Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

Seattle, Washington

This narrow, cluttered gift novelty store -- a mainstay of Seattle tourism -- never fails to please and revolt. Your host and hostess are Sylvester and Sylvia Mummy, a desiccated though likable couple behind glass. They are American rather than Egyptian mummies.

Other Shop denizens include a virtual family of Barnum Mer-creatures: a Mermaid, a Mer-Baby, and a Mer-dog named "Petri-Fido."

The requisite freak pig in a jar shares space with a ship scale model constructed entirely of matchsticks. There is a 350-year-old "African voodoo monkey;" its intestines have been removed and braided onto its head.

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop has been here in one form or another since 1899, in continuous operation by the same family.

During our visit the owners noted that they'd acquired some new curios, including a two-headed calf and a four-legged hen from an old curio collection auctioned off in England.

Many of the creatures and skeletons dangle from overhead cables. These specimens are dusted once a year.