The Museum of Death is known for not being for the faint of heart, so naturally, I had to give it a visit. No photos were allowed in the museum so I cannot provide any visuals but I will give you as much information as I can. The reviews you will read online are very radically different ends of the spectrum, with some being very sensitive and not aware of what would be inside the museum and others being aware and enjoying it in a respectful way. Some reviews say that the museum ‘idolizes’ criminals such as Manson by framing their artwork and ‘making a spectacle’ out of Nicole Simpson and Sharon Tate’s murders. I understand where they are coming from but the artwork is framed because it has historic importance and value and the crime scene photos could be found anywhere online if you wanted to see them. Plus, those two murders were essentially a media circus from the moment they happened until today, they were high-profile figures who were killed brutally, so naturally, people will have a deep fascination with those events. I personally found the museum respectful to the dead because they did not have anything showcased that would not be found anywhere in print or on the internet, plus nobody visiting was laughing or enjoying themselves but it was a crowd of people learning and observing in silence.
The things that I would say were the most disturbing visually would be the crime scene photos (especially those from the Manson Family murders), photos of dead infants (post mortem photography), the gory videos in the Theatre of Death, and just the photos of dead bodies in general. I truly enjoyed this museum because I was able to see artifacts from historical events that I have read about, learned about, and been fascinated with for years. To me, it felt no different than someone enjoying a museum about war or other historic events. It is called The Museum of Death and so I went into it expecting death in any sense that they could throw at me and they did not disappoint.
My immediate thought after visiting was how humbling the experience was. To see real traces of the crimes that I know and have ogled over for hours made the fragility of human existence so much clearer to me. Seeing some of the artifacts that you would never think would exist add a more human aspect to people who feel too horrible to have ever existed. They had families to write to, hobbies, clothes, and thoughts outside of the evil crimes they committed. I was not scared nor was I sick, but I was able to look at these events with a new lens and value my own life more.
In my personal opinion, some of the most interesting items in the museum are as follows;
- Original sketches from the sentencing and execution of Ted Bundy
- Greeting cards written by the Toybox Killer
- Dr. Kevorkian’s suicide machine and original artwork
- Crime scene photos from the Manson Family murders
- Relics related to the assassination of JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald
- Charles Manson’s denim prison shirt and a handwoven rainbow scorpion
- Dirt from the grave of Ed Gein
- Aileen Wuornos’s death row undergarments
If you are aware and willing to view graphic material related to death, dying, serial killers, and anything to deal with blood, I would highly recommend visiting this museum. If you are more sensitive or less understanding of that material, I would be more hesitant. I’d say if you question whether you can handle it or not you most likely can’t. Personally, I had a fantastic experience and was able to leave with great information, a cute crop top, some postcards, and a few buttons. 10/10 stars in my book!
