There\u2019s nothing wrong with paying a visit to New York\u2019s wonderful Metropolitan Museum or the LA\u2019s Getty, but what happens when you go home? Try to tell your neighbors about what you saw and you\u2019ll be lucky if you get a suppressed yawn. (Don\u2019t even try to cue up the video!) Want to give your friends something to really talk about? We\u2019ve scanned the country for the weirdest museums possible. After reviewing hundreds of quirky collections, here are our seven best!<\/p>\n
Mutter Museum<\/p>\n
What: The most fascinating display of historical medical specimens imaginable. The collection is at once serious, comprehensive, and entertainingly gruesome.
\nWhere: Philadelphia
\nHow it started: The Mutter grew out of an 1850s-era collection of instructional exhibits for doctors.
\nFun fact: One exhibit contains drawers full objects removed from gagging patients including collar buttons, hair clips, safety pins, diaper tabs, jacks, and skate keys.
\nContact: 215-563-3737; collphyphil.org\/site\/mutter_museum.html
\nCost: $14; $10 for minors and seniors<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
National Mustard Museum
\nWhat: More than 5,300 mustards, plus (wait for it!) tons of mustard-related memorabilia.
\nWhere: Middleton, Wisconsin
\nHow it started: \u201cI began collecting jars of mustard on October 28, 1986, at 2:30 a.m.,\u201d says founder Barry Levenson. \u201cI couldn\u2019t sleep because on the 27th the Red Sox lost the World Series. I didn\u2019t know what to do, so I went to the grocery and just walked up and down the aisles. I had a moment in front of the mustards\u2014and that\u2019s how it all started.\u201d
\nFun fact: Shakespeare loved mustard. He mentions it four times in his plays. He never mentions ketchup. Not even once!
\nContact: 800-438-6878; mustardmuseum.com
\nCost: Free<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Cockroach Hall of Fame<\/p>\n
What: A collection of live and dead critters big enough to make your eyes bug out.
\nWhere: Plano, Texas
\nHow it started: Launched as a publicity stunt to attract more customers to an extermination service, the collection eventually took on a life of its own.
\nFun fact: The museum is home to \u201cLibe-roachi,\u201d a cockroach dressed as the famously flamboyant piano player.
\nContact: 912-519-7791; pestshop.com\/cockroaches.html
\nCost: Free<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers<\/p>\n
What: More than 20,000 shakers in all. Really!
\nWhere: Gatlinburg, Tennessee
\nHow it started: \u201cWhen I was young, my mother\u2019s pepper mills kept breaking,\u201d says Andrea Ludden, curator. \u201cWhen one broke, she would put it on the windowsill and get a new one. As they accumulated, friends and family began to give us theirs, and the collection just grew!\u201d
\nFun fact: One salt shaker at the museum is made from the ashes of Mount St. Helens and shaped like the volcano. When you pop the top, it resembles the \u201cafter\u201d photos.
\nContact: 888-778-1802; thesaltandpeppershakermuseum.com
\nCost: $3; 12 and under free<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Museum of Bad Art<\/p>\n
What: If your first thought about most modern art is: \u201cmy kid could paint that,\u201d this place is for you. Actually, the guiding principle is: my kid did paint that\u2014then threw it out, then someone rescued it from the trash!
\nWhere: Three Boston-area locations.
\nHow it started: Founder Scott Wilson actually did rescue the first painting from a trash heap one evening to salvage the frame. In a so-bad-it\u2019s-good moment, he held onto the thing.
\nFun fact: Well, everything about the museum is fun. But don\u2019t miss the original inspiration for the collection, Wilson\u2019s salvaged \u201cLucy in the Field with Flowers.\u201d
\nContact: 781-444-6757; museumofbadart.org
\nCost: Free<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum<\/p>\n
What: The small museum celebrates not just voodoo, but its integral connection to New Orleans.
\nWhere: Where else? New Orleans
\nHow it started: From a collection of memorabilia associated with Marie Laveau\u2014the matriarch of New Orleans voodoo.
\nFun fact: Contrary to popular belief, voodoo dolls were never designed to inflict pain on a practitioner\u2019s enemies; they were used for medical record keeping. The color-coded pins let doctors know what previous ailments the patient had and how they were treated.
\nContact: 504-680-0128; voodoomuseum.com
\nCost: $7; $5.50 for seniors; $4.50 for high school students; $3.50 under 12<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Marvin\u2019s Marvelous Mechanical Museum<\/p>\n
What: A 5,000-square-foot tribute to coin-operated machinery from turn-of-the-century gypsy fortune-teller machines to modern pinball games.
\nWhere: Farmington Hills, Michigan
\nHow it started: Museum founder Marvin Yagoda began collecting gadgets and gizmos in the 1960s. When a food court was installed in a local mall, he stuck a few of his machines in the back as a novelty. \u201cFrom there, it just grew and grew and grew,\u201d says Yagoda.
\nFun fact: The first vending machine, which dispensed holy water, was invented 2,000 years ago.
\nContact: 248-626-5020; marvin3m.com
\nCost: Admission is free; machines cost from a quarter to $2 to operate<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s nothing wrong with paying a visit to New York\u2019s wonderful Metropolitan Museum or the LA\u2019s Getty, but what happens when you go home? Try to tell your neighbors about what you saw and you\u2019ll be lucky if you get a suppressed yawn. (Don\u2019t even try to cue up the video!) Want to give your…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}