Paranormal Museum

The Paranormal Museum is just a few blocks from the Asbury Park Boardwalk. Their mission? “Showcasing all that exists in the borderland betwixt imagination and reality.”

Since 2008 this mini-museum has curated a collection of oddities including the Hand of Glory (a candle holder supposedly made from a severed hand), some “haunted” dolls, and the jewel in their crown — a skull thought to be that of the Jersey Devil, the creature rumored to wander the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The origins and characteristics of the Devil vary depending on who you ask, but judging from the skull and the drawing at the Museum (which originally appeared in an early 20th century newspaper) it looks like someone put a couple of farm animals and a dragon in a blender and came up with something to scare the bejeezus out of little kids. 

The Museum is part of Paranormal Books & Curiosities, specializing in supernatural equipment, books, and workshops. There are also tours to some of Asbury Park’s more “spirited” sites — the shipwreck of the SS Morro Castle, the old Paramount Theater, and Asbury Lanes, the Boardwalk’s very own “haunted” bowling alley.