Michael J Bielawa's User Profile - Atlas Obscura

Michael J Bielawa

Michael Bielawa’s explorations take him to northeast America's most mysterious, and abandoned, sites. He’s shared his findings on TV, radio and in print: including reanimating the dead in New England with NPR, long-lost 19th century baseball fields with Major League Baseball, Men In Black and the Lake Champlain Creature with the Connecticut Post and attempts to pilfer P.T. Barnum's corpse with London’s Fortean Times. Bielawa lectures throughout Connecticut and his Wicked Walks, each October for The Barnum Museum (and in 2018 co-sponsored by Atlas Obscura), documents Bridgeport, Connecticut as one of America’s most paranormal downtowns. He is the author of Wicked Bridgeport and Wicked New Haven.

Michael J. Bielawa, Author

2018
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Leaderboard Highlights

Michael J Bielawa's activity rankings

1^st

Places visited in Bridgeport, Connecticut

1^st

Places visited in Meriden, Connecticut

1^st

Places visited in Waterbury, Connecticut

2^nd

Places visited in Rocky Hill, Connecticut

2^nd

Places visited in Manchester, Vermont

5^th

Places visited in Connecticut

5^th

Places visited in Wareham, Massachusetts

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Meriden, Connecticut

Talcott Basalt Lava Pillows

Hidden behind a Target are pillows of cooled lava that formed at the bottom of a deep lake in the Mesozoic Era.

Johnmeszaros

Added by Johnmeszaros

Meriden, Connecticut

Traffic Control Tower

A human attendant once directed car traffic from this structure before automated stoplights.

Johnmeszaros

Added by Johnmeszaros

Rocky Hill, Connecticut

Glacial Lake Hitchcock Sediment Dam

Now home to hardy plants, these sand and gravel dunes once held back a massive prehistoric lake.

Johnmeszaros

Added by Johnmeszaros

Middletown, Connecticut

Joseph Barratt's Grave

The gravestone of an eccentric Connecticut doctor features dinosaur tracks and a pair of fossil tree casts.

Johnmeszaros

Added by Johnmeszaros

Middlefield, Connecticut

Powder Hill Dinosaur Park

This petite park lets visitors see and touch examples of fossilized dinosaur tracks.

Johnmeszaros

Added by Johnmeszaros

Danbury, Connecticut

Danbury Railway Museum

This historic railway museum may have lost its passengers but not its love for trains.

Danbury, Connecticut

Hearthstone Castle

A castle inspired by medieval architecture is hidden in the woods of Connecticut.

missingfilm

Added by missingfilm

Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford Circus Fire Memorial

Memorial to one of the most fatal fires in both circus and U.S. history.

JWOcker

Added by JWOcker

Waterford, Connecticut

Seaside Sanatorium

Ruins of a historic medical facility sits eerily by the water.

missingfilm

Added by missingfilm

Union, Connecticut

Traveler Restaurant

This small-town Connecticut restaurant gives each diner a free book from its vast library.

e1savage

Added by e1savage

Farmington, Connecticut

The Grave of Foone

The final resting place of one member of the Amistad slave revolt who never made it back home.

e1savage

Added by e1savage

Windham, Connecticut

Thread City Crossing Bridge

Public outcry led to this bridge's unique character which celebrates a giant frog battle and also sewing.

Hartford, Connecticut

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

The author of Uncle Tom's Cabin was neighbors with Mark Twain while living in this Connecticut home.

thomasharper

Added by thomasharper

North Salem, New York

Balanced Rock

Glacial erratic or man-made dolmen? It probably wasn't druids.

Added by zenopox

Norwalk, Connecticut

Stepford Wives Locations

Mansion and shopping center used in the 1975 film "The Stepford Wives."

JWOcker

Added by JWOcker

Kinderhook, New York

Martin Van Buren National Historic Site

At this farm in upstate New York, the former president plotted his reelection campaign.

billpiercect

Added by billpiercect

Boston, Massachusetts

Berkeley Weather Beacon

A beacon atop a downtown building provides Bostonians with weather forecasts and baseball news.

Sydney Rose

Added by Sydney Rose

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Jennie Wade House

Home of the only civilian casualty at the Battle of Gettysburg.

meredithp

Added by meredithp

Elmira, New York

Mark Twain's Grave

The little-known final resting place of one of America's greatest writers.

Jimmy Stardust

Added by Jimmy Stardust

Danbury, Connecticut

Sybil Ludington Statue

A statue commemorating a 16-year old girl's nighttime ride to raise a militia against attacking British troops.

Johnmeszaros

Added by Johnmeszaros

Danbury, Connecticut

Hat Maker Statue

This statue commemorates the importance of hat manufacturing to Danbury, once known as the "Hat City of the World."

Johnmeszaros

Added by Johnmeszaros

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Palace of the Governors

The oldest continuously occupied public building in the United States.

Tony Dunnell

Added by Tony Dunnell

Highlands, New Jersey

Navesink Twin Lights

These unassuming lighthouses have seen the first reading of the Pledge of Allegiance, the first wireless transmission, and more than one mystery.

Jane Weinhardt Goldberg

Added by Jane Weinhardt Goldberg

New Bedford, Massachusetts

'Seaflower'

The sea urchin sculpture is an unusual commemoration of a New England town's seafaring history.

IJVin