We haven't visited here in probably 15 years, but this attraction has wisely chosen not to tamper with its successful formula. The scamps immortalized at the Criminals Hall of Fame Wax Museum are all notorious -- and almost all are from the United States.
A vintage police cruiser is parked in front of the Hall in a failed attempt to draw attention. Passersby are instead drawn to the creepy "family" portrait of serial killers and crime bosses that spreads across the front of the attraction, trying to ID them from memories of newspaper accounts or TV shows.
Jeffrey Dahmer visits his fridge looking for a late night snack.
Inside, every bloody tableau is behind glass in narrow black corridors -- the familiar one-way flow of wax museums to keep the crowds moving. Older, boring criminals (Bugsy Siegal, Al Capone) are nicely mixed with more intriguing modern mass-murders: Timothy McVeigh in his orange prison jumpsuit, Jeffrey Dahmer visiting his fridge looking for a late night snack.
There is more gore than most horror wax museums and better lighting, too, a good indication that this attraction is drawing enough of a crowd to pay its electric bill. Its highlight is saved for the end: a photo-op electric chair that buzzes when you sit in it.
Criminals Hall Of Fame Wax Museum made the news a few years back when their Adolf Hitler, in full parade dress uniform, was stolen from its locked glass case. Was it just a skinhead fratboy stunt -- or the telltale handiwork of a master waxworks thief, thumbing his nose at the wax museum security industry?
