Wild Travels: America's Oddest Museums

(host) If you look hard enough, go off the beaten track far enough, you'll find an America teeming with the unusual, the odd, the downright strange. I'm Will Clinger, and I'm your guide on a package tour we like to call... Wild Travels. (lively music) When it comes to museums, there's the kind your parents took you to on vacation or your school made you go to on field trips, but what about the quirkier variety that feature collections of mustard or pinball machines or even just dust? That showcase action figures, or portraits made entirely from bugs? The kind of museums that are located in motel lobbies or in homemade castles or abandoned barns? We feel they're well worth your time and we've put them all in a program called America's Oddest Museums. When Sparta, Wisconsin, wanted to honor local hero and astronaut Deke Slayton, it was only natural they do it with a space museum. But what about bicycles? Don't they deserve a little love too? -Hi, you are Alli. -Yes. -Welcome, welcome. -Tell us where we are. (Alli) We're at the Deke Slayton Space and Bicycle Museum. (Will) By the way, Deke Slayton, great name for an astronaut. -Am I right? -Yes, it is. (Will) Great name for an adventure hero of any kind. -Certainly. -And a good-looking guy. You never see any astronauts that look like Barney Fife. -You know what I'm saying? -Yeah, you definitely don't. Yeah, there's quite a few physical requirements needed to be an astronaut. (Will) You think I would've filled the bill? I'm about 6'2", 150 in wet clothes. (Alli) You'd be too tall and too skinny. It's about 5'11" and 180 pounds. (Will) That blows me right out of the water. (Alli) This is Deke Slayton's original space suit from 1959. (Will) Interesting way to sort of display it. It's almost like Lenin's Tomb. (Alli) It puts less stress on the uniform itself. There were seven men chosen to be America's first seven astronauts and Deke was part of that group. (Will) And yet he didn't end up going up in space because he had some sort of heart problem, right? (Alli) That's correct, yup, they found that he had a very slight heart palpitation. (Will) Eventually, he wound up going up in space -as some part of what mission? -Absolutely, the Apollo-Soyuz mission which was a docking mission between the US and the Russians. (Will) It's an interesting double focus for the museum, outer space and bicycles. Was Deke Slayton an avid bicyclist? -Is that why the-- -No, the reason we have the split is that Sparta is known as the bicycling capital of America. (Will) What are the criteria for getting your bicycle into the museum, 'cause it looks like just pretty much everybody got their bike in the museum. (Alli) Well, and what you see on display is only about half of what we have here at the museum. This is a fantastic piece. It's an ice bicycle, and instead of having a front wheel, it has like an ice-skating blade. And so you can ride this on frozen lakes, and the back wheel actually has metal studs to grip the ice. They deemed it so dangerous that they actually stopped producing these. (Will) You could slice a foot off with that thing. (Alli) Oh yes, definitely. Gotta be careful when you're riding that one. (Will) You could slice a foot off with the lawnmower bike! (Alli) Yes, indeed. That's just something a gentleman invented kind of, you know, tinkering around in his garage using an old lawnmower. This one is a railroad bicycle. You ride the bike on one rail and then the connection part rides on the other rail. So you can ride this bicycle on the railroad. (Will) Wouldn't you be worried about a train crushing you while you ride? (Alli) Yeah, you have to be very conscientious of train schedules and things like that. (Will) You must feel a little schizophrenic at times when you're giving these tours, 'cause it's Deke, bicycles, space, wheels. (Alli) We see ourselves here as a progression of transportation, starting with bikes, going on to planes, and into space. We have a quote, "Decide what you want to do, and never give up until you've done it." We think it's such a wonderful message about perseverance and following your dream no matter what. (Will) Maybe my dream of being an astronaut will make me get shorter and heavier. (Alli) Well, whatever makes it work, yeah. (upbeat music) (Will) Excuse me while I kiss the sky. (rumbling) (funky guitar music) You'll have to go to northern Vermont to see the work of 19th century artist, John Hampson, but it might be worth the trip when you find out that instead of paint, Hampson used bugs, thousands and thousands of dead bugs. -Hello. -Hi. -What is your name? -I'm Adam Kane, the director of the Fairbanks Museum. (Will) You know what we're here to see, don't you? (Adam) I do, you're here to see the amazing bug art. (Will) Bug art. Art made from bugs. (Adam) Art made from not just bugs but thousands upon thousands and thousands of bugs. (Will) Adam, what year did John Hampson start making the bug art? (Adam) He started in the 1870s. Each piece that he made took three or four years to collect all the bugs and then meticulously pin them -or glue them. -Where did he get his bugs? -Did he have a bug guy? -No, he was the bug guy. No, he walked for miles and miles every day with a net and a little bottle of cyanide. (Will) Here's a big bug but here is the bug art, right? (Adam) This is the bug art, between 6,000 and 13,000 individual bugs on each one of these. (Will) How many different types of bugs did he use? (Adam) It ranges from--some of the simple ones are four or five. The more complicated ones are ten or twelve. -Beetles, flies, moths. -Yeah, a lot of moths. A lot of the background that you see are moths. (Will) A lot of bugs died to make these paintings. -Let's be honest. -It's a lot. (Will) He was a very patriotic guy apparently. -Absolutely. -Even though he was not born -in America, he's English. -That's correct, he's English. (Will) Here we have General Pershing. (Adam) General Pershing with General Washington. -Is it a cannon? -That is absolutely a cannon. -Yes, that's a cannon. -And there's the balls. Have these ever been appraised? Do we know what they're worth? (Adam) You know, we've never had them appraised. You know, can you put a price tag on 50,000 insects? -Priceless. -Priceless. (Will) Is it safe to say this is the only guy that was working in this medium ever? Did anybody else make bug art? (Adam) There actually is-- making artwork out of butterfly wings is pretty common. -So there are a lot of-- -That's just one bug. -One bug, right. -He used several. Adam, how did the Fairbanks Museum come into possession of these works of art? (Adam) These came to the Fairbanks Museum in the early 1970s from the estate of John Hampson's daughter. In fact, they were shopped around to museums across New England and nobody else wanted them. -I find that hard to believe. -It's shocking, isn't it? This is one of our most popular exhibits. People--it has a cult following. (Will) Who's got the last laugh now? -Fairbanks Museum does. -That's right. Well, and I would say John Hampson. (upbeat music) (Will) When atomic bombs were tested in the Nevada desert back in the day, tourists in Vegas were encouraged to stay at least 65 miles away to view the blast. But at the National Atomic Testing Museum, you can now stand within a couple of feet of a nuclear weapon and have an excellent chance of exiting through the gift shop in one piece. We caught up with director, Allan Palmer, for the tour. How many nuclear tests actually took place? (Allan) Well, there were about 126 above-ground tests, another 846 that were underground. These items here are things that we've collected from the '50s, '60s, '70s, that were related to the nuclear weapons testing going on here in the desert. This one back here, the Gilbert Atomic Energy Lab, you'll notice on the front there it says "U-238." To make the Geiger counter work, they put a small sample of uranium ore in there. -Is that a little dangerous? -I don't think it would pass any kind of EPA standards today for kids and product safety. (Will) It's kind of surprising how "lighthearted fun for the whole family" they treated this back then. (Allan) Tourists used to come to town to see the explosions. They'd go to the hotels. It was kind of atomic tourism in its early days. (Will) Did they wear special glasses of any kind? (Allan) Not here, they didn't need to, 'cause this was 65 miles away from the nearest point of the test site. (Will) Miss Atomic Bomb 1957. (Allan) Occasionally, they'd go out and do a little bit of publicity and they did it once with a showgirl from the Copa. (Will) She's not wearing much more than a cloud, than a dangerous, toxic cloud. (Allan) This is a B61 model nuclear weapon. It's many times more powerful than the weapons that were used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (reporter) Is it dangerous? Yes. Right now it is. You wouldn't want to go into it, but neither would you deliberately walk into a blazing fire. You have to use common sense. (Will) What does JCPenny have to do with the nuclear story? (Allan) Well, when they were doing the above-ground testing, they wanted to see what the effects would be on the public, so they would build houses, they'd put mannequins in 'em to simulate families being there. The local JCPenny here in Las Vegas was a very patriotic store, and the manager said, "Look, if you need some mannequins, we can give you some." They'd set the bombs off. The mannequins were reasonably okay. They'd dust 'em off, take 'em back down to the store and use 'em again. This was a test that they set off in the South Pacific, and this was a thermonuclear weapon that was underwater. (Will) They had soldiers sort of nearby to witness this stuff. (Allan) One of them told me that he put his hands up like this and kind of looked through his fingers to see what he could see. When the blast went off, all he could see was the bones in his hands. -That's creepy. -It was like an x-ray. (Will) In this day and age, with the things going on in North Korea and Iran, this museum has a lot of current significance, right? (Allan) Well, it does. If we look at current events, not everybody, I think, has been ready for some of the things that have happened to us. May be a good time to kind of revisit some of that and get people at least to the point where they're ready for things and know what to do. (Will) Something besides ducking under your desk maybe. (Allan) Exactly. -Thank you, sir. -Good, thank you. (lively music) (Will) Muhammad Ali never went to Hooksett, New Hampshire, but if he had, we have a feeling he'd have made a beeline for this used car dealership. There he would've found one of the most extensive collections of his memorabilia in existence. -Hey, is Steve here? -I think he is. -Steve, I'm thinking? -Yes. -Do you have a moment? -Yes, I do. (Will) Steve, what an odd place for a Muhammad Ali collection, a used car dealership. (Steve) It's quite neat to have Muhammad Ali here at our dealership. (Will) The first thing you see in this office is that big statue of Muhammad Ali. (Steve) That's right, that is a commissioned sculpture -of Muhammad Ali. -Life size? (Steve) Actually one inch bigger than Ali's actual height. We say that Ali is bigger than life. (Will) And here you got a big punching bag with Ali fighting Superman. (Steve) This is for the mythical heavyweight championship of the world. It's based on a comic book that I'll show you when we walk through the collection. (Will) Here's Ali versus Wilt Chamberlain. I don't think this is historical. (Steve) This is actually historic. Ali wanted to fight Chamberlain in an exhibition boxing match. Unfortunately, it didn't come off but it was billed as the greatest versus the biggest. This is an iconic piece in our collection. It has the signatures of 49 out of the 50 Ali opponents -had as a professional. -Where's the 50th? (Steve) We were not able to find Jim Robinson. We think he was a homeless person. (Will) And it's made this piece enticingly incomplete. My brother loved Ali but I was a left-handed guy and I loved the southpaw, Joe Frazier. (Steve) Joe Frazier wasn't a southpaw. (Will) Really, am I wrong about that? -You're wrong about that. -Are you sure? -I thought he was a lefty. -He might have a great left jab -but he was a righty. -He was known for his left jab. -Let's put it that way. -That's right. This is a piece that Ali drew, signed by himself. Ali had many talents and one of them was he was artistic. This is an x-ray of Ali's broken jaw when he fought against Kenny Norton in 1973. (Will) It's signed by Norton and Ali. Do you let customers for the car dealership come back here and look at the collection? (Steve) Absolutely, we love sharing this collection with people. Ali against Cleveland Williams. And if you duck, which Cleveland Williams didn't do, you'll see that Ali is throwing a punch and Cleveland Williams is trying to get away from the punch. (Will) Ali himself know about this place? (Steve) We met with Ali about 10 or 12 years ago at a fundraiser in Chicago and we spoke about the collection. So yeah, Ali was familiar with the collection. (Will) Oh, here's the cartoon you were talking about. Ali versus Superman. (Steve) So if you move very close, you'll see some very notable figures from the 1970s. There's Cher. What about these five guys? -The Jackson 5. -Bingo. What about this guy from another comic book? -Mad Magazine. -Alfred E. Neuman. (Will) So this is signed by Ali, again. (Steve) Signed by Ali. What about these guys right here? -Brother and sister. -Donny and Marie. (Steve) Bingo, you're on a roll. (bell ringing) (Will) Steve, if somebody wants to enjoy your Muhammad Ali collection, where should they go? (Steve) The booming metropolis of Hooksett, New Hampshire. Here's a left hookset for ya. (upbeat music) (Will) Check in to this Lakewood, Colorado, inn and you'll want to check out the incredible collection of fossils that has rightfully earned this place the nickname Dino Hotel. And if you haven't seen enough dinosaur bones in the lobby, the manager just might take you on a field trip. (bell ringing) Hey, we're looking for Greg Talley. (Greg) That would be me. (Will) And this is the Dino Hotel. (Greg) Yes, you are in the right place. (Will) Now how did a hotel become a dinosaur repository of sorts? (Greg) Well, this happens to be a dinosaur hot spot. This is where the first Jurassic dinosaurs in 1877 were scientifically described. You know, a lot of hotels taste like chicken. I wanted mine to taste like pterodactyl. (bell ringing) This is a Ceratops montanus. There's a bite mark right here, and then there's a drain hole. This dinosaur probably died of a suppurating wound inflicted probably by another one of its kind. The Iguanodon, when it got up to speed, it would actually hop. So imagine a multi-ton Easter bunny or a thundering herd of them coming at you hopping at full speed. (Will) Yeah, that's my worst case scenario right there. (Greg) Yeah, that would be an absolutely terrifying Easter. (Will) And of course, right under the Iguanodon you've got snacks. (Greg) This is an Acrocanthosaurus. Very distant cousin of a T-Rex, but-- (Will) I figured it was an Acrocanthosaurus. So, I tell you what, your guests don't only get free Wi-Fi, they get a clinic on paleontology. (Greg) Absolutely, it's about the scientific outreach. It's about encouraging curiosity. (Will) Greg, the lobby looks a little like the Explorers Club. (Greg) The whole sense was trying to create a gilded age of discovery feel. You know, there's romance in scientific inquiry, there's romance in excavation and discovery. (Will) Do you ever get guests coming in saying, "Yeah, the dinosaur stuff is great but where are my towels?" -That kind of thing. -Always. It's a hotel first and foremost. It may be a museum hotel, but it's all about making the guests comfortable and we try to do things that are all local. The thing about this is it may have been in different periods of time, but everything you see here is local. It is Colorado specific. (twangy Western music) (Will) Greg, you've taken us on a field trip, on a goose chase for dinosaur tracks. (Greg) That's right, we have stepped into the Cretaceous and we are walking towards probably some Iguanodon tracks. They think it might have been a herd with a baby shadowing on the inside of the dinosaur tracks, and they think there might have been some sort of little three-toed predator or Ornithomimus checking out the baby possibly for a snack. (Will) I could buy that. Greg, this whole area is called Dinosaur Ridge, right? (Greg) It is, because it's got both footprints and unique dinosaur bones just poking out of the rock. You know, that's special. That makes the whole area special. (Will) Greg, if somebody wants to experience the Dinosaur Hotel, where do they go? (Greg) They come to Lakewood, Colorado. We're just outside of Denver. -Thank you, sir. -You're very welcome. (intense music) (Will) When smuggled animal skins, furs, tusks and the like are confiscated at the border, where do they end up? Turns out it's a warehouse near Denver, and if you visit you'll find an astounding collection of wildlife-related items that will both amaze and disturb. -Hey, are you Sarah? -I am. (Will) And this is the National Wildlife Property Repository. (Sarah) It is, yes. Here is where items that have been seized at ports of entry within the United States are received from our special agents and our wildlife inspectors with US Fish and Wildlife Service. Anything that's in violation of a United States law that protects wildlife, it can potentially be confiscated and it may end up here. The unique home decor and the skulls, of course, the fashion items, the furs. We see it all here. So this is a carved-- a scrimshaw of a walrus tusk. Walrus are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. (Will) So somebody tried to sneak this in in their luggage. -Yes. -And you nabbed them. (Sarah) Potentially, not me personally, but yes. -This is a femur. -An elephant femur bone that's been carved into a beautiful piece of art. (Will) Somebody thought they could sneak this giraffe head into the country? (Sarah) This is actually a pangolin and it's one of my favorite animals. It's also the most heavily trafficked mammal in the world. -Really? -But most people have never heard of it or seen one. -Why so valuable? -The meat is considered a delicacy but it's the scales that people are after, and they're used in a lot of different medicinal capacities. This was a shipment of boots that-- it's caiman actually, which is part of the crocodile family, and caiman are protected. So didn't have the right documentation for that. Thought that they'd get around that by putting regular old suede on there. -They're fooling no one. -They're not fooling us anyway. We're gonna enter the warehouse here and you'll see the additional 1.3 million items we have back here. (Will) 1.3 million, that's a lot of confiscation. (Sarah) Absolutely, and anywhere from the large trophies to the individual little trinkets. (mellow music) (Will) If we walk down any of these aisles, we're going to find a plethora of surprises, right? (Sarah) Yes, so this is our cat aisle, which is probably one of our more famous aisles. (Will) You never see a head just calmly smiling. They're always snarling, aren't they? (Sarah) No, they always have to be ferocious, and then one of the more disappointing products, I'll say, that we have at the repository here is this little tiger fetus that was cut out of its mother. (Will) Elephant feet turned into stools. (Sarah) We continue to receive ivory in, but we're seeing the tusks are getting smaller and smaller. Ivory belongs on an elephant and that's the only one that needs it. (Will) So by crushing it, you basically take it out of circulation. (Sarah) We're taking it out of that commercial trade, yes. (Will) You got a new shipment in of sea turtle skin boots. (Sarah) It's a beautiful leather and it does make a very nice boot. The problem is that most sea turtles, if not critically endangered, are endangered. (Will) You just got a shipment of turtle parts in here, huh? (Sarah) They were attempting to be smuggled out of the Dominican Republic in these baby formula boxes that are in Spanish, and their destination was China. (Will) How did they crack the case? I mean, this looks like a perfectly realistic product. (Sarah) Some of it is detective work of looking at the particular routes that shipping is going through, and then there's, of course, why would you need baby formula in Spanish boxes being sent over to China? (Will) Are you gonna eventually run out of room in this warehouse? I mean, if stuff comes in at this rate... (Sarah) We're very picky about what we receive. So, we cannot possibly receive everything that comes into the country. (Will) What happens to the rest of it? (Sarah) The rest of it is destroyed at the port. (Will) The National Wildlife Property Repository is on Denver's Rocky Mountain Arsenal and is open to the public by appointment. Wildlife smugglers welcome... to turn themselves in. (upbeat music) (man) You are at the Toy and Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. Population is 6,300. We have more action figures here than there are people that live here. We're the only one that's devoted to action figures, the art and sculpting of action figures. An action figure has to be posable, of course. Generally, action figures follow a storyline, whether they're based on a movie or a book, a comic. The museum is made up mostly of my private collection. We try to keep a sense of humor about the museum. I mean, they are toys and action figures after all. We have the bedroom diorama with the bed and all that in it, but also we've got little jokes everywhere. If you're looking closely, you'll see the jokes, and I have personally placed every action figure in the museum. You'll find some pretty wild stuff. Young families will come in a lot of times thinking this is just for the kids. Five minutes in, dad and even mom, "Oh my gosh, I had that as a kid." So they relive their childhood here. They're amazed at the things that they had as a child that are here and in perfect condition. The museum is just one aspect of what I do. In 1990, I started designing toys and different things for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, went on to do other projects-- the Pink Panther, The Simpsons, all kinds of stuff. Batman's my favorite character. You don't have to be from Krypton, you don't have to be bit by a radioactive spider. You can be Batman. We have to have Star Wars. If you show up, I'll do battle with you. Hey! (light sabers buzzing) Ah! (dramatic music) (Will) It's an amphibious aircraft made of wood that was designed and built by Howard Hughes, but what really strikes you about the Spruce Goose is just how ridiculously huge it is and how in the world it wound up in McMinnville, Oregon. -Stew and Larry, right? -Yes, sir. -Hi. -There it is. -The infamous Spruce Goose. -That's it. -Biggest plane ever? -Biggest plane ever, yes. Longest wingspan ever, 320 feet, eight stories high with the tail. -Wooden. -Wooden. All--not spruce though. -It's not spruce? -Not spruce. There's spruce in the keel but the rest of the airplane is birch, it's birch plywood. (Will) You know, Birch Goose doesn't sound as good, -does it? -No, it doesn't. (Will) What was the purpose of this plane? It was built in World War II, right? (Stew) Yes, the aircraft was supposed to be a transport for hauling troops and equipment across the ocean, because when America entered the war, German submarines were sinking 40 to 50 ships a month and we needed to get people safely across the ocean. (Will) How many soldiers could they get on to this darn thing? (Larry) Well, the original goal was 750 and it won't hold that many, but it'll hold a whole lot more than anything else in 1947. (Will) Why was it made of wood? (Stew) When they gave Howard Hughes the go-ahead, they said you had to use non-strategic materials, which--a.k.a. wood, because they were already using all the aluminum for building bombers and fighters. (Will) Most people know Howard Hughes as the billionaire nutbag who ended up living in Vegas in a penthouse with a lot of long fingernails, but he was an aviator first and foremost, wasn't he? (Larry) Oh, he was a very terrific aviator. Set a world record for around-the-world flight, and he's the chief cook and engineer of this whole project. (Howard Hughes) I put the sweat of my life into this thing. I have my reputation rolled up in it, and I have stated several times that if it's a failure, I'll probably leave this country and never come back, and I mean it. (Will) Did they shoot part of The Aviator, that movie, -that Scorsese movie here? -No. We have some of the sets and the models from the movie. This was used for the green screen shots when they're walking through the factory, and it's a very detailed model of how the plant in Culver City, California, looked at the time that the Spruce Goose was being built. (Will) And was it really realistic the way they shot it? (Stew) It was very realistic with the exception of one thing and that was the fact that in some scenes, you can see sparks flying like they were welding, which on a wooden airplane, no. (reporter) On the taxiing deck, Hughes takes a last look as the monster dwarfs everything in its vicinity. (Will) Guys, from this angle, it really does look like a boat. (Stew) It's absolutely a boat. In fact, the reason it was designed as a sea plane was because there weren't that many places in the world that had a runway long enough that could handle a plane this big. (piano music) (Will) Now that we're inside the darn thing, you can sense-- you could get 750 people onto this thing. (Larry) You'd have to put 'em in decks, in layers, and they'd be-- -Stack 'em like cordwood? -Kinda. (Will) Larry, you gotta explain to me why there's a bunch of beach balls. (Larry) Hughes was afraid the hull would split, so there were beach balls between the frames back there held in with fishing nets. If the hull split, it would continue to float. (Will) Keep it floating. (reporter) There are a hundred instruments to check on this panel alone before the test begins, a test that is to startle the aviation world. (Larry) This is the prototype so it's got a lot more wires and a lot more test equipment in it than a production airplane would have had. It's significantly wider than anything you're gonna sit in today, and if you lift this up, you can recline. (Will) I'm in first class all of a sudden. (Larry) Yeah! (Stew) This is the seat where Howard Hughes sat when he flew the airplane, and he designed the airplane so that he could fly it by himself. In fact, on the flight, he didn't have a copilot as it were. He had hydraulics engineers. -It only had one flight, right? -Yes. The day that he flew, he was told not to fly it, but he told somebody that morning, "If it feels good, I'm gonna fly it," and he did. (reporter) As the enormous craft approaches her 95-mile-an-hour take-off speed, the pilot lifts her out of the step, and with a final drive of her engines, 200 tons are airborne. Seventy feet off the water, she stays for a mile. (lively music) (Will) After its one and only flight, the Spruce Goose was stored in a hangar for more than three decades and then put on display by the Disney Corporation in Long Beach, California. It was subsequently acquired by Evergreen International Aviation, moved by barge to McMinnville, and proudly exhibited in its very own building. (cheerful music) The National Museum of Funeral History provides a fascinating and surprisingly whimsical tour of mortuary customs and rituals from around the globe. So if you assumed that a funeral museum would be a real downer, you'd be dead wrong. -Robert, right? -Correct, welcome. (Will) You've got a bunch of hearses in here. (Robert) Correct, actually they're hearses from various ages. This particular one is all made out of wood. (Will) Even the curtains on the side there. (Robert) Correct. (Will) The Japanese did hearses right. (Robert) In Japan, this was actually used to transport the casket to the crematorium, and then the family comes in and does the ceremony, picking through the cremains with chopsticks, placing them into an urn. (Will) That's challenging, picking up cremains with chopsticks. I can barely pick up a shrimp. (Robert) Little bit different. -"Thanks for the Memories." -This is prayer cards, invitations to funerals, and many different memorabilia from celebrity funerals that we have. (Will) You've got Marlon Brando, Frankenstein. Here you have Marilyn Monroe's actual what? (Robert) This is a real facade from her tomb. (Will) You have some very fancy looking caskets here. -Whose is this? -This particular one was actually from an acrylic manufacturer. It was a demonstration piece for him. (Will) So it wasn't just somebody greedy that wanted to be buried -with all their money. -No. This one is completely glass and there was only three of them that are still in existence right now. -It was actually so heavy. -They needed 30 pallbearers -to take it. -Basically! (Will) What's the difference between a casket and a coffin? (Robert) A casket is actually rectangular. A coffin would take the shape of the body. (Will) This casket fascinates me. It's a casket for three people. (Robert) It was actually made for a family. (Will) Two adults and the child in the middle. -Correct. -Gift for the obvious, "This side up." (Robert) That--shipping label. This is actually made from the early 1900s. They call it a Cruciform casket because of the shape of it. -It looks like fur. -It does look like-- -it's just crushed velvet. -It's faux fur. (Robert) Faux fur, if you wanna call it faux fur-- (Will) There's nothing wrong with faux fur. -I agree. -I came here expecting this place to be sort of depressing and macabre, but it's the cheeriest funeral museum I've ever been to. It's the only funeral museum I've ever-- (Robert) Well, actually, we're the largest in the country. (Will) What's this flame in the corner here? (Robert) The flame in the corner is actually the original John F. Kennedy eternal flame before the permanent one was put in. (Will) Eternal seems to mean permanent, so you'd think that would still be there. (Robert) Well, it was the initial one until everything was set. -It was temporarily eternal. -There ya go. -Is that safe to say? -We're actually coming through the section, through the history of embalming. Obviously, embalming started with the Egyptians. They would come in and remove the brain and so on, and it's part of the embalming process. (Will) I'd prefer to be buried with my brain, frankly. (Robert) I agree. These are what we call fantasy coffins, from Ghana. They will make it for what the person liked in life, what they did as far as a hobby or work or whatever the case may be. -Yamaha? -Could've been a fisherman. Could've been someone that liked boats. (Will) It's even got a throttle. (Robert) There's the crab, the lobster, the chicken, the bull, the tiger. -This guy just liked driving. -Just liked cars. -And this one liked squid. -No. It's actually a leek. We don't talk about funerals and death, and this is a place where you can come and really learn about it. (Will) Maybe we'll feel more comfortable with death... -Absolutely. -...on experiencing the museum. That's kind of our goal. We want you to be comfortable here. (Will) Robert, what is the museum's motto? (Robert) "Any day above ground is a good one." (Will) 'Nuff said. (jazzy music) Harold Solomon is possibly America's most prolific maker of odd and amusing things and the most relentless jokester in the world. When you visit his castle in Ona, Florida, you'll realize that's not really an exaggeration. Howard Solomon. -Good afternoon. -And this is your castle. -It's a kissel. -A kissel? (Howard) Yes, a Jewish castle. (Will) How long ago did you build this darn thing? (Howard) I started in 1972. It's a hobby that got out of hand. (Will) Yeah, how long did it take to finish? (Howard) Well, I worked on the castle off and on for 14 years. It's kind of a spectacular looking place. -What is it covered with? -It's covered with the printing plates from the local newspaper. (Will) Are you an architect by training? (Howard) No, I'm a high school dropout by training. (Will) Uh-huh. Howard, what's the square footage on this joint? (Howard) It's 12,000 square feet. (Will) And who actually lives here, you and-- (Howard) My wife and I live here. (Will) Why'd you choose to make a castle out of your house? (Howard) Well, palaces were too expensive to furnish. (chuckling) (Will) All this art on the walls, is that yours as well? (Howard) It's all my work. (Will) Howard, you're a very productive guy. (Howard) Busy hands, happy heart. (Will) So the castle is pretty much your museum -of all your work in a way. -Yeah. (Will) This one looks like it's a 3D kind of a deal. (Howard) This is a village in the Bahamas where I resided for seven years. Happy Rocking Fella made out of brake shoes... over here. It's The Tortoise and the Hair. (Will) The Tortoise and the Hair. You're a punster, I can tell. (Howard) Do you know what you call 50 puns? -What's that? -Punishment. I started out with a corn planter and I rearranged the parts and added a few parts to it and named it Evil Kornevil. It's a failure as a motorcycle. However, I'm going to build 30 of them and leap over them in a Winnebago. This is a carnival made out of phonograph turntables. This is Lionel. Lionel's made out of five oil drums and 70 pounds of welding rod. This is the Tuna Band playing "Flight of the Bumblebee." (Will) How many works of art do you think you have in here? (Howard) Over 300. This is a gangster gun made out of a bumper jack and half of a hacksaw. It's called a hacked-off jack saw. (Will) And what's with the fork? (Howard) I made that for the fast food restaurants. It fires a fork to get the waiter's attention. (Will) What about these guns? (Howard) Jack Kevorkian's dueling pistols. (laughing) (Will) Tell me this, are any of these for sale? (Howard) Everything has a price. (Will) So somebody could take one of these things out of here -for the right price? -That's right, or I'll make 'em a copy for a little bit less. (Will) Now when did you add the Spanish galleon to your collection? (Howard) I started building the ship in 1991, six weeks after my first heart surgery. I worked on it every day for four years. (Will) Howard, you're surrounded by swamp. (Howard) We live in a swamp. (Will) Why'd you decide to build here? (Howard) The land was cheap and so was I. (laughing) Have you ever been to the Alamo? -I've never been, why? -Well, now you have. (Will) Oh my God, you rebuilt the Alamo! (Howard) This houses my old work and my new work, because the castle is already filled up. That's Little Boy Blue. That's a lot of bull. When my wife and I die, we're gonna be taxidermied into these two chairs so that we can stare at each other for all of eternity, or until somebody blinks. (Will) I heard a rumor, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you're trying to sell this place? (Howard) It's been for sale for 43 years and we've had two lookers and one was almost serious. (Will) Howard, if somebody wants to pay a visit to Solomon's Castle, -where do they go? -Well, we're 30 miles due east of Bradenton, Florida. -Thank you, Your Highness. -You're welcome. (upbeat music) (Will) Bedford Falls has George Bailey, Wykoff, Minnesota, had Ed Krueger. So when Ed passed away in 1989, the town decided to keep his homemade museum alive. It's a truly odd array of stuff reflecting its owner's refusal to part with almost anything. -Dianne. -Hello! Welcome to Ed's Museum. (Will) Who the heck was Ed and why does he have a museum? (Dianne) Ed was a Wykoff person. He lived here all of his life and he had this store. He always kept all of the records of Wykoff. He was also the treasurer of our town. He worked as a volunteer fireman. He showed movies in the '40s and '50s. (Will) And apparently, he threw nothing away. (Dianne) Oh no, no, he didn't. He didn't even bury his cat. The cat's downstairs, in a box. -Stuffed? -Uh, no, it's just in a box. This is Sammy, he lived 15 years, and Ed was just attached to this cat. So he put him in this box and it doesn't smell bad. I can't--I don't know why. Everything is pretty much how he left it. He has a collection of old phones -and old everything. -Cigar boxes. (Dianne) Yup, he loved movie stars and mostly women. (Will) Every magazine he ever got is here in the museum. (Dianne) Yup, downstairs we have piles of the whole collection. And this is a player piano. And here's all his piano player rolls right here. (Dianne) Over 400 piano rolls, yeah. (upbeat piano music) (Will) Ed would probably appreciate it that you've taken care of his museum and kept it going all of these years. (Dianne) All right, he would be so proud. I'm sure he's dancing in heaven just knowing we're doing this. (Will) Is this the way it all looked when he died -and you guys took over? -Um, it was a little more boxes and things like that, and of course, needed a good scrub down. (Will) What is the significance of this alarming-looking doll here? (Dianne) This is Ed's wife and she died in the '40s, 1940. (Will) Does that face pretty much look like her? (Dianne) Eh, no. It is her gloves, her dress, and her hat. So that's about the closest they could get. -Little bit creepy. -Yup, and her shoes, yup. This is Ed's bedroom and Lydia's, and the original furniture also is in here. -The original long underwear. -Yeah. He always wore long underwear. The toy room, it's all Ed's original toys of his son's. (Will) Ed Krueger's son, by the way, was named Freddy. -Yup, that's right, and-- -Freddy Krueger. (laughing) Some would argue that this is just a collection of some guy's stuff, but what makes it a museum? (Dianne) Well, it's Wykoff stuff, because everything that involved Ed was Wykoff. (Will) It's a history of the town in a way. -Oh, for sure. -Dianne, this case holds some interesting items, including Ed's gallstones. (Dianne) Again, he never threw anything away. I'm sure lots of us have had 'em taken out, but did we keep 'em? -No. -I'm not sure we-- I've ever had a gallstone, certainly not 25. -I think I'd remember that. -Yeah. He kept them in this little jar, along with his gold teeth that he had taken out in this other little jar. (Will) I guess it would be even weirder if he had somebody else's gallstones and teeth. (Dianne) Yeah, well, he probably would've kept that too, I'm sorry to say. (upbeat music) (funky music) (Will) Mustard has always gone well with ham, which is maybe why the owner-operator of the National Mustard Museum has got no problem with being the center of attention. You would be Barry Levenson, owner and curator of the National Mustard Museum. (Barry) I would be and I am! (Will) How did you get involved in the mustard sciences? I began collecting jars of mustard on October 28th, 1986,

at 2

30 in the morning. (Will) Is there something special about that date? (Barry) Oh, very special. You see, the night before, my beloved Red Sox had just lost the World Series. I was so depressed, I couldn't sleep. I went to an all-night grocery. I remember walking past the ketchups, the olives, the pickles, the relishes, the mayonnaises. Suddenly, I was in front of the mustards and I heard a voice that said, "If you collect us, they will come." (playful music) We have the world's largest collection of mustards and mustard memorabilia, over 5,600 different mustards from all over the world, 80 different countries represented in the museum. (Will) Eighty different countries? Why isn't it the International Mustard Museum then? (Barry) 'Cause I'm modest. (Will) You didn't always do this mustard thing. -You had a fairly hot-- -A real job, a real job. -A real job, a lawyer? -Yes. I was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin. (Will) And so you dropped it all to start a mustard museum. (Barry) But not before I argued a case at the US Supreme Court with a jar of mustard in my pocket. Won the case 5 to 4. I'm sure that mustard had something to do with it. It's also poetic justice, because if you know your Supreme Court history, you'll remember Justice Felix Frankfurter and Chief Justice Warren Burger. (Will) Did either of them say, "Is that mustard in your pocket or are you happy to--" That was Sandra Day O'Connor, that was her-- -Hello! -Hello! (Will) You call mustard "the king of condiments." It is, it's been around for centuries. It's not one of these condiment-come-latelys like ketchup or salsa. The French were making it back in the 1500s. Shakespeare wrote about mustard, he loved mustard. "What say you to a piece of beef and mustard?" "Hi, a dish I do love to feed upon." This is where we have tours and groups come in and tell them all about mustard and why it's so good for you, why it's healthy. Do you know, by the way, that according to the National Condiment Research Council, ketchup is now the leading cause of childhood stupidity in America? (Will) Ketchup is the enemy here, isn't it? Are other condiments equally hated, like relish or-- (Barry) No, I think ketchup really is the problem that we have because so many kids, especially, are eating ketchup when they should be eating mustard. -Have you been here before? -No. (Will) It's your first trip to the Mustard Museum? -It is. -Where do you come from? -Up the street. -Up the street and it's the first time you've been here? -We've only lived here a year. -We're also in the bookstore of America's mustard college which is called Poupon U. On our hot dogs, on our bratwurst Mustard is so cool Never mayo, never ketchup They're against the rules Gleaming gold and mellow yellow Smooth, rough, sweet, and hot Fight, Poupon U will fight and eat some lunch (Will) I'm not sure that last word rhymed. (Barry) Hm. (Will) Barry, if somebody wants to find out more about the National Mustard Museum, what should they do? (Barry) Well, come to Middletown, Wisconsin. That's where we're located, open seven days a week. (Will) This is humiliating. (marching band music) (mellow funky music) Inside a barn in rural Vermont, you'll find the Museum of Everyday Life, a celebration of all things mundane. We arrived in time to see this year's special offering on dust. So put away that damp cloth and prepare to be blown away. -Hi, Clare? -Hi. (Will) How are you? This is the Museum of Everyday Life. (Clare) Yes, it is, welcome. This is the Great Hall, we call it, and it is full of the greatest hits of our featured exhibits. Our past featured exhibits have been on the match, the safety pin, the pencil, and the toothbrush. (Will) Seems counterintuitive. You know, people see things every day. They don't need a museum to come and see them, you know? (Clare) Ah, but that's where you're wrong. We need institutions to catalog and analyze and celebrate all of this detritus that we surround ourselves with all the time. Here's a safety pin curtain. This is the beautiful diaphanous safety pin dress, which was worn at the opening by me. (Will) You must have... (Clare) I did have something on underneath. (Will) Oh, that's reassuring, okay. (Clare) These are ancient Roman fibula, the ancient precursor to the safety pin. Over here, toothbrush shivs. These are faithful recreations... (Will) They were never actually used. (Clare)...of actual prison objects that were confiscated. (Will) What, pray tell, does the horn have to do with any of your everyday things? (Clare) Um, this is just a megaphone in case we need one. This is a selection from the Dogs of the Soviet Space Program commemorative matchbox set. (Will) Is this kind of commenting though on the pretentiousness of the normal museum which sometimes takes itself too seriously? (Clare) I both love the institution of the museum, I also like to mock it. Would you like to visit our featured exhibition on dust? (Will) Most would say dust is meant to be swept away, but you're devoting a whole exhibit to it. (Clare) There's a lot to it, as you will see. -Look, there's the Dust Bowl. -Yup. This is sort of what I call the dust archetypes. These are sort of examples of classic kinds of dust. This is dust contributed by a community member named Linda Elbow. "In support of this exhibit, I have not cleaned my house for four months." -Generous gesture on her part. -Yeah. (Will) Is there an admission charge to the museum? (Clare) No, it's by donation. It's a self-service museum, so you just come in, turn on the lights, and hopefully remember to turn them off when you leave. (Will) And I guess you don't have to worry much about theft, because who's gonna steal a pile of dirt? (Clare) This is our wall of dust removal objects. I just noticed the mice seem to be slowly dismantling the feather duster section of the exhibit. (Will) I guess that's the danger of having your museum in an open barn. They're gonna get in there. (Clare) That's something we'll have to deal with. (man) I heard about it by driving by here and seeing a sign that said "Museum of Everyday Life." How could you pass this by once you know it's here? (Will) Does it make you think differently about regular museums? Maybe they're not as interesting as everyday stuff. -Uh, good point. -Yes and no. I mean, if you go to a regular museum and look around, you'll start to see safety pins and dust and matches there too. -They're just not-- -Displayed. (Clare) This is my favorite part of the dust exhibit. This I call the meditation room. (vocalizing) (Will) Here's something you don't see in a museum every day, -navel lint. -Mm-hmm. Now this is from a collection, very special collection. -What's this? -This is Dust Mite. This just represents these creatures, microscopic. (Will) They are everywhere, aren't they? (Clare) Crawling all over your face right at this moment. That's what they look like. (Will) Yeah, that is alarming. Clare, if somebody wants to pay a visit to the Museum of Everyday Life, where should they go? (Clare) We are in Glover, Vermont, about 45 minutes north of St. Johnsbury. (Will) I might have something under my fingernails I could devote to the museum. (Clare) You could do that, yeah. (Will) We wandered by the home of Dr. Charles Smith in Hammond, Louisiana, and found ourselves going in for a closer look. This Vietnam veteran and part-time preacher has found his true calling in sculpture and he's turned his front yard into an amazing open-air museum. I'm Dr. Charles Smith, the founder and the curator and the sole artist of the African American Heritage Museum and Black Veterans Archive. We tell the story in the pieces. As you can see, some are completely done and some of those are just right now in the process of being completed. Those standing here with the American flag represents a memorial to those children that have died by crime, family violence, gangs and drugs. The wall is a memorial to those that died in New Orleans in Katrina. The height of that wall lets you know how high the water was where the people perished in terms of the situation. This piece here is the sister that was captured and brought out of Africa to the United States for sale on the plantation. These are the things we explain to the young people why it's important to understand and know your history. (electronic music) The crowd is not so thick back here. Here's a permanent gardener. That was his job. From the day he was born until the day he died, that's all he did was take care of the plants around the plantation. This is the LGBT so that we don't leave out anyone that has a story to tell on how we are, who we are, and what we are. I'm preparing my son to carry on my legacy. (laughing) (dramatic music) (Will) We found a museum in Alabama with an extremely specific

and highly unusual subject matter

spear hunting. But the first thing we had to hunt down was the museum's curator. -We're looking for Larry. -He's not here right now. No! -Larry, we found you. -Yes, sir. -Tell us where we are. -Summerdale, Alabama, at the Spear Hunting Museum. (Will) The Gene Morris Spear Hunting Museum. (Larry) Yes. (Will) Would it be safe to say that this is the only spear hunting museum in the world? (Larry) It's the only one that I'm aware of. (Will) Let's go out on a limb. (Larry) Yes, sir. (Will) And Gene Morris, tell us a little bit about this guy. (Larry) Spear hunting was his life... -Yeah. -...passion. (Will) And he killed 592 big game animals. (Larry) Spear hunting, yes, sir. He was kind of a very unique individual and kind of beat to his own drum. (Gene) So this is signing off from the greatest living spear hunter in the world. Sasha Siemel's number one but really doesn't wanna be, he's dead, I'm still living! (Will) Custom made these spears, didn't he? (Larry) He designed and made that spear himself. -One called the Black Death. -Specifically deadly. (Larry) He'd get up high and let gravity... -In a tree. -Yes, sir. (Will) Kind of unfair, those animals were sitting ducks. (Larry) Well, I wouldn't say unfair, no, sir. -Yeah, that looks deadly. -Yes, sir, very deadly. (Will) Yeah, unless you use the wrong end. -Yes, sir. -Think about that. -That would be a huge mistake. -Yeah. (lively music) (Will) Every one of these things on the wall, -he killed with a spear. -That is correct, yes, sir. This was his thing and he wanted to leave it behind to share for future, so here it is. -He's killing that snake. -Yes, sir. That's a rattlesnake. (Will) Did he always hunt in a Hawaiian shirt? (Larry) Apparently, he was on his way home one day and just saw a rattlesnake cross the road and he got out and-- 'cause he always carried his spear with him, just got out-- (Will) He apparently always had a photographer with him. (laughing) (Gene) Two dead pigs! Long live spear hunting! (Will) I've heard that sometimes Gene would use two spears and simultaneously kill multiple animals. (Larry) Yeah, he had one of the walls in the museum dedicated for multiple kills at the same time. (Will) That's a very simple diagram. (Larry) Yeah, he drew that picture himself, but I mean, it's kind of simple. It shows what he did and how he did it. (Will) Spent a lot more time drawing the pigs than he did the human. (Larry) Yeah, apparently, yeah. (Will) Here we are in Boar Hall. All of these are wild boars that he killed. -Here we are in Gator Alley. -Yes, sir. Gene did a lot of alligator hunting down in South Florida and this is a hall full of different alligators that he harvested. (Gene) This'll be a good one for a Christmas card to send around. -Lot of deer he's got. -Yes. (Will) Oh, come on, he killed a lobster with a spear? (Larry) Well, I don't know. -So those are Gene's ashes? -Yes, sir. (Will) Was there any thought to actually having him taxidermied and put on the wall? (Larry) No, sir, no thought for that. (upbeat music) (Will) At the Pinball Hall of Fame and Museum, it's not the players but the games themselves that are being honored. You can test your flipper skills on over 250 classic machines spanning nine decades. And if you're lucky, the museum's founder will share his voluminous and colorful knowledge of all things pinball. -Hey, Tim. -That's me. I'm the Director of Stuff & Things. (Will) And you get to wear a headlamp too. (Tim) Oh yeah, that's so I can see in the dark. (Will) How did this whole thing get started? (Tim) Me and a bunch of other local pinball collectors that decided it was kind of stupid to have a whole bunch of games and not do anything with them. So we decided we would rent a storefront, fill it full of pinball machines, and see what happened. (Will) A lot happened. How many machines you got in here? (Tim) There's about 250 machines here. (Will) Are there inductees to the Pinball Hall of Fame? (Tim) No, that's just a name we came up with at the last minute. Right now, our clientele here is largely old farts with busted parts. We don't get a lot of kids in here. The kids come in and they go, "Meh, meh, meh. Where's the kung-fu games?" When you're a tiny tot, you play video games. When you grow up, you become a man, you play a man's game, you play pinball. (Will) Now a lot of people coming to Vegas, if they put a quarter into something-- (Tim) You're gonna spend $20 on a slot machine in 10 minutes. Here, $20 will last you all day, literally. This is what passed for entertainment in the '60s. That's why your grandparents are such miserable people, this is all they had for fun. (Will) But I bet you do get some oldsters in here seeing games that they played as kids, right? (Tim) We get people that come in here that haven't seen this stuff in 20, 30, 40 years, and they see it and they immediately flash back to it. "The first time I kissed a girl was when I was playing this game." -Yeah. -They walk around with this big smile on their face. "Wow, woo, ah, ah, wow!" (Will) You met playing pinball back as teenagers, am I right? (man) We did, and we have one in our basement today. -Where is your oldest machine? -Down here on the end. It's based on the Century of Progress 1933 World's Fair. You have to shoot the ball, and the idea is to complete the jigsaw by picking off rows, there you go. (Will) So there's no flippers on this one. (Tim) No flippers, no electricity, all mechanical. (Will) You have to fix all these things, right? (Tim) And constantly fix them. These games were designed to run about five years and then fall over dead. This one's from 1957. It's got everything you could want. Monkeys, carnival workers with no teeth. (Will) I love the art, by the way, and you know, a lot of it is kind of lascivious. (Tim) Back in the day when they were building these games, they would alternate between a sexy game and a family game. That way, if you had a drugstore account or a roller rink where there was a lot of families, you could buy the family game, but it's always been largely a male thing. (Will) I guess you could be distracted by some of these scantily clad women at times, huh? -Prefer the real thing. -I'll go down on the Strip and look at the real stuff, yeah. (Tim) We have a machine up front that they only made two of. They spent about $1.5 million completely finishing the game and then decided not to build it. (Will) Oh my God. (Tim) Here it sits, the only one in the world that you can play. It's considerably different than a regular pinball. -It's three stories tall. -Yeah, when the game first came in, after the museum was closed, I kind of took off my clothes and played it by myself, 'cause you can always play pinball better -when you're naked-- -Now wait a minute, -wait a minute, why is that? -Less skin resistance. You have less things between you and the ball. (Will) Tim encourages you to visit him at his Pinball Hall of Fame and we encourage you to keep your darn clothes on. (Tim) See, you're not very good. -I could've saved that one. -You could've saved that? It went right down the middle of the thing! Well, there you have it. Some of the oddest museums you're ever likely to find in America or anywhere. If we'd had more time, we'd love to have brought you to the world's only smog museum in Pennsylvania, or the collection of half-eaten celebrity sandwiches in Illinois, or the museum of paintings on velvet in California. Chances are they'll all wind up in our very next special, America's Oddest Museums, Volume 2. (lively twangy music) We're always looking for new destinations. The wilder, the better. So if you've got an idea for our show, let us know, and thanks for watching.