A Raven Like a Writing Desk

In Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, an unsolvable riddle emerges from the realms of the absurd, where oddities and curiosities throw logic out the window. Like in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, we often find ourselves confronting enigmas that are nonsensical, scary, and weird — but for many of us, they also happen to be real.

In the spring 2025 issue of Hidden Compass, “A Raven Like a Writing Desk,” five storytellers pursue insight within the paradoxes of the unexplainable. Join them as they meet mischievous swimming monkeys, chronicle community in a refuge that perhaps shouldn’t exist, marvel at the heartbreaking art of decay, visit the ruins of a socialist Disneyland, and seek catharsis for a tragedy they never experienced.

For travel writer Gary Singh, a nagging sense of loss permeated decades of his reporting in San José, California. With the help of a discovery in his mom’s closet, that unexplainable feeling catapulted him on a Quest to Jalandhar, India. There, Gary faces the impact of the sudden haphazard borders imposed by Partition. The bloodshed of that era, which created the largest single mass migration event in human history, ripples forward in coincidences, revealing how “Truth is the Timeless One.”

Meanwhile, kayaking in the crystalline waters of Silver Springs State Park, Florida, writer Melissa Hart encounters the bewildering history of a place “Where Greed Grows Wild.” In her Human and Nature feature, Melissa bears witness to centuries of prosperity, exploitation, and foolishness, from mammoth hunters to alligator wrestlers to James Bond in scuba gear. But in the spectacle lies a riddle about the darker side of love. 

Then, within the walls of the Kreenholm textile factory — a vast, abandoned complex in Narva, Estonia — writer and photographer Tim Bird admires the beauty of decay. For visit after visit, Tim meets former factory workers whose memories of bustling activity contrast with the frost-sparkled emptiness captured in Tim’s photo feature and Portrait story. But the joyful recollections of “The Lost Cathedrals of Industry” harken back to an imperial era that may best be left behind — yet still looms across the border.

And on a multi-year bicycle ride down the length of South America, journalists Anastasia Austin and Douwe den Held seek respite in the mountain town of Contratación, Colombia. In their Chasing Demons feature, “Sanctum Sanatorium,” a story of old cruelties and misunderstood disease is more modern than expected — and the camaraderie of patients with leprosy raises a bigger question.

Finally, “The Disneyland of Socialism’s Demise” brings its own riddles from the Hidden Compass archives. First published seven years ago in our summer 2018 issue, this Time Travel feature chronicles the history of Spreepark — a crumbling theme park haunted by the nostalgia of communist East Germany. Beside its gently screaming ferris wheel, writer Krishan Coupland considers its bizarre past and uncertain future.

For our readers and storytellers who appreciate all manners of the absurd,

Sabine K. Bergmann and Sivani Babu, Hidden Compass Co-founders 

In the last few years, as we’ve expanded into global expeditions and documentary films, we’ve welcomed hundreds of thousands of new readers to Hidden Compass. Many of our newest readers are unfamiliar with our earlier stories, so we’re bringing some of them back. This year, every issue of Hidden Compass will feature an article from the archives — one that complements the brand-new stories in the issue.