Something tells me it’s the right time to tell you about my visit to The Museum of Death in Hollywood. If you are squeamish I suggest you do not read this! If I’m honest I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, but parts of it really made my skin crawl. There were no pictures allowed so I’ll have to borrow some…The gentleman on reception was delightful, I got my ticket and proceeded through the curtains… the phone rang and he answered ‘Hello, Museum of Death, how can I help?’, which instantly put a smile on my face.
Once through the curtains I was greeted by all sorts of death, the first part focused on serial killers, their crimes and punishments. There was a prison uniform mounted on the wall that had been worn during an execution and not washed. It had stains marked all down the front of it. A young lady asked me ‘What do you think that is?’, I said I didn’t really want to think about it. She replied ‘I think you’re in the wrong place’, I said I thought it might be coffee and laughed, knowing full well it was something much more ominous.
Pictured above, clockwise from top left: Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez, Jeffrey Dahmer, Peter Sutcliffe, Timothy McVeigh. Quite a line up to be confronted with. I had heard of all of them previously so am not going to start describing their crimes, its just too unpleasant. The museum has all sorts of related paraphernalia, from court records, post-mortem records of victims to crime scene pictures and execution devices. If you love Bizarre magazine, you’ll like it here…
You can watch ‘Cannibal! The Musical’ by Trey Parker & Matt Stone, it’s about Alferd Packer a cannibal who was put on trial back in 1883 (you can watch on youtube, the film starts 2.39 minutes in). There’s lots to read about Ed Gein who was a body snatcher and murderer who liked to refashion skin and bones into keepsakes. He inspired the character Leatherface from the film Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But wait a minute, its not all doom and gloom.
(Image from hairpin.com) Or is it? The owners have been corresponding with Charles Manson for years and as such have built an entire room devoted to it. But there is so much more to death than serial killers…
In the hall of suicide you can read about Peg Entwistle, as English actress who committed suicide by jumping off the Hollywoodland sign at the age of 24. Her suicide note read “I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E.”
While you’re there you must see the ‘Bottoms Up: Drink, Drive, Die’ exhibition, which will make you think twice before getting behind the wheel after one too many.
(Image from hairpin.com) After the infant mortality and funerary items you are treated to some taxidermy. My favourites were barbecue utensils made with deer hooves. After this you can read all about the horrors of Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre. Jim Jones founded the People’s Temple which became famous for the mass suicide of 914 people, 200 which were children, by ingesting cyanide.
Well, I’ll leave you on that cheery note and let you decide whether this place is for you or not! I wouldn’t say I had fun but it was certainly interesting…
Location: 6031 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90028
Entry fee: $15
Let me not forget – there is FREE PARKING – which is an issue in Hollywood:
The gentleman on reception was delightful, I got my ticket and proceeded through the curtains… the phone rang and he answered ‘Hello, Museum of Death, how can I help?’, which instantly put a smile on my face.
