Museum of Death

What if walls could scream? The Museum of Death on Hollywood Boulevard doesn’t just house artifacts. It whispers stories of the macabre. Founded in 1995 by J. D. Healy and Catherine Shultz, the Museum of Death originally started as a serial killer pen-pal art show. They sought to understand the darkest corners of the human psyche, a goal that transformed their hobby into a museum. The Museum of Death moved from San Diego to Hollywood in 1999. This happened after a public outcry over their attempt to recreate the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide scene. The current location, once a recording studio used by artists like Pink Floyd, now echoes with a different kind of history. Inside the Museum of Death, you’ll find a collection that ranges from unsettling to downright disturbing. Letters and artwork from serial killers like John Wayne Gacy offer a chilling glimpse into their minds. The museum also displays artifacts from the Heaven’s Gate suicide, including the original beds used by the cult members. The head of Henri Landru, a French serial killer known as Bluebeard, is another sobering exhibit. You can also see Thanatron, one of Jack Kevorkian’s suicide machines, acquired by the Museum of Death in 2014. The Museum of Death challenges our perceptions of mortality. It’s not a place for the faint of heart, but it is a place to ponder the complexities of life and death. Perhaps, as the founders intended, it’s a place to leave feeling grateful for the life you have.