shoshiparks's User Profile - Atlas Obscura

shoshiparks

Anthropologist, freelance writer, environmental steward, wannabe farmer, world observer, history buff, obsessive traveler.

http://www.shoshiparks.net

2016
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Leaderboard Highlights

shoshiparks's activity rankings

1^st

Places visited in Waimangu, New Zealand

1^st

Places added to Beaufort, South Carolina

1^st

Places visited in Aksum, Ethiopia

How Elvis Became the King of Las Vegas Weddings

Overcoming threats to cease-and-desist, Las Vegas’s iconic Elvis weddings live on.

The Phantom Island That Haunted 16th-Century Newfoundland

The ‘Isle of Demons' was said to be overrun with ghosts and ghouls.

December 7, 2023

All Winter, These Ants Make the Ultimate Sweet Sacrifice to Their Colony

Their syrupy death is medicinal for humans, too.

December 5, 2023

Honoring the Thousands of Forgotten Souls Buried Beneath San Francisco

Experts estimate some 50,000 people are buried beneath the sprawling metropolis.

September 28, 2023

black composers

The Black Composers of New Orleans Opera Are Finally Getting Their Due

And it's all thanks to this mother-daughter dream team.

September 13, 2023

How A ‘Firefly Course’ Is Saving Japan’s Favorite Glowing Insect

At the Moriyama City Firefly Forest Museum, nurturing Genji fireflies comes with homework.

Saving the Mystery Symbols Carved into Australia's Boab Trees

Researchers are rushing to document the Indigenous art before it is lost to time and climate change.

Were These Beetles Once as Valuable as Gemstones?

Archaeologists believe jewelry made from the bugs was a coveted status symbol 2,000 years ago.

The Last Days of the Bahama Nuthatch

What's it like to "very probably" witness extinction?

These Masks Brought Shame to Gossips, Drunks, and Narcissists

In 17th-century Germany, a "schandmaske" was the prescribed punishment for social transgression.

February 17, 2023

Does This Silly-Looking Animal Have a Solution to Climate Change?

Beavers can reshape the North American ecosystem—if we let them.

January 31, 2023

Did Ancient Egypt Have a Pigeon Problem?

More than 3,000 years ago, the birds appeared in unexpected places.

January 25, 2023

moveable feasts

Inside the Diet That Fueled Chinese Transcontinental Railroad Workers

Denied the free meals of their Irish counterparts, Chinese laborers learned to thrive on their own.

November 30, 2022

How Young Killer Whales Became Hooligans

Yes, orcas have viral cultural trends, too.

September 29, 2022

Why Birds Changed Their Tune During the Pandemic

We don't know if they'll ever sing their old songs again.

September 2, 2022

The Last Public Payphone Kiosk on the Streets of New York

How the once-ubiquitous convenience became a rare museum piece.

The 19th-Century Secret Society Preserving the History of the West

The irreverent, all-male E Clampus Vitus commemorates overlooked people and events.

The Birds of Prey That Stand Guard Over California's Vineyards

Without them, the state's lucrative wine grape crop could be gobbled up by smaller birds.

How the 'First Lady of Seaweed' Changed Science

Isabella Abbott, the first native Hawaiian woman to earn a doctorate in science, rewrote the book on her beloved limu.

citizen science

Can Citizen Scientists Prevent Another Pacific Newt Massacre?

Cars are annihilating the tiny amphibians.

January 11, 2022

Can the Mighty Bankhar Dogs of Mongolia Save the Steppe?

These ancient guardians of the traditional nomadic way of life are making a comeback.

February 23, 2021

A Brief History of TP, From Silk Road Hygiene to Pandemic Hoarding

An author's end-game expertise has never been more timely.

What the Color 'Haint Blue' Means to the Descendants of Enslaved Africans

In the Lowcountry, the unique shade is both protective talisman and source of unspeakable suffering.

January 14, 2020

S.F. Marks the Spot for Buried Treasure

A fantasy author's 37-year-old cache may soon be unearthed in one of the city's 220 parks. But which one?

September 20, 2019