21 Items Tagged

Memory

A woman enjoying the sights of a new city alone.

AO Mailbag: Is It Rude to Travel Without Your Significant Other?

The Atlas Obscura team answers audience questions about all things solo travel.

The Podcast Team August 25, 2025

The author's mother found the letters of a missing man.

Letters Hidden in My Family’s Attic Reveal a 1910s Bank Con in Key West

The con artist was either a very unlucky man or a trickster who got away with it all.

Asia London Palomba January 3, 2025

Podcast: Sniffing out What’s Special with Saskia Wilson Brown

What did Napoleon smell like?

The Podcast Team December 21, 2023

Podcast: Secret Places With Ashley Ray

A love letter to an unloved Midwestern town.

The Podcast Team June 21, 2023

Torre della Sapienza (Tower of Wisdom)

This enigmatic piece of art is a mnemonic device from the early Renaissance.

A participant named Debbie Graves shows off her goth look.

The Museum of Youth Culture Wants Your Teenage Memories

Your awkward, rebellious stage, it turns out, is history.

Matthew Taub May 20, 2020

Red Oak II

Carthage, Missouri

Red Oak II

When he found his hometown was no more, Lowell Davis decided to recreate a "new" ghost town from scratch.

A smattering of autobiographical materials at the Archivio Diaristico Nazionale, aka the National Diary Archive.

Welcome to Pieve Santo Stefano, Italy's 'City of Diaries'

Everyday memories—and national history—live on in this tiny Tuscan town.

Ian Shank July 25, 2019

Writing recipes became a ritual during times of debilitating hunger.

The Extraordinary ‘Cookbooks’ Left Behind by Prisoners of War and Concentration Camp Victims

Their culinary legacies, written on scraps of paper or fabric, tell stories of hope and resistance.

Rohini Chaki June 5, 2019

A view of Medellín, Colombia, from a landing on the public escalator that climbs into the Comuna 13 neighborhood.

Medellín's Bright Future Is Tangled Up With Its Dark Past

Decades after the end of the narco era, a Colombian city wonders if it is better to forget.

Elizabeth Svoboda October 10, 2018

<em>Cataglyphis fortis</em> has a Michelin-star memory (for smelling foods).

Desert Ants Can Remember Food Smells Like Gourmet Chefs

But they quickly forget the smells of their own nests.

Matthew Taub September 24, 2018

What smells drag you home against your will?

What Specific Smells Remind You of Home?

Tell us about all the alluring (or disgusting?) scents that always transport you.

Eric Grundhauser August 9, 2018

I remember there was a person in it and they did something ...

The Crack Squad of Librarians Who Track Down Half-Forgotten Books

Reuniting stumped readers with the books from the edges of their memories.

Jessica Leigh Hester August 6, 2018

Video • AO Docs

Memory in Miniature

Immortalizing Human Scents as Memory Perfumes

Bodily odors are forever.

Christina Ayele Djossa February 26, 2018

A slice of spectacular, possibly sugar coma-inducing cake.

Do Sugar Comas Exist?

Scientists disagree on whether they're real or imagined.

Paula Mejia January 3, 2018

Vintage kitchen canisters.

Did Your Grandma Steal That ‘Secret Family Recipe’?

Help Gastro Obscura investigate.

Alex Mayyasi December 29, 2017

All illustrations: Sebastien Thibault.

The Hidden Memories of Plants

Inside a quiet revolution in the study of the world's other great kingdom.

Sarah Laskow September 5, 2017