The Atlas Obscura Podcast

The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has a very unusual artifact in its collection: an object that’s been called “the world’s most dangerous toy.” It’s a science kit from the 1950s, designed to teach kids about the atom and atomic energy, but the twist is…it contains real samples of uranium. We explore the kit’s contents, and the context in which it was made.
Check out the Atlas Obscura video of the kit, and our past episode on Atomic Las Vegas
Explore the archival material mentioned in this episode: “Duck and Cover” (1951), “A is for Atom” (1953), and President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” speech
Did you have one of these Atomic Energy Lab kits or other atomic toys? Or how about toys that would be considered dangerous today? We want to hear from you: Drop us a line at hello@atlasobscura.com or call us 315-992-7902 and leave a message.



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On Fridays this October, we're surfacing strange, incredible, sometimes haunted and sometimes spooky places. This episode takes us back to1976, when a television crew filming an episode of the show “The Six Million Dollar Man” descended on a rundown funhouse in Long Beach, California. While filming, they accidentally broke the arm off a wax dummy. Except...it wasn't a wax dummy. It was a real body. The body of a notorious train robber from the early 1900s, named Elmer McCurdy. Check out the Atlas entry for Elmer McCurdy’s grave.
For more information on Elmer, we recommend Mark Svenvold’s book “Elmer McCurdy: The Misadventures in Life and Afterlife of an American Outlaw.”

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Telescope tourist, rocket scientist and STEAM educator Summer Ash gives us the nitty gritty on the V.L.A. - a 22-mile telescope in New Mexico whose formal name is literally “Very Large Array.” We talk about how this observatory works and what cosmic wonders it’s detected.

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Today, we go to the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, and meet the two historians who are working to better connect us to the mysteries and beauty of the human body.

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Christina Staton is a tour guide of the 9/11 Memorial. And today, she guides us to tell us about the overlooked places, memorials and sculptures of the memorial.



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