St. Augustine, Florida: Wolf's Museum of Mystery (Gone)

Oddity and curios shop featuring the collection of Wolfgang Von Mertz. Exhibits on carnivals, haunted houses, Lizzie Borden boudoir, slaughterhouse kitchen, Exorcist bathroom.

I was looking forward to checking out this quirky Roadside Attraction on my visit to St. A; to my great disappointment I found the establishment to be shut down with a note from the owner posted on the front door stating it had been "moved to NY" with no further opening date or specific location given.

This place is no joke. We were not expecting it to be quite as dark as it was. After about an hour, we felt such an oppressive feeling we had to leave. If you're looking for cheesy kitsch, there is a little of that here. But mostly it's sincerely dark and sinister displays. When we emerged among the Christmas lights and carol-singing trolley riders of St. Augustine we felt like the whole world was a lie. It took a while of meandering the fudge shops and a few beers to shake off the heeby-jeebies.

The "Exorcist Bathroom" is now the "Countess Bathory Bathroom" -- see what they did there? -- and is noted as being for mature audiences only. It's a wonderful new addition to this amazing mecca of strangeness!

I visited with a guest from Maryland (my home state), and we felt that this was the closest approximation to the late, great, American Dime Museum in the the labor-of-love weirdness mecca sweepstakes! We'd already decided on visiting Wolf's when planning the trip, not knowing entirely what to expect. What we got was nothing short of amazing. The Voodoo Room, the Alien Room, the live-in cat and rabbit that we got to pet (the husky was asleep, and you know the old saying), the horror-themed rooms... I'll be going back soon, and any visitor to St. Augustine with a taste for the weird should visit as well!