* The Museum of Death
I've been meaning to go to the Museum of Death for a while and it's a bit of a mystery because pictures of the inside are not allowed. Although it's rather small, the building is chock full of so many random things about death. The first room is dedicated to serial killer art and correspondence as well as merchandise such as trading cards and plushies and some of their belongings like Pogo the Clown's shoes. Some pieces are as depraved as you would expect, but John Wayne Gacy's were childlike and bright, mostly of himself as Pogo. A room is dedicated to local murders, such as the Manson murders, the Black Dahlia, the Simpson murders, along with other lesser known ones. The amount is shockingly high. Most entries have crime scene photos, evidence, or other related artifacts, like the swastika quilt made by the Manson family.
Both authentic and replicas of execution devices are displayed, such as Kevorkian's and an electric chair. The electric chair is shown with the unwashed clothing of someone killed in it. (Ew.) The mummified severed head of the Bluebeard of France, Henri Desire Landru, whose crimes echo those of Belle Gunness, rests in a glass case. A macabre replica of the Heaven's Gate Cult suicide is displayed (including artifacts from the event) with the countless newspaper headlines and information around it. A small display case was dedicated to the Jonestown Massacre with pictures and newspapers headlines. Random giant photos of rotting hands and cross-sections of brains are shown with no explanation. A placard would have been nice. There's a small nook dedicated to cannibalism, but it was disappointingly small. A poster of Cannibal the Musical (which had practically none in it) took up most of the space and it was void of recent events.
One room was dedicated to funerary practices of different cultures, embalming and preparation techniques and equipment, a collection of mortuary advertisement fans, advertisements for less conventional choices for the body after death, and death photography of the Victorian era. I found this room particularly fascinating because it's interesting to see how people in different cultures and time treated death. An instructional video on how to embalm a corpse plays in the background. An impressive collection of human and animal skulls are displayed that even include elephant and hippo skulls. A room is dedicated to taxidermy and even includes some pets of famous people like Jayne Mansfield. A small hallway is dedicated to celebrity deaths such as James Dean.
The Museum of Death is a collection of interesting, macabre, and gruesome things. Overall, I enjoyed the experience. A couple of things did bother me. First, much of the hallways and in many of the rooms have graphic crime scene photos from many different eras. I was not expecting so much of it and it's the hardest part of the place to handle. I also feel it's exploiting the victims in the photos. My second problem is the size of the place. Every surface has something on it and all the walls are crowded with pictures, placards, letters, artifacts, etc. It's hard to see everything especially when trying to dodge other patrons. Getting a larger building and spacing things out would help. Third, the smell of some rooms wasn't pleasant, probably due to their macabre origins, and only some of the rooms were air conditioned. If you plan to go, avoid the summer. Even with these issues, the Museum of Death is worth the price of admission if you have a strong constitution.
More to come!
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