History

Is Saint Corona a Guardian Against Epidemics?

Sold: An Ornate Piano Found on a World War II Battlefield

The French Conquest of Algeria Was Sick With Nostalgia

The Great French Mustache Strike of 1907

Why England Once Forced Everyone to Be Buried in Wool

A South Carolina Ghost Called the Gray Man Has Been Predicting Hurricanes for Generations (Mother Jones)

This 4,000-Year-Old Pot Spent Years as a Toothbrush Holder

‘Are We Not American Soldiers?’ When the U.S. Military Treated German POWs Better Than Black Troops (TIME)

He Fled Jim Crow—then risked his future for two Holocaust survivors (Jewish Daily Forward).

My complete portfolio of stories for Atlas Obscura can be found here. Read on for tales of life-saving pennies, fossilized feces, and a record-setting whale phallus.