I know it’s purely movie fantasy, but I would love to experience a Christmas miracle. I’m not asking for anything too crazy—just a hundred-dollar bill on the sidewalk or a chance encounter with the love of my life. Have you ever witnessed a miracle? Do let me know, because I’d like to get in on this…

-Holyn Thigpen, AO Community Editor

When Quackery on the Radio Was a Public Health Crisis

By the 1930s, radio programming was rife with “experts” spouting unfounded medical advice and shilling products that promised to ramp up virility or relieve everything from aches and pains to stomach troubles and listlessness. There was a potion or magic machine for anything that plagued you. For decades, the American Medical Association (AMA) had, quite successfully, waged campaigns against quack treatment ads in newspapers and magazines, but radio quickly proved a whole other ball game.

RADIO GAGA →

Drumroll, Please! Announcing Atlas Obscura’s 2025 Country of the Year!

At Atlas Obscura, we trust our curious travelers to point us toward the world’s most special places. To identify our Community Country of 2025, we looked at the “desire ratio”—or mix of people who marked “want to go” and “been” on destinations in our Atlas. When far more people want to go than have visited, it signals rising momentum—a destination poised for even more exploration. And we had a very clear winner in 2025!

TRAVEL TO AO’S 2025 COUNTRY OF THE YEAR →

It’s a Miracle!

How did these Polynesian mollusks bounce back from a nuclear blast? — Invincible invertebrates
In “miracle towns,” plastic junk is repurposed into holy relics — Polymer pilgrimage
An 1878 hoax claimed Thomas Edison could turn dirt into food — Don’t soil your appetite