Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Museums of the Weird

An 80-foot dinosaur at the entrance to the town of Wall, South Dakota, advertises for Wall Drug.

Covid-19

Will America’s Roadside Attractions Survive COVID-19?

With canceled bus tours and capacity limits, the country’s quirkiest stops are facing some serious challenges

Submissions included a plague mask, a Feejee "mermaid" and a peapod pincushion.

Museums Challenged to Showcase ‘Creepiest Objects’ Deliver Stuff of Nightmares

We’re really, really sorry

Co-founder Rino Dubokovic says his intention is not to glorify alcoholism, but to represent the experience of sharing light-hearted, boozy stories with friends.

Croatia’s Museum of Hangovers Is an Ode to Boozy Shenanigans

But critics have raised concerns that the museum makes light of alcohol abuse

The creepiest doll in all the land

A Minnesota Museum’s Creepy Doll Contest Is Here to Haunt Your Dreams

“The doll I disdain handling is the one with human hair,” says curator Dan Nowakowski

"Seinfeld"'s Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards

Trending Today

Hoochie Mama!: An Interactive ‘Seinfeld’ Experience Is Coming to New York

The attraction will include costumes, sets, a gift shop, yada, yada, yada

Ruby Taboh's stilton cheese.

Cool Finds

Cheese Made From Celebrity Belly Button and Armpit Bacteria Goes on Display

Five types of “human cheese” from cheddar to Cheshire are on view at the Victoria & Albert Museum

The Vent Haven Museum in Kentucky is home to nearly 1,000 dummies once belonging to ventriloquists from around the world.

Inside the World’s Only Museum Dedicated to Ventriloquism

The Vent Haven Museum in Kentucky is home to nearly 1,000 dummies once brought to life by ventriloquists

Jell-O salad, anyone?

Sweden’s Disgusting Food Museum Is Not for the Faint of Stomach

But the museum isn’t trying to make visitors lose their lunch; instead, it hopes to highlight the cultural subjectivity of food

A guest trims the excess foam off a baseball cap.

How to Make Your Own Cheesehead in Milwaukee

You can make your own iconic Cheesehead hat for this year’s football season at the Foamation factory in Milwaukee

The Nasotek is on display at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark.

What a Cabinet of Fake Noses Tells Us About How Art Preservation Has Evolved

The collection of replica appendages is on display in Copenhagen’s Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek art museum

This Alpine peak is the new home of a James Bond museum.

Mountaintop Museum Highlights the History of Bond—James Bond

The new 007 Elements museum is built into the top of an Alpine mountain and features a full-size airplane from the movie Spectre

Mmm.

Sink Your Teeth Into Chicago’s New Hot Dog Museum

The Vienna Beef company is celebrating its 125th anniversary with a meaty display of memorabilia

American South

Brush up on Your Scuba Certification—This Florida Museum Is Entirely Underwater

The Underwater Museum of Art will permanently exhibit seven sculptures in the Gulf coastal waters off Walton County, Florida

Josef Küblbeck (l) with "Seppi" and Oliver Storz with "Moni"

Germany’s New Dachshund Museum Is Not Just for the Dogs

The Dackelmuseum is stuffed with 4,500 sausage dog-related items

Europe

Casanova Is Getting a Museum

The womanizer and Enlightenment polymath will be memorialized with an interactive museum in Venice opening April 2

Runaway Sprinkles from the Museum of Ice Cream Create ‘Environmental Hazard’ in Miami Beach

Here’s the scoop: officials are worried that the museum’s fake sprinkles will get washed into oceans and eaten by marine creatures

Hugh Jackman in "The Greatest Showman."

Based on a True Story

P.T. Barnum Isn’t the Hero the ‘Greatest Showman’ Wants You to Think

His path to fame and notoriety began by exploiting an enslaved woman, in life and in death, as entertainment for the masses

Gertsacov looking at one of his fleas.

Revive the Charm of an 1800s Show with These Modern-Day Flea Circuses

Take a trip to the (very small) Big Top

You'll have a tail to tell after visiting this North Carolina museum.

American South

North Carolina Has a House Cat Museum

You’ll want to paws for this roadside attraction

Last year's winner in the World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition's Decorative Lifesize Wildfowl category, "Livingstone's Turaco" by Thomas Horn.

Where Duck Decoys Became High Art

See more than 1,200 of these bobbing bits of history at the upcoming world championship

Page 2 of 4