ACCIDENTALLY WES ANDERSON: Night in the Asylum

In today’s episode, we’re traveling in style. You probably know the film maker Wes Anderson. He makes those stylized, slightly absurd movies like the Royal Tenenbaums, Grand Hotel Budapest, Life Aquatic and more. His sets transform the real world into peculiar, perfectly symmetrical scenes that look like a cross-between a stage play and an acid trip. Accidentally Wes Anderson has flipped that idea on its head. They set out into the real world to find places that look like they belong in one of his films, places that are accidentally as bizarre and beautiful as his imagination: the unique, the symmetrical, the atypical, the most interesting, idiosyncratic locations on Earth. Since 2017 they’ve built a community of millions, with best-selling books, exhibitions and an utterly beautiful Instagram page. In this episode, host Aaron Millar takes you inside one of those images to spend a night in an asylum. Voluntarily. Recorded entirely on location, the episode tells the story of the former Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane, a vast, castle-like 19th-century building that has been partly restored as a hotel. The rest still lies abandoned, untouched since the last patients left in 1974 (creepy wheelchairs and all). But this isn’t a ghost story. It’s a story about how what we build shapes how we feel. Join Aaron as he explores both sides of this extraordinary building, climbs a single ladder to the top of a terrifying tower, and tries to make it through one night in the asylum. Did he sleep with the lights on? Curtains, please. PLAN YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE: Discover more of the world’s most interesting, idiosyncratic places, find location guides and submit your own photos at accidentallywesanderson.com Join the AWA Community on Instagram and Facebook @accidentallywesanderson Find out how to stay at the Richardson Hotel yourself at richardsonhotelbuffalo.com THANK YOU TO TODAY’S GUESTS: Paris Roselli, President of the Richardson Center Corporation: richardson-olmsted.com Derek Noble, Principal at Shepley Bulfinch: shepleybulfinch.com KNOW SOMEONE WHO NEEDS THIS? If you enjoyed this episode, send it to one person who’d love it. The friend who photographs every symmetrical doorway. The one who reads hotel histories for fun. Maybe they’ll buy you a cheeky pint. FOLLOW US : Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast armchair-explorer.com CONNECT WITH US: If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right now. Go on, do it! It helps us grow the show, and continue to bring this content to you. CREDITS: Written and presented by Aaron Millar Produced by Wally Koval for Accidentally Wes Anderson and Aaron Millar for Armchair Productions. Armchair-productions.com Field recording and audio production by Jason Paton Check out the new Smart Travel Podcast This episode is supported by Smart Travel a new podcast from Nerd Wallet. Travel