# Museum You Found Inexplicably Fascinating? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 10, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939 "2008-01-10T03:17:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/1 "2008-01-10T03:17:40Z")
While it’s true I am easily amused, I have two candidates. 1. Museum of Cedar Point. Cedar Point is an amusement park outside Cleveland. The museum contains old park maps, historical photos of the resort, and best of all, builder’s miniatures of the rollercoasters. I could stare at those things all day! 2. The Gerald Ford Presidential Museum. I know what you are saying. How can it be that the GFPM is interesting, when its subject was easily the most boring person in American history? The answer: that’s where they stow all the Watergate memorabilia! They had not only the actual lockpicking set, but the actual Watergate _door_ that was lockpicked! Now don’t me wrong, Betty’s china pattern was hella boring. But it was a sacrifice I was willing to make. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/2 "2008-01-10T03:25:28Z")
I was a bit of a geek growing up. I loved the Science museums in London and Manchester. Loved the Imperial War museum and the Natural History museum. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever been to a museum I didn’t like. Even the two Manx ones in Peel and Douglas. ---
**Author:** ![Abraca\_Deborah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e495f1/32.png) [@Abraca\_Deborah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abraca_Deborah)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/3 "2008-01-10T03:30:14Z")
The Museum of Erotica in Copenhagen. Seriously. It was amazing. We went to tons of musuems when in Washinton, D.C. and want to go back for more. The art museum in Chicago is fabulous. Don’t think I have ever been to a museum I didn’t enjoy. Usually if we visit a city, we visit at least one museum in that city. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/4 "2008-01-10T03:35:39Z")
[The Museum of Jurassic Technology!](http://www.mjt.org/themainpage/main2.html) ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/5 "2008-01-10T03:36:07Z")
[The SPAM museum!](http://www.spam.com/museum/) Even their website is great. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/6 "2008-01-10T03:43:22Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] [The SPAM museum!](http://www.spam.com/museum/) Even their website is great. [/QUOTE] cue high-pitched voice of Terry Jones shouting ‘SPAM’ in m head. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/7 "2008-01-10T03:51:26Z")
No matter the museum, I can usually find something to capture my interest and imagination. A couple that caught me by surprise: The [Range Riders Museum](http://www.montanapictures.net/miles_city_range_rider_museum.htm) in Miles City, Mo. is really cool. I really felt a sense of the place after spending a couple of hours there. Not all that far away for the dedicated road tripper is [The Museum of The Fur Trade](http://www.furtrade.org/), with a really nice collection of firearms and Native American artifacts. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/8 "2008-01-10T03:52:02Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] cue high-pitched voice of Terry Jones shouting ‘SPAM’ in m head. [/QUOTE] Oh it’s there, along with an additional 16,500 square feet of majestic, SPAM-related glory. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/9 "2008-01-10T03:59:48Z")
I haven’t been to all the major ones I’ve wanted, but saw a really cool aeronautical museum in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They had a freakin’ ZERO in there! I was with a Canadian girl at the time, and she made me practically run thru the damn thing! I shoulda punched her in the throat. How soon will I get that chance again? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/10 "2008-01-10T04:31:53Z")
The [Museum of Questionable Medical Devices](http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/MNMINmed.html) in Minneapolis, which has since closed. I also went to some kind of medical oddities museum in Washington DC many years ago which I can’t remember the name of (I think it might have some association with Walter Reed), but which had some pretty cool stuff like the bullet that killed Lincoln (along with skull fragments and a bloody shirt), a mummified head, a skull from the Civil War with a bullet in it, weird stuff that people had swallowed (I remember a giant hairball). I had heard a rumor that Napoleon’s cock was there too, but that turned out to be bullshit. Still a really cool place, though. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/11 "2008-01-10T04:40:07Z")
The [Geenfield Village / Henry Ford Museum](http://www.hfmgv.org/) in Dearborn Michigan is a wonderful experience. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/12 "2008-01-10T05:08:16Z")
The Witch Museum in Salem, Mass., is strangely compelling for such a cheesy experience. They herd you into a dark room, and tell you the story of the Salem witch trials while lighting up dioramas one by one to illustrate the story. Exit through the gift shop. The Peabody Museum down the block, though, is genuinely cool. It’s all whaling-related - either stuff that the whalers brought back from their voyages, or equipment that they used to catch the whales. I have spent hours there happily. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/13 "2008-01-10T05:13:46Z")
The [Museum of Communism](http://www.muzeumkomunismu.cz/) in Prague. I thought it would be boring as hell (communism , woohoo), but it’s fascinating. Plus they have fun witty postcards. Check out the e-cards in the links for examples. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/14 "2008-01-10T06:11:47Z")
California History Museum … but I’m weird that way. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/15 "2008-01-10T06:33:11Z")
As I said in the other Museum thread, [The Hammer Museum](http://hammermuseum.org/) in Haines, AK, USA. I didn’t expect much - and I was really, really interested in hammers by the time I was done. [Moonshine Museum](http://www.gorenz.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=attractions.heritage) in Gore, NZ was more interesting than I thought it was going to be. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/16 "2008-01-10T09:37:01Z")
[QUOTE=Gatopescado] I was with a Canadian girl at the time, and she made me practically run thru the damn thing! I shoulda punched her in the throat. How soon will I get that chance again? [/QUOTE] The next time you meet her, presumably - unless you’re prepared to accept punching someone else in the throat as an alternative - perhaps not even a Canadian, or a girl. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/17 "2008-01-10T13:47:52Z")
> [@](#): > > The Peabody Museum down the block, though, is genuinely cool. It’s all whaling-related - either stuff that the whalers brought back from their voyages, or equipment that they used to catch the whales. I have spent hours there happily. This isn’t really true, and I don’t think it ever was. In fact, since the museum got a face lift a few years ago, greatly expanded, and changed its name to The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM), it’s gotten even further away from the whaling stuff. Salem used to be a major trading port with Asia, on a par with Boston, until ships got too big to deal with Salem’s relatively shallow harbor, and a huge parrt of the museum is associated with trade objects from China, Japan, Polynesia, and India. They also have hefty sections devoted to the art from these places. They’ve imported an entire Chinese House and set it up in the museum, and they’ve modernized and enlarged the Children’s section. In fact, you now have to hunt a bit to even gind the whaling stuff. The Witch Museum that sits on the Salem Common (inside an old church, and with a bronze statue of first settler Roger Conant outside, that all the tourists mistake for a witch) IS pretty good, although they make some historical errors in their presentation. They do have a section on the history of witchcraft that;'s been approved (blessed?) by the Wiccan types, and there’s a lot of superb documentation in their gift shop if you want to get the straight historical scoop (although they no longer sell Chadwick Hansen’s book). It’s probably the best of the half dozen or so Witch museums in Salem. ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/18 "2008-01-10T14:10:35Z")
The Mutter Museum in Philly must be mentioned here… [http://www.collphyphil.org/mutter.asp](http://www.collphyphil.org/mutter.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/19 "2008-01-10T14:54:16Z")
Inexplicably fascinating is not the right word–but surprisingly fascinating, or museums you would probably not have ventured into on your own but really enjoyed anyway, . . . The Museum of the Diaspora in Israel–which attempts to showcase what happened to the Jewish people after they were expelled from Israel 2,500 year ago to the present. And the Museum of Clandestine Immigration and Naval History–also in Israel, but focusing on the years between the end of World War II and the establishment of Israel as an independent nation, and then of course it’s naval history since then. * * * And an entirely unrelated museum–the Kentucky History Museum. The history of the state of Kentucky, plus lots of opportunities to learn about present day celebrities from Kentucky. We went in as a good use of a rainy day, and found the slightly moving animals to be suprisingly compelling–and the rest of the displays more informative than we’d expected. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939/20 "2008-01-10T16:14:50Z")
The Field, The Shedd and The Museum of S & I in Chicago. All brilliant [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-you-found-inexplicably-fascinating/432939.md?page=2)