American Oddities Museum – Alton, Illinois - Atlas Obscura
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American Oddities Museum

Mineral Springs Hotel
Alton, Illinois

A taxidermy “mermaid,” vampire-killing kits, and hundreds of other bizarre objects are housed at this quirky museum.  

Sponsored by The Illinois Office of Tourism
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Funeral home artifacts, “haunted” dolls, and weird medicine are just a few of the hundreds of items at the American Oddities Museum. Courtesy of Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau of Southwest Illinois
Funeral home artifacts, “haunted” dolls, and weird medicine are just a few of the hundreds of items at the American Oddities Museum. Courtesy of Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau of Southwest Illinois
Carnival and sideshow artifacts, like a taxidermized “mermaid,” are part of the displays at the American Oddities Museum. Courtesy of Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau of Southwest Illinois
A collection of Ouija boards are a natural fit at the American Oddities Museum, which houses all things strange and supernatural. Courtesy of Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau of Southwest Illinois
The American Oddities Museum is located in Alton, Illinois, a small town known for its haunted history. Courtesy of Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau of Southwest Illinois
Author Troy Taylor, who writes about crime, hauntings, and the unexplained, runs the American Oddities Museum in Alton, Illinois. Courtesy of American Oddities Museum
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From haunted dolls and funeral home artifacts to religious relics, Ouija boards, and strange sideshow items, all things bizarre fill the shelves of the American Oddities Museum.

Located in the Mineral Springs Hotel, in the small (and, according to some, haunted) town of Alton, Illinois, the kitschy museum opened in the 1990s. It was originally dedicated to torture objects, until another couple took it over and developed a museum with a broader collection of oddities.

When they were ready to sell, Troy Taylor, author of The Devil Came to St. Louis: The True Story of the 1949 Exorcism, and other books on true crime and the unexplained, took over.

Today, people from all over stop by to take in the massive collection of wacky, macabre artifacts. In the entry hall, Taylor has created a free museum dedicated to the history of Alton, including accounts of the town’s many reported hauntings and the story of Robert Wadlow, a past resident who, during his time, was known as the tallest man who ever lived, at nearly nine feet tall.

Know Before You Go

Located inside the Mineral Springs Hotel. Open Friday through Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m. Admission is $5, free for children 10 and under. Spend $25 in the museum bookshop and get two free admission tickets.

Sponsored by The Illinois Office of Tourism. 

paranormal oddities haunted artifacts collections museums history
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