An Adventure Down Memory Lane With One of Our Top Contributors

Atlas Obscura would not be possible without the dedicated work of our community, who help us add more wondrous places to the site every day. We want to give some of our most dedicated contributors a chance to share collections of some of their favorite entries, and tell us all a little more about themselves. Edward Denny joined Atlas Obscura in 2018, and tops our leaderboards in places added in Nepal. 

“Born and raised in the Rust Belt, I have spent the last 30 years post-college looking for shinier places. For many of those years,” he says. “I was occupied as a high school chemistry and Latin teacher in Arizona, content to accept the penury of academia in exchange for carefree summers spent exploring America’s alcoves.” 

What drew him to Atlas Obscura was our list of off-beat museums, which he used to organize his summer travels. ”While I revel in the comprehensive grandeur of the American Museum of Natural History, the British Museum, or the Louvre, I have learned the most from visiting the Jell-O Museum, the Spam Museum, and the Urology Museum.” Denny has visited more than 1,000 small specialty museums and institutions across the globe.

“Conversations with the founders of the Mustard Museum in Wisconsin, PEZ Museum in California, and the Nepali Folk Instrument Museum in Kathmandu have yielded the best memories and most authentic experiences,” he says.

It wasn’t long before Denny was searching the depths of the Atlas for new, interesting places. “I began exploring its myriad of other offerings, which led me down captivating paths I never expected and reacquainted me with places I thought I knew,” he says. “I’m pleased to offer the following nostalgic notes on places I’ve contributed, which represent four particularly meaningful trips, as well as my hometown.”