Whether trying to spook yourself out, or simply wanting to explore the mind-bending museums and curiosities on display throughout the U.S., check through this introduction for the most unique, creepy, and thoroughly bizarre sights around America.

Starting off this surreal trail of oddities is the truly outstanding Winchester Mystery House.  This Californian mansion lies in the district of San Jose at 525 South Winchester Boulevard.  Construction of the mansion began after Sarah Winchester, the owner, consulted a medium seeking consolation for the recent deaths of her husband and daughter.  The medium instructed her to build a house for the spirits of those who have died from her Winchester Rifles, telling her that, "If you continue building, you will live.  Stop and you will die."

Sarah Winchester took this to heart and continued building onto the mansion around the clock for 38 years until her death.  The building had no master plan, and was improvised as Lady Winchester saw fit at the time.  As such, the house is infamous for its disturbingly odd design: The number 13 and spider web designs repeat themselves throughout the house in candelabras, Tiffany windows, and even the topiary garden.  Some of the features were specifically installed due to Sarah's fear of spirits, such as doors that lead to nowhere, staircases leading up to the ceiling, and a séance room with 1 entrance and 4 exits.  Tours are available taking you around the inner workings of this labyrinth of a house, or for the extremely scare-hungry, try the flashlight tours around Halloween.

Another great place to hunt for squeamish thrills is at the National Museum of Health and Medicine.  This museum in Washington, D.C. houses some morbidly unique pieces of history, including pieces of Abraham Lincoln's skull, the slides of Ulysses S. Grant's tumor, and civil war skulls complete with bullet holes.  The museum also has some stranger exhibits; a huge hairball removed from a compulsive, hair-chewing girl, the shattered leg bone of Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, and the mummified head of a Kentucky girl preserved with arsenic.

Topping all the creepy destinations is the famous Mütter Museum of Medical History.  The Mütter Museum can be found in central Philadelphia and contains a collection of interesting, nauseating, and eye-popping medical specimens from all over the globe.  The original purpose was to preserve a collection of Dr. Thomas Dent Mutter's for medical research and education.  Since then it has drawn huge crowds to see the jars and glass cabinets of morbid medical history.  The most famous exhibit in the museum is the huge array of skulls on display, over 120 in total.  Other ghastly exhibits show off wax models of Siamese twins and a woman with a human horn growing out of her forehead.  There are skeletons that are deformed, dwarfed, and even the tallest skeleton in America.  The collection of fetuses is only for the strong stomached, as is the 5 foot-long human colon, and the Soap Lady's petrified body.

These places are quite unusual travel destinations, but if you've got a curiosity about the strange and sometimes disgusting, they are a real treat.  If you're traveling with someone too squeamish, these places are all set in very beautiful cities, with a wealth of leisure activities to see and do, so no one will be bored.  Take some time out of your journey for these otherworldly excursions, and explore the darker side of life.

Author Bio-


"Tina Halford" is a Senior Writer & Journalist working with TripMama. Tina writes articles with special focus on airlines discussion boards, besides sharing travel tips and nuggets on booking air travel deals, cheap hotels, car rentals and travel destinations.