America's Strangest Museums

Gary Doss has spent more than 20 years collecting these candy dispensers and now displays every PEZ ever made—over 900. Rare PEZ include the donkey-head model made for President Kennedy, the “Make Face” akin to Mr. Potato Head with interchangeable parts, and a Mary Poppins. The gift shop sells all things PEZ, both new and vintage models, and the same building houses the Banned Toy and Classic Toy Museum. burlingamepezmuseum.com

Barbed wire has been used to keep people out since the mid-1880s. But at Devil’s Rope, visitors are welcomed in to learn about one of the most useful inventions for the pioneering American landowner. Housed in a former bra factory just off historic Route 66, the museum’s exhibits include patent information (there are more than 450 on the books), collections from private wire collectors, and warfare wire. barbwiremuseum.com

Funeral director Robert Waltrip realized a lifelong dream in 1992 when he opened this institution dedicated to the care of the deceased. Must-sees include the Vatican-approved pope funeral trappings, the largest collection of Ghanaian fantasy caskets outside of Africa (in crab, cow, and car shapes), funeral memorabilia from celebrities including Michael Jackson, Elvis, and Marilyn Monroe, and 19th-century mourning clothes. It’s also the place to brush up on the history of embalming. nmfh.org

Housed in the former Chief Theater, the Hobo Museum celebrates the vagabond lifestyle, which happens to have a stringent code of ethics. It’s full of drifter memorabilia from the likes of Frisco Jack, Connecticut Slim, and Hard Rock Kid. Hobo crafts, art, photographs, and documentaries depicting the unorthodox way of life are also on display. It’s brought to you by the Hobo Foundation, which hosts an annual convention in town. hobo.com

Don’t expect to find Mesopotamian curling irons or Cher’s wigs. What you will see is real hair—and lots of it—fashioned into art. Leila Cohoon, a retired hairdresser, has lovingly collected 600 hair wreaths and more than 2,000 pieces of human hair jewelry dating back to the 18th century. One pair of wreaths features strands from two sisters whose heads were shaved upon entering a convent. Notable personalities including Michael Jackson, Queen Victoria, and four presidents have also made contributions.

Yeti. Sasquatch. Bigfoot. It doesn’t matter what you call the hairy creature. What does matter to museum founder Mike Riggs, who has collected hominid data for more than 60 years, is that you keep an open mind. His findings include video footage, audiotapes, and a local map with pushpins marking over 150 sightings. Riggs firmly believes Bigfoot is alive, well, and a resident of the Santa Cruz area. And after a stop here, you just might, too. bigfootdiscoveryproject.com

Hamming it up comes naturally to this museum, described on its website as M.O.M.A.: Museum of Meat-Themed Awesomeness. Did you know that more than 100 million pounds of Spam were shipped oversees to our troops in World War II? Or that a girl band called the Hormel Girls toured the country to promote the glorious gelatinous pork? These are just a few of the morsels you’ll learn about while in Austin, a.k.a. Spamtown (Hormel is headquartered here). Johnny’s SPAMarama Restaurant is conveniently across the street. spam.com

With items like dragon’s breath and unicorn root, this 18th-century pharmacy might be mistaken for a Harry Potter movie set. Beyond the remarkable anthology of herbal botanicals, handblown-glass jars, and medical equipment, the archival journals at the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Shop give a glimpse into both the bizarre and commonsensical aspects of colonial-era medicine. The shop shuttered in 1933 after being operated by a Quaker family for generations. alexandriava.gov

So bad, it’s good: artistic creations that would never see the light of day anywhere else are proudly displayed here. Yet this museum has its standards in curating “distinguished” dreadful art. Whether it’s by a talent who had an off day or a beginning painter with crude strokes, each piece has to have a special quality to meet the standard of “too bad to be ignored.”

“The Banana Museum puts a smile on peoples’ faces every time,” says founder Ken Bannister. Since the early ’70s, he’s gone bananas for the tropical fruit, amassing more than 18,000 items of bananabilia, from a banana-shaped putter to a seven-foot-tall banana popular for photo ops. He sold the world’s largest collection of a single fruit to a new owner in 2010—the equally enthusiastic Fred Garbutt—who serves banana smoothies and dresses in banana-themed clothing at the newly installed nonalcoholic bar within the museum. facebook.com/InternationalBananaMuseum

In search of the perfect pepper mill, Andrea Ludden discovered a new hobby. Fast-forward about 30 years, and she’s accumulated 80,000 shakers and mills. Half are in this museum near Great Smoky Mountains National Park; the others occupy a new, sister museum in Guadalest, Spain. To the Ludden family, it’s more than just a novelty. They believe that the condiment containers are petite pieces of art that reflect societal shifts and are worth their salt to see. thesaltandpeppershakermuseum.com

Shuttered in 1988, Oasis Bordello looks exactly as the working ladies left it—dirty dishes in the sink and all—the day they fled an FBI raid. Tour the bedrooms to discover what lingerie they wore, find out what video games the madam played, and discover just what “French vs. regular” means on the menu of services. Most museums have to reconstruct history to tell a story. Not here. The Oasis is a genuine time capsule of America’s bawdy, naughty past. visitidaho.org

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” takes on new meaning at this museum, which displays the Temple of Trash, a sculpture made entirely of rubbish, and encourages visitors to make their own trashy pieces of art. Interactive, kid-friendly exhibitions highlight the 3 Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. A skybox viewing area on the second floor offers a bird’s-eye view of just how garbage gets sorted and recycled. crra.org

The dummy of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (father of actress Candice Bergen) is among the 750 googly-eyed specimens from 20 countries on display at the world’s only ventriloquist museum. It was founded in 1910 by amateur vent William Shakespeare Berger. If ventriloquists and their sidekicks give you the creeps, this museum may give you a new appreciation for the art of the talking doll. Open by appointment, May through September. venthavenmuseum.com

Attention to detail takes on a whole new meaning at Indiana’s shrine to small. More than 600 miniatures—from antique dollhouses to replica wedding gowns—are on display alongside a hefty dose of trivia. Although the museum opened in 1993, the art of scale miniatures dates back 4,000 years to when the ancient Egyptians placed burial figures in the tombs for good luck in the next life. museumofminiatures.org

Death. We all have to face it one day, so why not explore it while we’re alive? That’s the philosophy of museum owners James Healy and Cathee Shultz. Not for the faint of heart, the self-guided tour begins with serial killer artwork (the world’s largest collection) and memorabilia, including a vomit-stained shirt one killer wore when he was electrocuted. Other creepy artifacts include Marilyn Monroe’s morgue photo, a Heaven’s Gate mass suicide exhibit, Liberace’s taxidermied cat, and the real severed head of Henri Landru (a late-19th-century Parisian serial killer). museumofdeath.net

To most, an empty beer can is something to recycle or throw out with the trash. But to a few, like Kevin Logan, it’s art worth holding on to. A collector of beer cans and breweriana since he was 14 years old, Logan had filled his basement by the time he converted it into a museum in 1996 (visits by appointment only). Logan’s ode to the almighty cold one amounts to 5,000 beer cans, mostly rare collectibles, from more than 50 countries. kevslog.tripod.com/beercanmuseum

Housing the world’s largest collection of roller skates, this free museum pays tribute to shoes that move and the sports they spawned. The oldest pair dates back to 1819, but perhaps the most memorable is the 1956 pair of gas-powered roller skates. With a 19-pound gasoline motor strapped on the back, it allowed some brave soul to roll up to 40 miles an hour. Permanent exhibits dedicated to inline, figure, hockey, speed, and roller derby sports feature photographs, costumes, and video footage. And 1,500 archival books and periodicals on skating are here for your perusal. rollerskatingmuseum.com

Jeff Archer’s museum is a historical ride, from the mountain bike (MTB)’s invention in 1869, through the technological evolution of the rugged, off-road bicycle. The museum exhibits vintage parts and paraphernalia, plus more than 450 bicycles, including rare collectibles such as the 1981 Specialized Stumpjumper (world’s first mass-produced MTB), a 1948 Schwinn Majestic Klunker, and a 1980 Breezer Series II built up by Joe Breeze himself. The museum is within First Flight, Archer’s bike and repair shop. mombat.org

Ready for your head to spin? Just 40 minutes from Milwaukee you'll have a whirly-swirly good time at the museum dedicated to twirling toys. Trompos, trottoles, toupies, kreisels, or komas—you name it, the Spinning Top Museum has it. In fact, more than 2,000 tops, yo-yos, and gyroscopes, mostly antique, are on display. Channel your inner kid with 40-plus hands-on top games to play, including a no-hands top, optical illusion tops, and tops that defy physics. The gift shop sells tops galore, and for a small (no pun intended) fee, you can see the world’s tiniest toy tops, which require a magnifying glass to view. topmuseum.org

Within a freight elevator in a building on a TriBeCa side street, this 60-square-foot space simply named The Museum is one of New York City’s best-kept secrets. The collection of everyday and esoteric items—plastic vomit; the shoe hurled at President George W. Bush; toothpaste tubes; Disney bulletproof children’s backpacks—reflects the tastes of its founders, filmmakers Alex Kalman and Benny and Josh Safdie. The Museum has been open since early 2013 on weekends only, but a glass peephole allows a look inside 24/7. mmuseumm.com

Owner Steve Busti takes the motto Keep Austin weird to heart. In fact, it’s his personal mission to make the Texas capital even weirder. Inspired by P. T. Barnum, Busti designed his museum much like a circus sideshow experience, with oddities to ogle like shrunken heads, one-eyed pigs, a Fiji mermaid, and the Minnesota Iceman. Plus, the Lucky Lizard novelty shop sells bizarre trinkets from X-ray glasses to zombie dolls. Open daily until midnight, it makes for a fun, quirky stop on a night out in downtown. museumoftheweird.com

Ever give the workings of an elevator much thought? Push a button, up it goes—end of story. Except that for Patrick Carrajat, it’s been a never-ending narrative. At 11, he began collecting elevator bits and pieces, and as an adult, he has become an industry professional, author of a book on American elevator history, and founder of this museum in 2011. The one-room display, located in a car garage, features 19th-century push stations, placards, and elevator manufacturers’ marketing materials like ashtrays and Zippos. Visits are by appointment only. elevatorhistory.org

Entertaining and dentistry are two words you’re unlikely to use in the same sentence—unless you’ve visited this museum at Temple University's Kornberg School of Dentistry. A bucket filled to the brim with thousands of teeth, pulled by the early-20th-century traveling dentist nicknamed “Painless” Parker, shows how far we’ve come in curing toothaches. You can try matching dental procedures with the right tool or view a life-size re-created Victorian-age dental room. No laughing gas is administered, but it might be the most fun you’ve had at a dentist’s office. dentistry.temple.edu