If you’ve ever said, “That’s creepy, I love it,” this one’s for you.

The Death Museums, Macabre Tourism, & Curiosities Information Hub

From vintage hearses to mummified monks, death museums and macabre destinations help us understand how humans have handled dying across centuries and cultures. Whether educational, artistic, or downright bizarre, these spaces give death a physical presence, and sometimes a sense of humor. They’re not just places to gawk, they’re places to learn, reflect, and occasionally laugh nervously. Explore the world’s most intriguing death-related stops here.

Death Museums Macabre Tourism Curiosities Information Hub

Table of Contents

Key Things To Know

Museums and offbeat attractions reveal what our ancestors feared, believed, and celebrated about death. Here’s what you’ll find if you go digging.

  • There’s More Than One Death Museum: From LA to New Orleans to Houston, several museums focus on death, funerals, or medical history.
  • Funeral Homes Used to Be Homes: Early embalming often happened in the family parlor. That’s why we now call it the "living room."
  • Ossuaries Are Packed with Bones: In places like the Paris Catacombs or Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic, bones were artistically stacked due to lack of space.
  • The Mütter Museum Preserves Medical Oddities: From preserved organs to conjoined twins, the collection explores the body’s limits.
  • Roadside Death Tourism Is a Niche Genre: The quirky and macabre side of travel is easier to find than you think.
  • Exhibits Reflect Cultural Beliefs: From Día de los Muertos altars to ancient burial tools, many museum pieces show how culture and death are intertwined.

Locations of Note

United States

Glore Psychiatric Museum

Morbid Anatomy

  • Location: Brooklyn, New York, USA

  • Why It’s Notable: Combines art, medicine, death, and forgotten history through exhibitions, lectures, and community events.

  • Website: https://www.morbidanatomy.org/

Museum of Death

  • Location: Los Angeles, California & New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

  • Why It’s Notable: Features mortuary tools, serial killer artwork, autopsy videos, and crime scene photos. Not for the squeamish.

  • Website: https://www.museumofdeath.net/

Mütter Museum

  • Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

  • Why It’s Notable: Features preserved human specimens, skulls, medical oddities, and 19th-century surgical instruments.

  • Website: https://muttermuseum.org/

National Museum of Funeral History

  • Location: Houston, Texas, USA

  • Why It’s Notable: The largest funeral museum in the U.S., with exhibits on embalming, hearses, presidential funerals, and more.

  • Website: https://www.nmfh.org/

Argentina

Museo Histórico del Cementerio de la Recoleta

Austria

Funeral Museum Vienna

  • Location: Vienna, Austria

  • Why It’s Notable: A quirky and historical look into Austrian funeral traditions, with hearses, mourning attire, and the Viennese obsession with being buried properly.

  • Website: https://www.bestattungsmuseum.at/

Czech Republic

Sedlec Ossuary (Bone Church)

  • Location: Kutná Hora, Czech Republic

  • Why It’s Notable: An underground chapel adorned with the bones of 40,000 people, including a chandelier made entirely of human skeleton parts.

  • Website: https://sedlecossuary.com/

France

Catacombs of Paris

  • Location: Paris, France

  • Why It’s Notable: A vast underground ossuary containing the bones of over six million Parisians, arranged in artistic formations.

  • Website: https://www.catacombes.paris.fr/en

Iceland

Icelandic Museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft

  • Location: Hólmavík, Iceland

  • Why It’s Notable: Highlights Icelandic magical traditions, including necropants and spells tied to death, fear, and folklore.

  • Website: http://www.galdrasyning.is/

Italy

Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo

  • Location: Palermo, Sicily, Italy

  • Why It’s Notable: Contains thousands of naturally mummified bodies dressed and displayed in open crypts.

  • Website: https://www.palermocatacombs.com/

Capuchin Crypt (Cripta dei Cappuccini)

Japan

Meguro Parasitological Museum

  • Location: Tokyo, Japan

  • Why It’s Notable: A scientific museum showcasing parasites and preserved specimens, offering a unique view of death and disease.

  • Website: http://www.kiseichu.org/e-top

Okunoin Cemetery & Mausoleum Path

  • Location: Mount Koya, Japan

  • Why It’s Notable: Japan’s largest cemetery, with over 200,000 tombs nestled among towering cedar trees — a sacred site in Shingon Buddhism.

  • Website: https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/912/

Mexico

Museo de las Momias de Guanajuato

Netherlands

Museum Vrolik

  • Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • Why It’s Notable: One of the world’s top anatomical collections, featuring fetal abnormalities, conjoined twins, and preserved organs.

  • Website: https://www.museumvrolik.nl/en/

Torture Museum Amsterdam

  • Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • Why It’s Notable: Displays medieval torture devices and execution tools with dark historical context.

  • Website: https://www.torturemuseum.com/

Romania

Merry Cemetery

Thailand

Siriraj Medical Museum (Death Museum)

United Kingdom

The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities

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