Michael J Bielawa's User Profile - Atlas Obscura

Michael J Bielawa

Michael Bielawa’s explorations take him to northeast America's most mysterious, and abandoned, sites. He’s shared his findings on TV, radio and in print: including reanimating the dead in New England with NPR, long-lost 19th century baseball fields with Major League Baseball, Men In Black and the Lake Champlain Creature with the Connecticut Post and attempts to pilfer P.T. Barnum's corpse with London’s Fortean Times. Bielawa lectures throughout Connecticut and his Wicked Walks, each October for The Barnum Museum (and in 2018 co-sponsored by Atlas Obscura), documents Bridgeport, Connecticut as one of America’s most paranormal downtowns. He is the author of Wicked Bridgeport and Wicked New Haven.

Michael J. Bielawa, Author

2018
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Leaderboard Highlights

Michael J Bielawa's activity rankings

1^st

Places visited in Bridgeport, Connecticut

1^st

Places visited in Meriden, Connecticut

1^st

Places visited in Waterbury, Connecticut

2^nd

Places visited in Rocky Hill, Connecticut

2^nd

Places visited in Manchester, Vermont

5^th

Places visited in Connecticut

5^th

Places visited in Wareham, Massachusetts

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Bridgeport, Connecticut

Gustave Whitehead Fountain

This monument commemorates an aeronaut who allegedly flew a plane before the Wright brothers.

Johnmeszaros

Added by Johnmeszaros

Milford, Connecticut

Simon Lake's Explorer

The last vessel built by a submarine pioneer stands as a monument to his legacy.

Johnmeszaros

Added by Johnmeszaros

Milford, Connecticut

Liberty Rock

This large boulder was used as a lookout point by Revolutionary War militiamen.

Johnmeszaros

Added by Johnmeszaros

Groton, Connecticut

Submarine Force Museum

The US Navy's only submarine museum is also home to the world's first nuclear submarine.

kweiss2001

Added by kweiss2001

Hamden, Connecticut

Sleeping Giant Observation Tower

Amazing views of Long Island Sound can be seen from this mountaintop tower.

Added by jakechouston

New Haven, Connecticut

Pirelli Building

After decades of neglect, a brutalist icon is getting new life as an eco-friendly hotel.

Added by jakechouston

Hyde Park, New York

The Hyde Park Vanderbilt Mansion

"A hideous albatross in the Hudson River Valley."

Matt Blitz

Added by Matt Blitz

Lee, Massachusetts

Santarella

Stay at this storybook estate, featuring Sir Henry Hudson Kitson's masterpiece "Gingerbread House."

Kerry Wolfe

Added by Kerry Wolfe

Mount Washington, Massachusetts

Bash Bish Falls

One of the most scenic falls in Massachusetts has a history of death and grim legend.

thomasharper

Added by thomasharper

Kinderhook, New York

Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse

The schoolhouse where Jesse Merwin, the inspiration for the "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" character, once taught.

bakedinthehole

Added by bakedinthehole

West Brookfield, Massachusetts

Rock House Reservation

A rock outcropping left by a glacier that made itself useful throughout the centuries.

Ophelia Ravenia

Added by Ophelia Ravenia

Brookfield, Massachusetts

Spooner Well

Monument on the spot where in 1778, Bathsheba Spooner had her husband Joshua killed and dumped down his own well.

JWOcker

Added by JWOcker

Natchez, Mississippi

Under-the-Hill Saloon

A 200-year-old bar is all that remains of one Mississippi River town's rough-and-tumble past.

Added by cr3adventurez

St. Francisville, Louisiana

The Disputed Domain of West Florida

The short-lived history of a new republic and British control in West Florida.

Rebekah Otto

Added by Rebekah Otto

New Orleans, Louisiana

'Birthplace of Dixie' Plaque

The South's nickname was supposedly born at a former bank in New Orleans' French Quarter.

J Ginsberg

Added by J Ginsberg

New Orleans, Louisiana

Café Lafitte in Exile

One of the oldest continuously-operated gay bars in the United States is allegedly haunted by Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams.

Fred Cherrygarden

Added by Fred Cherrygarden

Avon, Connecticut

Heublein Tower

This lovely hilltop tower was specifically built to withstand 100 MPH winds.

Andrew Lehmann

Added by Andrew Lehmann

Groton, Connecticut

Gungywamp

The kind of mixed-up place that drives archaeologists crazy.

Dylan

Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Herman Melville's Arrowhead

Herman Melville wrote 'Moby Dick' in this landmark 18th-century house surrounded by farmland.

alecjr

Added by alecjr

Wareham, Massachusetts

Tremont Nail Company

The former home of the oldest nail maker in the United States was built on the ashes of a mill burned by the British.

Dave Brigham

Added by Dave Brigham

Lowell, Massachusetts

Jack Kerouac Park

A monument park dedicated to the influential Beat Generation author and poet, Jack Kerouac.

Added by amandawatson

St. Augustine, Florida

Castillo de San Marcos

The walls of America's oldest masonry fort famously "swallowed" cannonballs.

linazeldovich

Added by linazeldovich

Key Largo, Florida

The African Queen

The famous boat that once ferried Bogart and Hepburn still floats in Key Largo after being abandoned for years.

Luke J Spencer

Added by Luke J Spencer

Farmington, Connecticut

Shade Swamp Sanctuary

An abandoned Depression-era zoo hidden just off the highway.

e1savage

Added by e1savage