The Atlas Obscura Podcast

If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to run away and join the circus, this episode is for you. Dylan talks with Jack Lepiarz, also known as Jacques Ze Whipper, about how he created a life for himself on the Renaissance Festival circuit.  Learn more on Jack’s website. 

When Peter James first stumbled on the Lowfield Heath Windmill, it was falling apart. Determined to save it, he embarked on a years-long effort with the town that would lead to its complete deconstruction before being rebuilt somewhere new.Find out how you can visit the Lowfield Heath Windmill or donate to its ongoing restoration efforts.

In the 1980s, a team of Soviet scientists dug a hole in the Earth’s crust so deep that they reached Hell… complete with high temperatures, unexplained happenings, and even the tortured screams of damned souls. At least, that’s what a popular urban legend at the time claimed. Dylan and producer Amanda McGowan explore the origins of this legend – and the real-life scientific quest that inspired it.  We don’t know what the Kola Borehole really sounds like, but Dutch sound artist Lotte Geeven has recorded the sound of another super deep hole (in Germany). Not quite horror movie screams, but pretty cool! Ready to go down the Kola superdeep rabbit hole? Some more links:“The deepest hole we have ever dug” (via the BBC) “Inside the deepest artificial hole on Earth” (via Orion magazine)Snopes debunks the “Well to Hell” mythOn the US side of things: “How an ill-fated undersea adventure in the 1960s changed the way scientists see the Earth” (via Vox) Some updates on the “digging to the center of the Earth” front: “Scientists drill deeper into Earth’s mantle than ever before” (via Smithsonian) 

Listener stories about traveling abroad for the first time – from a trip to Germany in 2020, to a chalet in Switzerland in 1986, to a trip to Iran just before the Shah revolution. Plus, we want to hear your stories of traveling with a significant other for the first time. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave us a message telling us your story. Or better yet, record a voice memo and email it to us at [email protected].