Sarah Laskow's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Gastro Obscura
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hearts week

Medieval Europe Couldn't Quit This Story About a Woman Eating Her Lover's Heart

Her husband tricks her into eating it.
February 14, 2017
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death

Found: Tiny Pebbles Ritually 'Killed' by Paleolithic People

They used them to color a dead body then broke them in half.
February 14, 2017
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hearts week

An Iconic Salad Has Two Key Ingredients: Hearts of Palm and Green Ice Cream

It's from Florida, naturally.
February 13, 2017
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surfing

For Sale: Photos From Hawaii in the 1890s

Surfing!
February 13, 2017
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fashion

Found: A Lost Wedding Dress From 1870

When a dry cleaners went bankrupt, the dress went missing.
February 13, 2017
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natural history

Why Did Medieval Artists Give Elephants Trunks That Look Like Trumpets?

Maybe not just because they didn't know what elephants looked like.
February 10, 2017
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found

Archaeologists Discover a 12th Cave Connected to the Dead Sea Scrolls

But no new texts.
February 9, 2017
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geographic markers

When Land Surveys Were a Modern Marvel

In 1784, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton squared off over the best way to divvy up newly American territory.
February 9, 2017
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color

Found: A Very Orange Alligator

A South Carolina community has a new resident.
February 9, 2017
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slavery

Found: A Long-Lost Photo of Harriet Tubman

The post-Civil War photo shows her in her 40s.
February 8, 2017
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security

U.S. Presidents Do Have Spending Limits for Securing Private Homes

Thanks, Nixon.
February 7, 2017
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escape routes

Found: A Gecko That Loses Its Giant Scales if It Is So Much as Touched

Do not grab this gecko.
February 7, 2017
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shipwrecks

Found: A 17th-Century Wreck That Looks Like Sweden’s Most Famous Warship

The Blekinge was launched in 1682 and sunk in 1713.
February 6, 2017
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sharks

Found: One (Relatively) Cute Shark and One Hideous Ghost Shark

The ghost shark is "chunky in the front."
February 3, 2017
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maps

Why the London of British Literature Barely Changed for 200 Years

An innovative mapping project uncovers just how limited the literary version of the city has often been.
February 2, 2017
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airplanes

Found: Two Mysterious Signatures on the Wing of a WWII Plane

Who were Eva and Edith?
February 2, 2017
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the exit interview

Exit Interview: I Was a Black, Female Thru-Hiker on the Appalachian Trail

On joining an exclusive group that's 75 percent male and overwhelmingly white.
February 1, 2017
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found

Found: Tiny Grains of Rock That Reveal a Lost Continent

It's hiding under Mauritius.
February 1, 2017
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radioactive

Found: Melted Uranium Rods, Lost at Fukushima

Six years after the disaster, Tepco may have found its lost nuclear debris.
January 31, 2017
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snow

Found: A Moose in This Random Person's Basement

It fell into the window well.
January 30, 2017
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women

The Forgotten 'China Girls' Hidden at the Beginning of Old Films

Used as quality control, these haunting images were never meant to be public.
January 30, 2017
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cars

Found: A Cat That Rode 230 Miles Under a Car’s Hood

He was fine, if shaken up.
January 30, 2017
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villains week

The Counterintuitive History of Black Hats, White Hats, And Villains

Even in old Westerns, the white hat/black hat divide is less distinct than is often remembered.
January 27, 2017
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racism

Found: A Real Human Skull in a Museum Diorama

It's apparently going to go back on display?
January 27, 2017