And I said to the priest, when do we get to the place where all the bones are?

And he says to me, but sir, we are here now and he turns on a flashlight and he points

it down and I realized that the cracking of twigs that I had heard was us breaking ribcages.

I'm Dylan Therese and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible

and wondrous places.

Today, we're headed to the Yamrahana Christos Church in Ethiopia.

We're going with photographer and author Paul Kudinaris.

We'll talk about Asweries, Jeweled skeletons, and the beauty found in death practices the whole world over.

More, after this.

Where are you right now?

I'm about 20 minutes east of Death Valley on the Nevada side.

So pretty remote area.

Yeah, it is.

Like I said, I'd like to get back to do a city at some point in time.

That's Paul Kudinaris.

He's a photographer and author and for a good part of the pandemic, Paul has been living way out in Death Valley.

It's really sparse out here.

Well, he's been out there.

Paul has been spending his time exploring the landscape.

And by that, I mean, going deep into old abandoned minds.

I don't advise anyone over does this as a hobby, but it's one of those things like jumping out of a plane.

It may not be a good idea, but once people get started, they just don't want to stop.

...