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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Griswold, Connecticut

Jewett City Vampires

The graves of a Connecticut family thought to have been plagued by a vampire.

JWOcker

Added by JWOcker

New Orleans, Louisiana

The Rosegate House

A typical "Old South" manor, once owned by author Anne Rice, served as the setting for several of her witchcraft sagas.

Laetitia Barbier

Added by Laetitia Barbier

New Orleans, Louisiana

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

The world-record holder for the longest bridge stretching continuously over water.

Tony Dunnell

Added by Tony Dunnell

New Orleans, Louisiana

Street Name Tiles of New Orleans

This distinctive Crescent City tradition dates back to the days of horse-drawn carriages.

Rebecca Byrne

Added by Rebecca Byrne

New Orleans, Louisiana

Congo Square

Once the site of a Native American harvest festival, this humble clearing later played an invaluable role in the birth of jazz.

Rebecca Byrne

Added by Rebecca Byrne

New Orleans, Louisiana

Musical Legends Park

A small park on Bourbon Street features life-size bronze statues of New Orleans musicians.

Christine Williamson

Added by Christine Williamson

New Orleans, Louisiana

Carousel Bar

The only rotating bar in New Orleans has been slowly spinning since 1949.

Tony Dunnell

Added by Tony Dunnell

New Orleans, Louisiana

Nicolas Cage's Pyramid Tomb

In 2010, Nicolas Cage purchased two plots in this cemetery using one to construct this strange pyramid mausoleum.

asqueen

Added by asqueen

New London, Connecticut

Annual Burning of Benedict Arnold

New London, Connecticut still holds a grudge against its hometown son who turned traitor and burned the city.

e1savage

Added by e1savage

Meriden, Connecticut

Castle Craig

A lone tower rises above the cliffs in a city park, offering fantastic views of the Connecticut landscape.

Bridgeport, Connecticut

Warner Brothers Corset Factory

This factory made "health corsets" that were a step towards liberating women's bodies.

Molly McBride Jacobson

Added by Molly McBride Jacobson

Queens, New York

5 Pointz

A graffiti Mecca welcoming artists from around the world.

aboychuk

Added by aboychuk

New York, New York

Lenin Statue at Red Square

Salute the leader of the proletariat.

Oliver Hong

Added by Oliver Hong

Beacon, New York

Bannerman's Castle

Collapsing castle on the Hudson river was once the storage site of military surplus business.

anhie

Deep River, Connecticut

The Grave of XYZ

The mysterious headstone of an unidentified bank robber was seen visited, every year, by a woman in black.

Added by jmay1307

Newtown, Connecticut

Fairfield Hills Hospital

This abandoned psychiatric hospital once housed more than 4,000 patients in the middle of a quaint New England town.

Daniel

Added by Daniel

New York, New York

Grand Central Ceiling Dark Patch

A dark patch of the ceiling at Grand Central Terminal which was not restored is still stained brown by tobacco.

New York, New York

Graybar Rats

Rat sculptures try to infiltrate the Graybar Building in an architectural tribute to New York City's nautical history.

AaronNetsky

Added by AaronNetsky

Sheffield, Massachusetts

Thom Reed UFO Monument Park

The site of the first "historically true" UFO encounter in the U.S.

AaronNetsky

Added by AaronNetsky

Hillsdale, New York

Circle Museum

Eight whimsical acres of metal art.

Added by howardfeingold

Cheshire, Connecticut

Lock 12 Historical Park

This historic park site contains the last remnants of a once bustling canal system.

LeeDayton

Added by LeeDayton

New Haven, Connecticut

Ingalls Rink

It looks like a whale, it's part of Yale, and it's best-known by a nickname you can probably work out for yourself.

Hebron, Connecticut

Gay City State Park

The ruins of an abandoned 18th-century town that is slowly being reclaimed by the forest.

e1savage

Added by e1savage

Hartford, Connecticut

Statue of Rover

A tribute to the truly loyal dog who waited outside a hospital for his owner to come back.

e1savage

Added by e1savage