Halloween Feature

The Startling History of the Jump Scare

By Gavia Baker-Whitelaw · October 28, 2024
Halloween Feature

5 Macabre and Mysterious Stories About Candy

By Samantha Chong · October 11, 2024
Halloween Feature

Foxfire Brings Magical Light to the Dark Forest

By Leigh Ann Henion · September 25, 2024

Haunted Halloween Harvest

Atlas Obscura Scares Up the Best of the Season

October is our favorite month to celebrate the macabre, the mysterious, and the monstrous. Join us on a wild ride through a landscape of unsolved hauntings, terrifying legends, and hidden places almost too creepy to be real. It's going to be ghoulish good fun.

Tales of Terror: The mother of all witches, creepy cryptids, the many faces of death, and more.

With chattering squirrels, chirping birds, and often lush vegetation, cemeteries are full of life—including multiple lichen species.

cemeteries

A Cemetery's Immortal Residents and the Scientist Who Studies Them

Lichens growing on gravestones appear immune to aging. What does their life cycle teach us about death?

In Mexico, today's teyollohcuani is a terrifying, shape-shifting, vampire-like witch, but the figure has deep precolonial roots and a complex evolution.

vampires

Mexico's Vampire Witch Has a Twisted Origin Story

The terrifying teyollohcuani is a shape-shifter of ancient indigenous lore, dark colonial history, and pop culture.

Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle.

witchcraft

The Greatest Witch Movie Ever Made

Why do modern witches embrace "The Wicker Man"?

An Extra-Creepy Atlas: Create your own Road Trip of the Damned with these unsettling Places you can visit IRL (in this life or the next).

Alishan, Taiwan

Pagoda of the Tree Spirit

A monument to placate the spirits of an ancient forest.

Mask of the Bat God

Mexico City, Mexico

Mask of the Bat God

This ancient jade mask depicting the Zapotec bat god was found in the ruins of the pyramids of Monte Alban.

Odesa, Ukraine

Odesa Catacombs

The largest catacomb system in the world.

You Are Fearless. You Have Scrolled Deep Into the Atlas Obscura Crypt.

Venture even deeper into the shadows for more spine-tingling Stories, positively paranormal Places, and other spooky surprises.

Scroll down at your own risk

According to the Musée de l'Homme in Paris and many historians and forensic experts, this is the skull of French philosopher René Descartes. Swedish researchers disagree.

wunderkammers

Was René Descartes a Victim of Skull Blasting?

Centuries after the philosopher’s death, lingering controversy over his remains highlights a macabre practice of profiting from the dead.

Robert's sailor suit is not original to the doll. It may have first belonged to one of his former owners, Robert Eugene Otto.

objects of intrigue

The Story Behind the World's Most Terrifying Haunted Doll

Robert the Doll is Key West's most cursed object.

The gruesome concoctions definitely caused more harm than good.

skulls

Europeans Once Drank Distilled Human Skulls as Medicine

"Corpse medicine" created a booming market for craniums, especially mossy ones.

A smashed pumpkin might be the trick, regardless of the presence of a treat.

graffiti

Why Is Mischief Night Different From All Other Nights?

How a local tradition has hung on for centuries.

A witch cake from the village of Bempton, which collector William Clarke dated to 1850.

objects of intrigue

Remembering ‘Witch Cakes,’ the Evil-Fighting Baked Goods of the 1600s

Are these cakes weapons against dark forces or just “spiky bagels”?

Galileo's Middle Finger

List

The Ultimate Guide to Scattered Body Parts

One way or another, these heads, shoulders, hands, and toes have lost their bodies.

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Still hungry for more mischief and mayhem?

Satisfy your appetite for all things Halloween, from tasty treats to unsolved mysteries, with these classics from years past.