On a recent trip to St. Augustine, I went to theirs, and was very disappointed and thought to myself: “There has to be a better one!”
In all fairness, some of the stuff was authentic, like the ferris wheel built as an erector set. But some of it was very mundane, and here’s an example:
“This is a picture of Mr. So and So, who has used the same shaving brush for 61 years!”
“Well!”, I said to myself, “That’s some pretty bizarre shit right there, dude!” :rolleyes:
And Robert Ripley’s teeth look like the ones Depp wore in “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory”, only worse.
I went to the one on the strip in Branson, MO. It isn’t huge but the building is tripped out.. It has the standard shrunken head, insanely intricate models built out of misc. crap, stuffed animal oddities and things. It was a good way to spend a couple of hours but I wouldn’t drive 500 miles just to see it. I liked it but I wasn’t expecting a huge deal and it really stood out among all the crap that lines the streets of Branson. If you want pure, distilled Americana at its worst, go to Branson.
Related Q: In the Ripley’s TV show, is Dean Cain (and his evil, be-goatee’d twin) actually in a Ripley’s museum, or is he just in a set somewhere that’s dressed up to look like a Ripley’s museum.
I’ve never been to one and I doubt I’ll ever actually go to one.
But I’ve seen his headstone here in the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetary, and I pass by the “Church of the One Tree” all the time. It’s just about a mile or so away from my house and near the path I take when I bike to work.
The church (built entirely from the wood of one redwood tree) is pretty from the outside, I’ve never been inside it. It was a Ripley’s museum at one time, but it’s been closed to the public since I moved to Santa Rosa.
Forget that Ripley’s nonsense. If you want a museum filled with all kinds of crazy stuff, check out the Mutter Museum in Philly. It’s full of medical oddities (actual specimens) and although I’ve never been there, I would kill for the chance. My other favorite unusual museum is the City Museum in St. Louis, which is more like a giant art project than a museum. It has an aquarium, all kinds of awesome things to climb on (think a McDonald’s playplace made from an entire junkyard), different kinds of art projects you can try, a smoky cafe with a vintage photo booth and old pinball machines, and beautiful mosaics and architechtural salvage pieces everywhere. I’ve been three times, and it’s more wonderful each time.
They’ve got the Secret Tumor of Grover Cleveland! I want to go there.
The Ripley’s Museum in Gatlinburg, TN used to be great; it burned in 1992 or so, destroying most of the collection. A few pieces survived and are on display in the new museum, which aside from the architecture and the big granite ball out front (you can move it; it’s really sitting on a “cushion” of water) doesn’t really contain anything jaw-droppingly unique. It was fun though; I don’t regret going.
I like the Myrtle Beach one (200 varieties of barbed wire!). St. Augustine was okay, Orlando was kind of boring. The key is to go with friends in a giggly mood, and we always enjoy the other Ripley’s patrons just as much as we enjoy the museum.
On a related note, the Guinness World Records Museum at the Empire State Building isn’t anything to write home about. I went just because I’d been such a world records nut as a kid and happened to be in the building.
It’s still there, and still playing the theme music from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure as you walk by. I’ve never gone to that one, just the one in Niagara Falls, but AC is still open, as of March when I walked by humming the music.
I suspect this is a relatively new one. The one I was thinking of used to be on the Steel Pier, which is essentially gone now, and I didn’t see one in AC for years.