# What's the worst museum you've ever been to? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 11, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881 "2025-10-11T16:20:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/101 "2025-10-14T23:43:43Z")
When were you there? They’ve been dumping a lot of money into both the MPNHP and Bradbury museum. “Bradbury” is the name of the second Director of the Laboratory, who came on after Oppenheimer. Tripler All of the “good” stuff is behind fences on Lab property. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/102 "2025-10-14T23:46:57Z")
We took a family vacation to Mammoth Cave when I was a kid. We went through part of Mammoth Cave and a few of the smaller caves nearby which honestly were cooler than Mammoth Cave. We also inexplicably decided to stop at this place: [Cave City, KY - Mammoth Cave Wax Museum (Closed)](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/2724). The first, last, and only time I’ve ever been to a wax museum. One of the reviews says it hadn’t been updated since the days of Reagan. I was there not too long after Reagan and it was bad then. I’m not surprised it closed, only that it lasted as long as it did. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/103 "2025-10-14T23:48:01Z")
No, I don’t recall it in the BB series… Tripler I don’t think they filmed _any_ in Los Alamos for the show… ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/104 "2025-10-15T01:12:06Z")
I went to one back when they had one next to Disneyland in Anaheim. It was filled with literal random crap, including mummied dung, ancient condoms, and for some reason a fake tunnel with fake jewels embedded in the fake walls, but you still had to squeeze through the fake tunnel to actually progress through the museum. It had no rhyme or reason, probably entirely based on “We own a few storage units that need emptying, quick send everything here!” I think comedian Jim Norton said it best upon visiting a local Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, “It’s a waste of time, I believed everything!” ---
**Author:** ![Sooner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sooner/32/7875_2.png) [@Sooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sooner)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/105 "2025-10-15T02:25:30Z")
This and the **Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory in Poland.** Seemed very much aimed for elementary aged students. Which is fine, but wish I had known beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/106 "2025-10-15T02:51:10Z")
> [@Sooner](#): > > This and the **Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory in Poland.** > > Seemed very much aimed for elementary aged students. Which is fine, but wish I had known beforehand. They should explain that on the websites. I’ll keep this in mind if I ever get to Poland (it’s on my list). ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/107 "2025-10-15T03:41:23Z")
I’ve been waiting for someone brave enough to go through the Noah’s Ark “museum” (I won’t link but it’s called Ark Encounter). Can someone “take one for the team” and visit? It looks fairly expensive so maybe we need to pool some resources for our person willing to waste the time and visit. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/108 "2025-10-15T04:10:36Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > I’ve been waiting for someone brave enough to go through the Noah’s Ark “museum” (I won’t link but it’s called Ark Encounter). > > Can someone “take one for the team” and visit? It looks fairly expensive so maybe we need to pool some resources for our person willing to waste the time and visit.. Oh dear. I totally forgot about this one! Some of the online reviews indicate it could be a contender for one of the worst museums visited. However, I was more surprised by how many people actually visit and love the place. I don’t think I could set foot in such a spectacle. And it is quite expensive. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/109 "2025-10-15T04:16:32Z")
The true believers give it three thumbs up. Everyone else will say “why the fuck did I just spent several hundred dollars on this crap?” And of course, only the true believers will spend the money to experience it so it’s gonna have skewed reviews (who amongst the believers wants to admit it is garbage?). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/110 "2025-10-15T06:48:25Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > When were you there? They’ve been dumping a lot of money into both the MPNHP and Bradbury museum. “Bradbury” is the name of the second Director of the Laboratory, who came on after Oppenheimer. I know who Bradbury was but the typical tourist visiting Los Alamos looking for a museum about the Manhattan Project doesn’t. They would naturally go to the Los Alamos portion of the MPNHP which, as I said is (well, was in 2024) just a bunch of empty early 20th Century buildings repurposed from a boy’s camp. I gather the portions in Hanford and Oak Ridge are more impressive. The Bradbury is funded by the lab. The MPNHP is funded by the Federal government and there is little or no reference to the other at either site. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2025, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/111 "2025-10-15T12:04:35Z")
> [@gkster](#): > > The Salem Witch History Museum. I was there 30 years ago, and somehow they’re still open. Reviews are 2.9 out of 5 on Tripadvisor. Our friend group was misled by the word “history” in the attraction’s name, but it was more like a cheap haunted house. > > [https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction\_Review-g60954-d1746107-Reviews-Witch\_History\_Museum-Salem\_Massachusetts.html](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60954-d1746107-Reviews-Witch_History_Museum-Salem_Massachusetts.html) There are a LOT of “witch” museums in Salem. I’m sorry that you were disappointed in the Witch History Museum – it pretty much gets its facts straight, which is more than you can say for a lot of the other ones. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2025, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/112 "2025-10-15T12:07:27Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > The second and third worst museums were in Cooperstown NY. The Baseball Hall of Fame may not have had a _total_ level of interestingness higher than some of the others, but I count it as third worst because there was a lot of chaff for those few tidbits of wheat. I don’t even remember it that much, so it must not been _impressively_ boring, merely normally boring. > > The second worst was one of those outside dinosaur displays, also in Cooperstown. I count it as a museum because it had blurbs beneath each fiberglass dino describing it. But I would have preferred actual bones than a fake, poorly painted dino. And there weren’t even that many of them, maybe 8. There’s another museum in Cooperstown that isn’t terrible (at least I didn’t think so). The Farmer’s Museum is a reconstructed 19th century village with buildings from the period, and people enacting the roles of townfolk from the mid-1800s. (Much like Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts). They also have the original Cardiff Giant, which is the main reason I wanted to see the place. Worth a detour. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/113 "2025-10-15T14:26:16Z")
I’ve been reading this thread, trying to come up with a really bad museum, and failing. I guess I have lower standards than most people. I’ve been to some really small museums (the [Cibola County History Museum](https://www.cibolacohistorymuseum.org) anyone?), but even those were interesting, and I’m willing to give a pass to small-town museums. Then I remembered. The [World of Coca Cola](https://www.worldofcoca-cola.com) in Atlanta, at Coca Cola’s headquarters. When I went, I was expecting to see displays on how Coke was made - the amazing bottling plants, the vast network of suppliers, the environmental devastation caused by sugar production. But no - all there is (all five floors, as I recall) is devoted to showing how Coke is marketed. That’s all they care to display - how this huge company advertises sugar water to kids. Bleccch. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/114 "2025-10-15T15:07:08Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > I’ve been waiting for someone brave enough to go through the Noah’s Ark “museum” (I won’t link but it’s called Ark Encounter). > > Can someone “take one for the team” and visit? It looks fairly expensive so maybe we need to pool some resources for our person willing to waste the time and visit. The Ark Encounter became a bucket-list item for me after seeing the [Roadside America article](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/53475) in 2017. My interest was further piqued after watching the Independent Lens documentary [We Believe In Dinosaurs](https://youtu.be/VZmgb8lcL9U?si=jMSf2t9_sddBPrOa) on PBS. I finally made it there in 2023 and I have to agree with Roadside America’s “the best” rating. Sure it’s expensive and the creationist theme may be off-putting to potential visitors, but those shouldn’t be factors for dedicated roadside attraction enthusiasts. For me the sheer scale, immersiveness and generally excellent craftsmanship of the displays made it well worth visiting. My only tip would be to get there when it opens, the crowds inside The Ark can be overwhelming late in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/115 "2025-10-15T15:27:22Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Sure it’s expensive and the creationist theme may be off-putting to potential visitors, In the same camp (but Mormon rather than creationist) is the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu. They do everything to hide the fact that the Center is a wholly owned enterprise of the LDS Church until you get inside. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/116 "2025-10-15T15:45:41Z")
When I was a teenager (1977) we took a road trip from MN to CA. We had an aunt and uncle that lived close to Anaheim. We did Disney, Universal, the beach, etc. Then they took us to a Date Museum. That’s date as in the fruit. They talked up the delicious date shakes that the museum was noted for. The museum had a little gift shop, a counter where you’d get the famous date shakes, and a little dark room where you could watch a film about the sex life of a date tree while you enjoyed your shake. The aunt and uncle were quite disappointed that none of us kids wanted to try a date shake (there were no other flavors). We were pretty disappointed too. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/117 "2025-10-15T16:29:33Z")
Hadley’s? They make _awesome_ Date shakes! ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/118 "2025-10-15T16:43:44Z")
I don’t remember what it was called. It was 48 years ago! ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/119 "2025-10-15T16:45:36Z")
You never forget your first Date shake. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881/120 "2025-10-15T16:53:39Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Then I remembered. > > The [World of Coca Cola](https://www.worldofcoca-cola.com) in Atlanta, at Coca Cola’s headquarters. When I went, I was expecting to see displays on how Coke was made - the amazing bottling plants, the vast network of suppliers, the environmental devastation caused by sugar production. But no - all there is (all five floors, as I recall) is devoted to showing how Coke is marketed. That’s all they care to display - how this huge company advertises sugar water to kids. > Bleccch. You probably don’t want to know how they actually make it. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/JbBQqMC0Htw/hqdefault.jpg "Futurama - That's the secret ingredient of Slurm?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbBQqMC0Htw) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-museum-youve-ever-been-to/1023881.md?page=7)