Natalie Zarrelli's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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spies

Queen Elizabeth I’s Vast Spy Network Was The First Surveillance State

One of her spies signed his reports with a familiar moniker: "007."
December 7, 2016
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celebrity

Why Americans Consider Celebrities for Political Office

Trump’s celebrity past may have been his biggest political advantage.
November 10, 2016
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31 days of halloween

How the Hidden Sounds of Horror Movie Soundtracks Freak You Out

From altered voices to "infrasound," these audio tricks spook and unsettle.
October 31, 2016
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telephones

Dial-a-Ghost on Thomas Edison's Least Successful Invention: the Spirit Phone

Building devices to talk with the dead was a popular diversion for inventors in the 1920s.
October 18, 2016
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robot

Human Eyes Might Not Notice a Good Forgery, But Computers Could

Artificial intelligence might thwart art forgers once and for all.
October 5, 2016
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environmental disasters

The Once Glamorous Salton Sea is Now Rife With Toxic Dust and Dying Fish

The Salton Sea is a polluted accident turned natural resource, and the government is finally giving it funding.
September 29, 2016
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weddings

For 200 Years, Secret 'Anvil Weddings' Were Performed by Blacksmiths in the U.K.

Runaway weddings had blacksmiths, cobblers and mole-catchers as priests.
September 22, 2016
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utopia week

One of the Earliest Science Fiction Books Was Written in the 1600s by a Duchess

Meet Lady Margaret Cavendish.
September 16, 2016
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utopia week

The Lost Lesbian Bars of New Orleans

Bygone centers for activism, secret love, and glittery drag shows are being revived through story.
September 14, 2016
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fraud

Election Fraud in the 1800s Involved Kidnapping and Forced Drinking

How roving "cooping" gangs got voters drunk and disturbed the democratic process.
September 7, 2016
Gastro Obscura
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chemicals

Food Testing in 1902 Featured a Bow Tie-Clad 'Poison Squad' Eating Plates of Acid

Why the FDA owes its existence to 12 men eating poisoned meals.
August 30, 2016
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ancient greece

Why Doctors Once Treated Fevers and Hysteria With Mashed-Up Bedbugs

From Ancient Greece through the 18th century, bedbugs were used as medicine.
August 24, 2016
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olympics

The Olympic Committee Spent Years Concern-Trolling Women About 'Wandering Wombs'

But the women's-only Olympics of 1922 disproved doctors, doubters, and the IOC.
August 17, 2016
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swimming pools

A Survey of the Most Ridiculous Anti-Drowning Devices of the 1800s

Victorian life preservers invited both drowning and mockery.
August 4, 2016
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media

The Scandalous Zines of Renaissance England

Broadsides were the Facebook posts and tweets of their day.
July 26, 2016
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utopias

The Dream of Building Floating Cities is Dragged Down by Reality

Seasteading is the biggest DIY project in the world—but everyone wants something different.
July 19, 2016
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relationships

Why Did American Cats Get Blamed for So Many Divorces?

A century of couples pinning their marital woes on felines.
July 12, 2016
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greece

'O, Shrill-Voiced Insect': The Cicada Poems of Ancient Greece

Classical poets loved cicadas so much they wrote odes to them.
June 23, 2016
Gastro Obscura
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wedding day

Why Grooms Get Their Own Manly Cakes at Southern Weddings

Victorians came up with the idea.
June 14, 2016
Gastro Obscura
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gambling

Meat Raffles are the Juiciest Bar Trend

Meet the meat raffle, a British bar tradition transported to the U.S.
June 9, 2016
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body snatching

How The Medical Cadaver Finally Got the Respect it Deserves

The rise and fall of medical cadaver ceremonies.
May 26, 2016
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tree week

The Scientist Who Discovered Sudden Oak Death Believes We Can Save the Forests

We should have taken the disease more seriously before it killed a million trees, though.
May 19, 2016
Gastro Obscura
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gangsters

The Violent Ice Cream Wars of 1980s Scotland

The most dangerous job in Glasgow was being an ice cream man.
May 13, 2016
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linguistics

The Hidden History of Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language

How a deaf utopia was uncovered in the 1970s.
May 4, 2016