The United States has over 35,000 museums, with exhibits ranging from art to history to science, and everything in between. Some museums are classic treasure troves of historical objects, while others are bizarre and devoted to specific items, concerns, and topics—from potatoes and funeral history to, yes, mustard.
From bottles to underwater diving to SPAM, we visit and admire the most bizarre museums in the United States that will keep you engaged and entertained.
Idaho Potato Museum (Blackfoot, ID)
It’s only fitting that ‘the potato capital of the world’ has a spud-tacular museum. The Idaho Potato Museum celebrates all things potato. The 5,500-square-foot museum, housed in the former Oregon Short Line Railroad Depot, illustrates the history of the root vegetable, the growing and harvesting process, the industry, and nutrition.
Among the artifacts are one of the world’s largest collections of potato mashers and the largest potato crisp ever created. Visitors can conduct experiments at the Potato Lab and eat freshly baked potatoes at the museum’s cafe.
Neon Museum | Las Vegas, Nevada
Get a taste of nostalgia with an illuminating tour of the Neon Museum, which houses 250 antique Las Vegas signs. Founded in 1996, the 2.25-acre museum’s visitors’ center is built inside the former La Concha Motel lobby and has a light projection exhibit and retro neon signs from the Las Vegas Strip.
Guides take visitors on a journey back in time through Neon Boneyard to see the iconic signage. The museum has also refurbished nine antique signage, including the Silver Slipper and Benny Binion’s Horseshoe, which are now on display around Vegas.
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International Spy Museum, Washington D.C.
Go undercover at the International Spy Museum, the country’s only espionage-themed public museum. The two-story museum has eight permanent interactive displays, as well as pop-up exhibits that explore the history and craft of spying.
Visitors arrive at a briefing center, are given a cover identity, and are challenged to remain covert while gathering intelligence. Along the way, guests can crack codes and crawl through an air vent to spy on others before participating in a debriefing to assess their espionage skills.
The National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, Texas
The National Museum of Funeral History, which houses the country’s greatest collection of historical funeral services equipment such as caskets, coffins, and hearses, contains 19 permanent exhibitions on embalming, the history of cremation, and the history of mourning photography.
The 30,500-square-foot museum features exhibits on funeral customs from around the world, from ancient Egypt to the present.
The 9/11 & Fallen Heroes exhibit features two urns with ashes and debris remnants from Ground Zero, while the Presidential Funerals display features the hearse used at the funerals of President Ronald Reagan and President Gerald R. Ford.
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National Mustard Museum | Middleton, Wisconsin
The National Mustard Museum features the world’s greatest collection of mustards and mustard memorabilia. Barry Levenson founded the National Mustard Museum in 1992, and it now houses 6,000 mustards from 70 different countries.
Visitors can learn about mustard history while viewing items such as antique tins, mustard pots, and historical ads. The museum organizes the annual World Mustard Competition and National Mustard Day street carnival. Admission to the condiment museum is free.
International UFO Museum and Research Center | Roswell, New Mexico
The International UFO Museum and Research Center, housed in a converted movie theater, is dedicated to all things UFO, especially the 1947 Roswell UFO incident (the crash of a flying saucer that the US military asserts was a weather balloon).
The pet-friendly museum has textual, audio, and visual resources, as well as art relating to the history of UFO events. The exhibits feature a rotating UFO with aliens and an outside ‘Roswell Believes’ painting.
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SPAM Museum | Austin, Minnesota
Are you a fan of Hormel Foods Corporation’s pink canned meat? The SPAM Museum offers fascinating exhibits, including a timeline and memorabilia, about the popular luncheon meat consisting of pig, salt, water, sugar, sodium nitrate, and modified potato starch, which is famously packaged in a rectangular navy-blue can.
Visitors can take a free guided or self-directed tour of the museum and measure their height using SPAM cans.
Antique Vibrator Museum | San Francisco, California
Did you know the electric vibrator dates back to the Victorian era?
At this odd museum in San Francisco, you can learn about how doctors employed medically induced orgasms in women to treat a variety of diseases and “female hysteria,” as well as witness examples of vibrators from the Industrial Revolution to the Great Depression, the mid-century, and now.
The Antique Vibrator Museum, hosted by sex toy business Good Vibrations, is free to enter, and although being only one room, it is jam-packed with information.
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Conclusion
Explore the eccentric charm of America’s museums, from potatoes to UFOs to vibrators. These unconventional collections offer unique insights into diverse subjects, blending education with entertainment. Each museum showcases a peculiar aspect of human curiosity and cultural fascination, inviting visitors to delve into the unexpected and expand their perspectives.