The National Automobile Museum here in Reno. I care not for cars, but it’s spectacular! They have a Tucker! They have Big Daddy Roth cars! A gold-plated De Lorean! They have a car made entirely of bronze! They have the Batmobile, fer cryin’ out loud!
I absolutely love it and have been many times, and bought a shotglass for my collection. Can’t recommend it enough.
When we were in England we went to the Wimbledon museum because my boyfriend is a huge tennis fan. I could take it or leave it and would never have gone on my own. As it turns out, the museum is really well done and I found it a lot more interesting than I expected to.
And I’m sad that the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices is closed - I’d always thought that’s a place I’d like to see!
The collection is now at the Science Museum of Minnesota in downtown St. Paul - though they don’t dedicate as much space to it as it used to have - and I suspect some pieces are in storage.
Why do you find these inexplicably fascinating?
We found the Old Coast Guard Station Museum in Norfolk, VA fascinating. Tour done by a crusty old salt. Rope pulley systems harpooned to a stranded ship to haul people back to shore. Great fun.
Wouldn’t be able to explain it to you.
The London Dungeon fascinated me as a kid.
The Death Railway Museum in Thailand was something I’ll never forget.
Don’t they sometimes have live actors? I once knew someone who got a job there, and saw her rehearsing her lines with a director from a different play. But the time I went there, it was just mannequins.
What matt_cl said
They’ve never had live actors any of the times I’ve been there (and it would be hard to have them – those dioramas are set up on the wall, without even floors or a way to get up to them. The actor would have to be down on the floor with everyone else). It’s possible they might have tried something once, but I can’t think it’d be satisfactory.
Some of the other witch museums have or had actors. The Witch Dungeon used to have mannikins, then actors, and now it’s back to mannikins. “Cry Havoc” at the Town Hall has actors. Are you sure your friend didn’t get a job at another of the witch places?
The National Museum of Health and Medicine is “hidden behind the Walter Reed Army Medical Center”.
I found the Jello Museum in LeRoy, New York (pronounced le ROY by the locals, not LEEroy) to be, inexplicably, completely fascinating. That was the same trip where we went to Niagara Falls, and what I remember is not the Falls, but the Jello Museum.
That was it! Thanks. I tried googling for “medical oddities museum DC” and I got hits for this place but I thought the name sounded too normal to be the one I was looking for. I guess I should have clicked on it.
I’m pretty sure that she said Witch Museum, but my memory could be faulty. This was way back in '94.
I nominate the Auburn-Duesenburg-Cord Museum in Auburn, Indiana. While I am a car fan, I didn’t really expect much of this place when we went in. Man, was I wrong. There were tons of gorgeous old cars, some in original condition, some restored, mostly Auburns, Duesenburgs, or Cords, but some of other manufactures. It was located in the old factory, with the main area in the restored art deco showroom.
It was a really excellent place, and even my mom, who isn’t that big of a car fan, enjoyed it. I’d gladly go back again.
The Northeast Classic Car Museum in Norwich, New York. I found myself stuck in that area in a downpour, so we went. I’m not a big fan of old cars, but this place blew me away. Lots of clasic antiques from companies I’d never heard of based in upstate New York. Hand-built, many of them:
I vaguely remember that the “guides” who lead you up into the dark room and hang out with you there were in period costume at one point - maybe they had some lines at the beginning when they were getting everyone assembled.
The Corning Museum of Glass was interesting when I went through the Finger Lakes region of New York decades ago. From the website, it looks like it’s expanded since then.
The Presidents Hall of Fame in sunny Clermont, Florida, hearkens back to those halcyon pre-Disney days when roadside attractions didn’t have to make a lick of sense. The museum was built to communicate a simple, powerful message: It’s another two-hour drive to Miami, and you’ll have to stop so your kids can use our bathroom anyway, so you might as well fork over a little extra to view our queer assortment of dubious educational value.
Part wax museum, part historical miniature display, part Americana collection, part tribute to the Golden Age of the three-ring circus-- yes, the name promises presidents, but you also get sideshow freaks at no extra charge. Even the museum’s name is cluttered and misleading: “Presidents Hall of Fame,” as if only the very BEST presidents are honored here, like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Actually all of them are represented, even the hugely forgettable ones.)
Also, observant patrons will note that the sign over the entrance actually reads “House of Presidents”-- it’s so nice they named it twice! The name “House of Presidents” has kind of a creepy Corman-movie horror vibe, which is not at all dispelled by the disturbingly unlifelike simulacra of our nation’s Chief Executives.
As you enter, you are greeted by America’s current President, Fred Gwynne, and his lovely wife, Señor Wences’ hand. The museum also features the most crude and unconvincing (yet freakishly entertaining) attempts at audio-animatronics ever. If you ever wondered what FDR might look like while simultaneously giving a radio address and suffering a *grand mal * seizure, then look no further.
These exhibits would all be horribly unpatriotic if they weren’t intended with complete sincerity. As it is, they’re a refreshing antidote to the smug Hall of Presidents exhibit at Walt Disney World right down the road. Disney may have their little theme park, but right next door to the House of Presidents Hall of Fame is the breathtaking Citrus Tower! Ride the elevator to the viewing platform, a dizzying 22 stories straight up, and marvel at the vast panorama of the surrounding orange groves. Or purchase some uniquely orange-themed souvenirs in the the gift shop. Or take a tour of the orange groves themselves!
The first time I visited Citrus Tower was the summer right after a big freeze, so the tour guide took us around the frost-killed orange groves, and explained exactly what kinds of oranges we’d have seen growing on each type of tree if they weren’t all dead. That was one surreal day. The robotic presidents next door were the icing on the cake.
