AshleyEBowen's User Profile - Atlas Obscura

AshleyEBowen

Ashley Bowen received a PhD in American Studies from Brown University. Her research interests include the history and culture of health and medicine, the material culture of medicine, patient narratives, and the history of alternative medicine or medical skepticism. When she's not trying to write, you can find her poking around small museums, old cemeteries, and in the library.

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/56704-ashley

2015
joined atlas
obscura

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Williamsburg, Virginia

Eastern State Hospital

America's first public mental health facility.

Added by mbison

McLean, Virginia

CIA Museum

A secretive collection featuring objects that were designed specifically for U.S. intelligence operations.

EricGrundhauser

Added by EricGrundhauser

Chicago, Illinois

International Museum of Surgical Science

A monument to the art of slicing people open.

Added by mbison

New York, New York

Bellevue Hospital

The name of this famed hospital was once a byword for the horrors of medical and psychiatric care.

Luke J Spencer

Added by Luke J Spencer

Bronx, New York

North Brother Island

Home to the infamous "Typhoid Mary" and the worst loss of life in New York's history prior to September 11, 2001.

PaperTiger

Added by PaperTiger

New York, New York

Tammany Hall

The notorious headquarters of a corrupt political machine.

Oliver Hong

Added by Oliver Hong

New York, New York

Obscura Antiques and Oddities

Tucked in the back of this amazing antique store is an important piece of medical history.

Dylan

New York, New York

The Sugar House Prison Window

An odd, ancient window that may have once been part of a brutal prison is embedded in the side of New York's Police Plaza.

Luke J Spencer

Added by Luke J Spencer

New York, New York

5 Beekman Street

This beautiful building in the heart of Manhattan's Financial District was empty for decades.

bboas

Yarmouth, Massachusetts

The Edward Gorey House

Eclectic collections, artwork, and some feline friends fill the writer's former home.

Annetta Black

Added by Annetta Black

Boston, Massachusetts

Warren Anatomical Museum

This Boston medical museum features the skull of the famous medical case of Phineas Gage.

Dylan

St. Gallen, Switzerland

Abbey Library of Saint Gall

This is not only one of the oldest collections in Europe, but also possibly the most beautiful.

Added by jani7mc2

Aleutians West, Alaska

Kiska Island

The site of one of Japan's very few American occupations during World War II still holds the relics of a roundly disastrous campaign.

The Albatross

Added by The Albatross

Coquitlam, British Columbia

Riverview Hospital

Historic psychiatric asylum and most-filmed location in the Great White North.

morinaga

Added by morinaga

Ariel, Washington

D.B. Cooper Day at the Ariel General Store & Tavern

An annual celebration of the infamous, unsolved skyjacking.

Kiri the Unicorn

Added by Kiri the Unicorn

Berlin, Germany

Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum

Home to 10,000 medical specimens including the remains of Rudolf Virchow's extensive collection of pathological specimens.

Andie

Vancouver, British Columbia

Gastown Steam Clock

A working steam clock, one of only a few in the world, located in Vancouver's Victorian Gastown.

canuck

Added by canuck

Roswell, New Mexico

International UFO Museum and Research Center

A museum dedicated to the alleged Roswell Incident.

Added by CPilgrim

Sequim, Washington

Dandelion Botanical Company

Essence of hound's tongue and tincture of bloodroot are just the tip of the herbalist iceberg at this beautiful, impressively-stocked apothecary.

meganmichelle

Added by meganmichelle

Antarctic Exploration Museum & Post Office

The best place to send your postcards home from Antarctica.

Annetta Black

Added by Annetta Black

San Bernardino County, California

The Mojave Desert Mailbox

The most isolated mailbox in America lets desert travelers record their passing.

easydistance

Added by easydistance

Salt Lake City, Utah

USPS Remote Encoding Facility

Where unreadable addresses are read, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Josh

St. Joseph, Missouri

The Pony Express National Historic Trail and Museum

The fastest mail service in the west is tracked and memorialized along this 1,400 mile trail.

Added by ekoptev

Las Vegas, Nevada

Atomic Museum

Stepping away from the glitz of mobsters and casinos to learn about the other history of Vegas.

Alex