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

Bats at Campbell Ave Bridge

Tucson, Arizona

Campbell Bat Bridge

A colony of Mexican free-tailed bats live under the bridge and take flight at sundown all summer long.

Particularly terrifying clowns were used throughout the experiment, which is totally normal.

haunted

For the Love of Fear

In a Swedish amusement park, two volunteers faced their greatest fears—for science.

Stretching between the 16th and 18th centuries, the Scottish witch trials were among Europe’s longest and most deadly.

witchcraft

Isobel Gowdie and the Untold History of the Scottish Witch Trials

Some experts estimate as many as 3,000 people were accused and executed for witchcraft in Scotland.

The Raven Room

List

12 Important Places in Edgar Allan Poe's Life (and Death)

A tour of the writer's world, from his short-lived military career to his multiple gravesites.

Soap Sally was always lying in wait to snatch idle children and turn them into soap and candles, according to regional folklore in Appalachia and the American South.

fairytales

Soap Sally, a Villain of Appalachia and the American South, Echoes Old World Evil

The wicked washerwoman, child murderer, and entrepreneur has parallels to Baba Yaga and other classic European folk figures.

All illustrations: John Mata for Atlas Obscura

puzzles

The Atlas Obscura Crossword: Halloween Themeless

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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.