Trifter

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People collect, store and display all kinds of strange and unusual items. Thousands of museums across the world attest to the bizarre things that attract human attention. And to think that other people pay money to go visit these artifacts and strange collections is a weird phenomenon, also.

The American people are titillated by the bizarre, eccentric and paranormal things, people, events and places. This it is not a surprise that the back roads that criss-cross the country are full of strange museums. Maybe a vacation spotlight for travelers should be called ‘destination bizarre’ when taking a driving tour of American museums? Sounds like an intriguing adventure to me and something that would be worth investigating, besides great roadside diners.

Perhaps all humans are drawn to that which that can not explain or that is different from their own sense of reality? I know my family took us as kids to many museums on our trips around America’s historic towns and villages.

Some were interesting, others boring and a few were down right weird and eerie.

Since the “Night at the Museum” films have come out and I have wondered what spending a night at some of these wacky museums might be like?

THE 8 REALLY WEIRD MUSEUMS everyone should visit once in their lifetime.

The Hobo Museum—

 Is located in Britt, Iowa keeps the history of American tramps, “walkers”, hobos, train “riders” of the rail. It only has regular hours during Hobo Convention Week and if you want to visit it you have to call and make an appointment when you are in the area.  ………..[641-843-9104]

The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices—

 Is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Need we say more? This place is full of over 250 weird gadgets invented to cure all types of aliments. A really fun place to visit.

Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum—

 Can be found in a strip mall in Farmington, Michigan just north of Detroit, is one of my favorite weird and wacky places to visit. This place is full to the brim with “masses of historical and modern arcade machines, sideshow wonders, fortune tellers, automatons, and curiosities.” This Museum is FREE… and full of “items of magic, neon, antiques, posters, airplanes, robots, animation, and all sorts of odd and unusual coin operated games…. and range from the oldest gypsy fortune telling machine of the early 1900’s, to the modern video games”… they all  are operational.

The Historic New Orleans Voodoo Museum—

Is found in the historic French Quarter of New Orleans. This is a historical museum and an interactive experience into the world of Magic & Voodoo! There is even a “Tour of the Undead” included in this museum adventure. Check it out at www.voodoomuseum.com

The Witch Dungeon Museum & Witch History Museum —

 Both are found in Salem, Massachusetts. These museums are kind of “campy”, but offer history and re-enactments.

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The International Spy Museum—

Can be found in Washington, D.C. and is a really “cool” place to go see. James Bond American style exhibits and special demonstrations change constantly. Go check it out at         www.spymuseum.org/

The Rig Museum —

Is a floating oil rig in the Louisiana bayou run by the International Petroleum Museum and Exposition and is a museum very “off the beaten path”.

Museum of the Alphabet —

Is located in a small town called Waxhaw, which is south of Charlotte, North Carolina. The museum is a building filled with exhibits of alphabets from around the world dating back to early Egypt and includes Russian, Greek, Roams and many more original versions of world alphabets.