Art museum based around the collections accumulated over 58 years by one eccentric thrift store owner

  The Elsewhere Collaborative is a non-profit museum located in downtown Greensboro, NC. The museum is built on one woman's (Sylvia Gray) collection of objects and materials while she ran a thrift... »

  Wonder Cabinets, Unique Collections, Musical Wonders, Repositories of Knowledge | Edited by elsewhere and tripandtravel1

• December 18, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the Eastern State Penitentiary
  

  Eastern State Penitentiary

  World's first "penitentiary," meant to be humane, drove men insane

  Thrust into the middle of urban Philadephia is what looks like a great castle, a massive and haunting building. However, these walls weren't built to keep Crusaders and robbers out, but to keep... »

  Ghost Towns, Incredible Ruins | Edited by Dylan, wythe and 3 others

• December 18, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the World's Largest Solar Furnace
  

  Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via, France

  World's Largest Solar Furnace

  10,000 mirrors concentrate the sun's rays to generate power

  As far as energy sources go, focused solar heat is ancient. In ancient Greece, glass vases were filled with water to create a "burning glass" and as the Greeks got better at creating lenses,... »

  Instruments of Science, Electrical Oddities, Optical Oddities | Edited by AllisonEng and tripandtravel1

• December 3, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the Eisbachwelle
  

  Muenchen, Germany

  Eisbachwelle

  Go surfing on this urban wave, "hacked" by local surfers

  When you think of wave surfing you probably have the sea in mind. But surfing is also possible far away from the sea. One spot of this kind is Eisbachwelle in Munich, an artificial standing wave... »

  Natural Wonders, Watery Wonders | Edited by Alpha, Dylan and 3 others

• December 3, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the Blue Hole
  

  Blue Hole

  220-foot deep drop-off filled with marine life

  Blue Hole near Chalk Sound, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos. »

  | Edited by JBHewlett, atimian and others

• December 3, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the Salina Praid
  

  Comuna Praid, Romania

  Salina Praid

  Gigantic Romanian salt mines used to heal respiratory conditions

  Said to contain three billion tons of salt, the Salina Praid salt mine, also called the Dealul Sarii, is located in Europe's "Salt Zone" and is one of Europe's largest salt mines. Salt mining... »

  Natural Wonders, Wonders of Salt, Curious Caves, Commercial Curiosities, Odd Accommodations | Edited by Dylan, wythe and others

• December 3, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the San Bernardino alle Ossa
  

  San Bernardino alle Ossa

  An Ossuary built in 1210 to collect bones from the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan

  In 1145 in Via Brolo, Milan, a hospital was built near the Santo Stefano Maggiore Church. The graveyard, filling with bodies from the new hospital, soon proved insufficient. Not long after, in... »

  Ossuaries, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries | Edited by Maya, Dylan and 4 others

• December 3, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the Burke & Hare Murder Dolls
  

  Edinburgh, United Kingdom

  Burke & Hare Murder Dolls

  Tiny effigies of the victims of Edinburgh's famous Anatomy Murders

  Just a few years after the “Anatomy Murderers” Burke and Hare were apprehended in Edinburgh, two boys discovered these tiny dolls, each nested into a miniature coffin hidden away in the city park.... »

  Microminiature art, Relics and Reliquaries | Edited by Annetta and tripandtravel1

• December 3, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the Bunkers of Albania
  

  Albania

  Bunkers of Albania

  Hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers crowd Albania long after the fall of Communism

  Over 750,000 bunkers were built under the direction of Communist dictator Enver Hoxha, who ruled Albania as one of the most isolationist Stalinists from the end of World War II until his death in... »

  Architectural Oddities | Edited by allison, Dylan and others

• November 28, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the Relampago del Catatumbo
  

  Relampago del Catatumbo

  This everlasting lightning storm may be the world's largest generator of ozone

  There's something strange in the air where the Catatumbo River flows into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela... For 140 to 160 nights out of the year, for 10 hours at a time, the sky above the river... »

  Weird Weather Phenomena | Edited by wythe, mrobscurity and 2 others

• November 28, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
  

  Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

  Traditional 15th century Chinese garden in the middle of Vancouver

  Hidden behind a low white building in the middle of Vancouver's Chinatown is the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. The Garden, which is named for the father of modern China, is a... »

  Natural History, Cultures and Civilizations , Rites and Rituals, Architectural Oddities, Horticultural Marvels, Repositories of Knowledge, Obscura Day Location | Edited by nitikp, Nicholas Jackson and others

• November 28, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the World's Largest Ball of Twine Rolled by One Man
  

  World's Largest Ball of Twine Rolled by One Man

  17,400 lbs., 12 feet in diameter, and 39 years in the making

  Larger twine balls may exist, but Minnesota farmer Francis Johnson's is the largest rolled by a single individual. His efforts have inspired copycats, but none yet have succeeded in breaking the... »

  Outsider Art | Edited by wythe, mrobscurity and others

• November 28, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the The Stanley Hotel
  

  The Stanley Hotel

  Paranormal experiences in room 217 led Stephen King to write "The Shining"

  The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, is on the National Register of Historic Places and has hosted numerous celebrities since opening in 1909, but it remains most famous as the hotel where... »

  Intriguing Environs, Obscura Day Location | Edited by Nicholas Jackson and tripandtravel1

• November 28, 2011 tripandtravel1 updated the Boston Athenaeum
  

  Boston Athenaeum

  A morbid secret lies hidden within the beautiful walls of the Boston Athenaeum

  Tucked into a wooden box in the Boston Athenaeum library is a curious book. The book has "a slightly bumpy texture, like soft sandpaper" and bears the title "Hic Liber Waltonis Cute Compactus... »

  Unique Collections, Memento Mori, Relics and Reliquaries | Edited by Dylan, ack sed and 3 others