10 Strange and Obscure American Museums

Neatorama has a fun post highlighting 10 strange museums around the country. A drop in the bucket if you ask me; it seems like every small town has some sort of strange museum. Here's what made the cut:

1. The SPAM® Museum in Austin, Minneapolis -- "One of the main attractions is a scale model of a SPAM plant, where visitors can don white coats and hairnets while pretending to produce America's favorite tinned meat." Sounds like...fun?
   
2. National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, Texas -- "Visitors are treated to exhibit that include a Civil War embalming display and a replica of a turn-of-the-century casket factory."
3. The Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa -- I bet it really smells in there.
   
4. The Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- "There, you'll find the world's largest colon, removed from a man who died - not surprisingly - of constipation."
5. The Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut -- "What better way to honor "Greatest Show on Earth" founder PT Barnum than with a mediocre museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut?"
6. The Conspiracy Museum in Dallas, Texas -- Sorry folks, this one closed in December of 2006. (I think it's a conspiracy.)
   
7. The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices in St. Paul, Minnesota -- "If you make the trip, be sure to check out the 1930s McGregor Rejuvenator. This clever device required patrons to enclose their bodies, sans head, in a large tube where they were pounded with magnetic and radio waves in attempts to reverse the aging process."
8. Cook's Natural Science Museum in Decatur, Alabama -- "... visitors can learn everything they ever wanted to know about rats, cockroaches, mice, spiders, and termites ... all for free." Wow!
   
9. Vent Haven Ventriloquist Museum in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky -- "Where dummies go to die."
   
10. The Trash Museum in Hartford, Connecticut -- Trash? Why not!
    

Another good one to add to the list is the City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri. It's easily the coolest place I've ever been on the entire planet. Totally worth a visit if you're in the area.

Filed under: United States