Cave City, Kentucky - Big Mike's Rocks, Gift Shop, Mystery House

My boyfriend and I planned a trip for the weekend to Mammoth Cave and decided to look up surrounding attractions in the area for some extra stuff to do. We, Of course we found Big Mike's Mystery House on RoadsideAmerica.com, noticed the admission of $1, and immediately assumed it would be awesomely bad and definitely worth a pilgrimage. Conveniently, the Mystery House was right on the road we needed to take to get to the caves, so no gas was wasted in the pursuit of a cheap laugh.

Apparently the joke was on us, because I believe my boyfriend enjoyed the Mystery House even more than he enjoyed Mammoth Cave. Your level of enjoyment will come from your ability to appreciate what one everyday-type man was able to build with his own two hands. Obviously, this place isn't Disney World, but it is unlike any place I've ever been before. Some guy who knows how to build stuff and knows his geometry constructed a house that's actually pretty neat to see, when you consider you're at some random stop on the road in Kentucky. Our tour guide was very nice and we had a lot of fun. [DJ, 08/28/2009]

My sister and I decided to visit the Mystery House after seeing it on this website. It was not a good experience. The owners were rude when I paid for the tour. I asked where I should go and they said, "She will give the tour once she's finishes eating. Just wait." The tour guide gave the tour and proceeded to insult us as being slow for not laughing at her jokes (she assumed we didn't get them, but they just weren't funny). She told us she could only be in there 15 minutes (I guess because of child labor laws). Because of the time limit she rushed us through and was bossy while doing it. It's only a dollar but I would pass on this one. [Suzanne S., 07/26/2008]

[RA: We recall this tour as being short but fun. And what you describe sounds like you got more than your dollar's worth!]

I visited Big Mike's on a road trip last month -- great place for a rock hound to poke around. I bought a Floyd Collins t-shirt and some minerals as gifts, and with my receipt the clerk gave me a free pass to the Mystery House! There was a similar house out west when I was a kid in the '70s and this one really took me back. I recommended it to my cousins to take their kids -- it's something kids would love. Support your nearest gloriously cheesy tourist traps! [Lisa Millraney, 08/31/2007]

We visited the Big Mike's Mystery House on our road trip and had a blast. Well worth the $1 admission, and it will having you questioning everything you know about gravity. The water running uphill was working when we were there. Definitely a mind boggling stop. [Kelly, 08/14/2007]

Big Mike's appears to be going strong. According to the staff, the summer season was good. They have an astonishing array of decent and expensive minerals placed right along side the poorest rock chips and glass slag. The cement Mosasauraus makes it easy to find and the fossilized skull is in the main building up stairs in a clean, nicely lit case making it easy to see.

They only charge $1 to tour the Mystery House -- which is quite a bargain, because you would feel cheated if it cost any more. Built in 1970, the Mystery hHuse was originally the main attraction, reflected in the "crazy" out-of-square front windows. It's been Big Mike's Rock House since the mid '80s, they couldn't remember the year.

The Mystery house is mostly black light posters and some aliens hiding in fake foliage. The highlights are the classics -- chair on the wall, billiard balls uphill, leaning off a table. The Water Uphill was not working -- as the guide explained, "Someone knocked over the bucket of water." Why no one had managed to refill a five gallon bucket of water since went unsaid. Their optical illusion room worked very well, well-lit and clean. [James Hite, 09/17/2006]