cemeteries
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Halloween FeatureThe Startling History of the Jump Scare
By Gavia Baker-Whitelaw · October 28, 2024
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Halloween Feature5 Macabre and Mysterious Stories About Candy
By Samantha Chong · October 11, 2024
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Halloween FeatureFoxfire 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.
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).
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
horror
The Science of Fighting Our Nightmares
Researchers around the world are working on ways to regain control of our minds during sleep and battle the monsters that torment us.
halloween
Get Inspired by History’s Most Scandalous and Stunning Costumes
For centuries, people have used fancy dress to impress.
haunted
7 Stories of Ghosts in Weird Places
From a Norwegian grocery store to a town hall in Spain, hauntings can happen where we least expect them.
aliens
Who Were the Mysterious Moon-Eyed People of Appalachia?
Tales of strange, nocturnal people haunt the region—and so do theories about who they were, from a lost Welsh "tribe" to aliens.
floods
Appalachia’s Ugliest Cryptid Drowns In Its Own Tears
A new festival looks to draw out and soothe the squonk in all of us.
witchcraft
Were the Salem Witch Trials Ruff on Dogs?
The 17th-century event claimed at least 25 human lives. Whether any dogs were killed is unclear—but accusations against them had a familiar theme.
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.
Explore now