Sarah Laskow's User Profile - Atlas Obscura

Sarah Laskow

Former Atlas Obscura staff writer

2015
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In Search of the Elusive Pink-Headed Duck

After years of trying, one man thinks he will finally find a bird long thought to be extinct.

Found: Cat's Paw Print on a Roman Roof Tile

It was unusual for cats to tread on drying clay.

Found: America’s Third Species of Flying Squirrel

Western flying squirrels turn out to be totally different from their northern or southern cousins.

Invasive Plants Can Transform a Forest, Even After They're Wiped Out

Their impact on ecosystems comes on fast and can be permanent.

Found: A Lost Play by Edith Wharton

In which woman's past as a nurse comes back to haunt her.

The Scandalous Life of Nurse and Adventurer Kate Marsden

She spent 11 months trekking to Siberia to find a cure for leprosy, but her love life overshadowed everything.

Found: A Mysterious SOS Sign in the Australian Outback

Someone may have been in distress—but how long ago?

How a Synagogue Caretaker Solved the Mystery of a Forgotten Graveyard

It took an anonymous complaint, Google Maps, and a box of 300 keys.

Found: A Billion Rubles Dumped at an Abandoned Mining Operation

After the fall of communism, the Russian government needed to get rid of a lot of Soviet cash.

Found: Snakes That Hunt in Packs

Cuban boas coordinate their strikes from cave ceilings.

Found: A Hidden Vault Door Beneath the Rhode Island State House

No one knows how long it's been since anyone looked inside.

A Psychic Healer Tried to Hypnotize Soviets to Distract From the Fall of Communism

Pay no attention to the man behind the Iron Curtain.

This Revolutionary War Shot Still Has Traces of Human Blood on It

A rare artifact from a pivotal moment in American history.

Found: Tiny ‘Elfish Eyebrow Toad’

It is very small.

Found: Earliest Evidence of Humans Living on the Australian Coast

An island cave held artifacts from 50,000 years ago.

Found: A Ceiling Dripping With Honey and, Oh, 120,000 or So Bees

A beekeeper also removed 60 pounds of honey.

Found: Three Dozen Giant, Mysterious Disks of Compressed Trash

natural history museums

It's Hard to Be a Natural History Museum in the 21st Century

As belts tighten, rich collections of plant and animal specimens face relegation, dissolution, or worse.

For Sale: Intriguing 19th Century Photos of Britain's Colonial World

One Victorian woman traveled the British Empire.

small worlds and model towns

Found: A Prime Suspect in the Case of Minneapolis's Vandalized Tiny Doors

It seems one man has a surprisingly intense hatred of them.

Found: A 72-Year-Old Love Letter That Was Never Received

“Are you as lonesome for me as I am for you?"

Found: A Giant Decomposing Sea Creature

It’s probably a whale?

Resurrecting the Forgotten Bike Highways of 1930s Britain

The United Kingdom built hundreds of miles of protected bike lanes—and promptly forgot about them.

Found: Three Dead Great White Sharks, Missing Their Livers

One was also missing its heart.