The Unique, Spine-Chilling Museum In California That True Crime And Horror Fans Will Enjoy

If you're visiting Los Angeles for the first time, you'll likely end up in Hollywood. In Hollywood, you'll probably check out Hollywood Boulevard. Then you'll tread the Walk of Fame. Then you'll turn a corner — and see enormous decorative skulls, affixed to a lonesome-looking building. You'll look up and see a sign: "The Museum of Death." This will send chills through you, because why, in the middle of Tinseltown, not 1 mile from the glamorous TCL Chinese Theatre, should you find something so morbid?

The Museum of Death dates back to 1995, when founders JD Healy and Cathee Shultz set up their grim exhibition in a former mortuary in San Diego. The museum sheds light on the little-known domains of coroners, morticians, and taxidermists, whose professions all deal with mortality and its aftermath. While most people don't like to think about their final destination too hard, this museum looks death in the face, displaying skeletons, shrunken heads, death masks, funeral home artifacts, and devices used for capital punishment. This place may be located in the middle of Hollywood, but you could easily add the Museum of Death to a list of off-the-beaten-path attractions in Los Angeles.

Make no mistake: The Museum of Death is an unsettling experience, and although your $20 admission lets you browse the exhibits all day, no one will blame you for bowing out sooner than later. The City of Angels is also well known for its creepy cults and rampaging murderers, and the museum documents these uglier episodes as well. Personal photos of the Manson "Family," artwork and letters drafted by serial killers, and a diorama of the Heaven's Gate suicide ritual are all on full display here. If you ever wanted to see the kind of clown-based portraits John Wayne Gacy liked to paint between slayings, you'll find them at the Museum of Death. There's a lot to know about LA's dark underbelly — like the eerie "Sunken City" — and this museum is a safe space to explore that history. 

There are more common horrors as well: Photos of car accidents and crime scenes reveal the violence of everyday life, for example. Some may find this exploitative, but Healy and Shultz's stated purpose is to demystify death and help people navigate a taboo (yet universal) subject. While there is no official age restriction, only mature visitors should enter. Photo and video are not allowed on the premises.

The Museum of Death actually has a second location, and what could be a more fitting locale than New Orleans, an epicenter of séances and voodoo? The themes and style of the two museums overlap considerably, but each is unique; all artifacts are original and no two are the same. If you visit the Louisiana branch as well, consider coupling it with a classic New Orleans ghost tour.