Maybe you associate Las Vegas with slot machines more than with pinball machines. But what you might not know is that pinball, today found in every family friendly arcade in America, was once considered a form of gambling – and was the center of a culture war in the US. We go to the Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame to play through the history of the game.

This episode was brought to you in partnership with the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. 

Check out the Pinball Hall of Fame online: https://pinballmuseum.org/

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This archaeological dig in Phonsovan, Laos is one of the most important and dangerous prehistoric sites in Southeast Asia. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/plain-of-jars

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Sets from the original 1960’s Star Trek have been recreated for fans and actors alike in Ticonderoga, New York.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/star-trek-original-series-set-tour

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Colin Dickey is no stranger to dubious ghost tales. But when he went to Nevada to report at a brothel called the Mustang Ranch, he experienced something that to this day he can’t explain.

Every Thursday this month, writer Colin Dickey joins us to talk about the cultural history behind some of our favorite spooky legends and creatures.

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In the months leading up to Labor Day, a dedicated team of craftspeople and volunteers gather in the Santa Fe Plaza Mall to build…a puppet. Not just an ordinary puppet, but a gigantic, 50-foot tall marionette with moving arms, eyes, and legs. It looks kind of like a big, somewhat-scary, somewhat-cuddly ghost. This ghost will get stuffed with shredded paper, and then around 50,000 people get together to…well, set him on fire.

This…is the Burning of Zozobra.

This episode was brought to you in partnership with Visit Santa Fe. Learn more about the Burning of Zozobra and start planning your trip now - the event takes place every year the Friday before Labor Day: https://burnzozobra.com/

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In 1915, a devastating fire destroyed the Chinatown in Walnut Grove, California. In its aftermath, a group of Chinese immigrant residents founded the town of Locke – not just another Chinatown, but a self-sustaining Chinese community nestled in the California Delta. Today, Locke stands as one of the last remaining rural Chinese towns in the United States.

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The Atlas Places Team bring two stories - one from the campus of Gallaudet University and the other from Cornell University to tell us about usual traditions that take place in these universities.

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A basketball fan goes to the hall of fame – and no, it’s not the big one in Massachusetts that you may be thinking about. Hear the story behind a Midwest state’s special link to the sport.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/indiana-basketball-hall-of-fame-museum

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Deep in the Phoenix Gold Mine in Idaho Springs, Colorado, a strange noise inspires a legend.

Every Thursday this month, writer Colin Dickey joins us to talk about the cultural history behind some of our favorite spooky legends and creatures.  

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Today, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk is viewed as the founder of the modern Czech state – a George Washington-like figure. When he died in the 1930s, his final words were sealed in an envelope…which then passed from his son, who died under mysterious circumstances in the 1940s, to a secretary’s flat in Scotland, to being stashed away in the National Archives, with instructions not to open the envelope until 2025. 

This September, the envelope was revealed to the public for the first time. So what were Masaryk’s famous last words?

Read more about the mysterious envelope: https://english.radio.cz/masaryks-last-words-envelope-opened-insights-a-nations-founding-president-8863213 and about the re-opened investigation into Jan Masaryk’s death: https://www.rferl.org/a/czech-murder-czechoslovakia-masaryk-cold-war/33306970.html

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