The Atavist Magazine

American Hippopotamus

A bracing and eccentric epic of espionage and hippos.

Love and Ruin

An exhilarating and heartbreaking tale of lives lived to the fullest in one of the world’s most fascinating and forbidding places.

The Ghosts of Pickering Trail

One family hoped their new home might bring a fresh start. But the house held secrets that would cause them years of heartache.

The End of Forever

What happens when an adoption fails?

“Your Honor, Can I Tell the Whole Story?”

A murder in New Orleans, a trial that lasted less than a day, and the lives they entangled for the next three decades.

The Desperado

In April 2018, a blind man with one foot robbed a bank in Austin, Texas. This is a heist story—but unlike any you’ve ever read.

Lost in Summerland

At the world’s largest gathering of psychics and mediums, two brothers confront a painful secret.

The Wild Ones

People said that women had no place in the Grand Canyon and would likely die trying to run the Colorado River. In 1938, two female scientists set out to prove them wrong.

The Rescue

A flimsy raft, more than 100 souls, and three teenage heroes—or are they pirates?

Masterpiece Theater

A Dutch gallerist made thousands of forgeries and passed them off as the work of real artists. When he was caught, a new con began.

There Are Places You Cannot Go

A friendship born out of the ruins of a nation, a dangerous journey home, and a 40-year search for the truth.

The First Responders

The black men from Pittsburgh who made up America’s original paramedic corps wanted to make history and save lives—starting with their own.

Outlaw Country

Klamath County, Oregon, is the perfect place to go if you don't want to be found—and the worst place to be if someone threatens your life.

The Heart Still Stands

Red Fawn Fallis found love and purpose on a Dakota prairie. She thought it would save her life. Instead, she went to prison.

Commonwealth v. Mohamed

A car crash in Kentucky left a 13-year-old girl dead. A Sudanese refugee was charged with her killing. Could anyone get justice?

The Minnesota Murderess

A new wife, a dead husband, and the arsenic panic that shook the Victorian world.

The Secret Formula

Could shrunken heads hold the key to curing cancer? One man thought so—and spent a lifetime trying to prove it.

Castles in the Sky

While renovating a house in San Francisco, a couple discovered a diary, hidden away for more than a century. It held a love story—and a mystery.

Stranger Than Fiction

Inside the ‘Epoch Times’: How an aspiring poet in Brooklyn became a tool in a right-wing propaganda blitz linked to Falun Gong.

The Pretender

People in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, thought Lois Riess was a nice wife and grandmother. If she had a vice, it was playing the slots. Then she committed murder.