Guides
Plan a trip somewhere strange.
Practical field guides for visiting the places in the archive: what to see, how to get there, what’s nearby, and what to know once you arrive.
Browse by guide type5 guides
Every guide is free to read. Some include an optional premium expansion with deeper trip research.
Results · 5 guides
Single site · PennsylvaniaA Death Row With No ExecutionsEastern State opened in 1829 on the theory that solitude reforms people. Its last cellblock is called Death Row, and no one was ever executed there. This guide walks the building as the record of an argument that lost.16 min read
Seasonal · Salem, MassachusettsThe Paperwork Left Town in 2023Salem sells 1692 on every block. The 1692 court papers went to Boston in January 2023, and the trial records of the thirty people convicted were never among them.14 min read
Seasonal · Sleepy Hollow, New YorkSleepy Hollow: The Village That Voted for Its Own LegendNorth Tarrytown renamed itself Sleepy Hollow in December 1996, the year the General Motors plant closed. A two-night weekend built on what is still standing, and it works from late September to the holidays: the 1685 church, the burying ground, the cemetery, and the manor where 23 people were enslaved.16 min read
Destination · Mexico CityTenochtitlan, the Canals, and the Night in MixquicMexico City keeps finding things underneath itself. A temple in a Metro corridor, a skull rack behind the cathedral, a lake under the pavement. Here is where to stand, and what happens on the first two nights of November.14 min read
Destination · Point Pleasant, West VirginiaMothman, the TNT Area, and the Silver BridgePoint Pleasant can fill a weekend, but only if you look past the Mothman statue. Here is how the museum, the TNT Area, the Silver Bridge record, and the river town around them connect.10 min read