When Atlas Obscura began five years ago, my co-founder Josh and I had a simple goal: to catalog the world’s wondrous places. We began with a couple hundred entries written by Josh and myself, a mix of places we’d been, like the House on the Rock or Jeremy Bentham’s Auto-Icon and places we’d always wanted to go, like the Gates of Hell.

As a noble, yet overwhelming undertaking, we always knew we needed your help. Since we launched, over 10,000 incredible locations have been added to the Atlas by our community of explorers. These places in Atlas Obscura are like children to me, each special in its own strange and wonderful way.

That said, over the years I have developed a handful of favorite places. These are the places I love telling people about over a beer, the places that caught me off guard leaving me flabbergasted and amazed. These are the places that are so wonderful and strange that I can’t resist but run out into the world and share them with, well, pretty much everyone!

What better way to officially launch our YouTube channel, then, with a video series about these spectacular people, places and things—for the first video, we tell the story of a cocktail with a very special ingredient. Welcome to Atlas Obscura’s 100 Wonders, presented by yours truly. To see these as they come out, subscribe here. 

If that left you feeling a bit queazy, I have a palate cleanser for you. Welcome to the Cat Islands of Japan, where the cuteness is so overwhelming it is threatening to overwhelm the residents of the islands.

Finally, I wanted to present of the places I am most eager to go explore and one of the great subterranean wonders of the world. It is the largest catacomb system in the world, the Odessa Catacombs. With 1000 km of unmapped tunnels explore them at your own peril.

Hope you enjoyed these, and if you would like to see more of these subscribe to our Youtube channel here! http://bit.ly/1PcJ14b