House of Frankenstein Wax Museum

Lake George, New York

Some say that merely living in New York is torture; the House of Frankenstein Wax Museum proves it.

Prerecorded screams fill your ears here as dummies are flayed alive, garroted, and boiled in oil. A skull sticks out of a pile of sand; "Ant Torture -- a thousand deaths before the end," reads the sign. A woman screams as an ax cleaves into her face. "The Hatchet Man -- another innocent victim is murdered," reads this one. We won't even begin to describe what's happening to the poor devils in "The Amazing Room of Rats."

Other favorites among the 52 (count 'em) exhibits: an electrocution where you get to throw the switch; "Megalopolis, Man of the Future," who looks like The Colossus of New York with flashing red eyes; a black light room called "Strange Planet" where you walk across wrestling mats while early Pink Floyd echoes around you; and finally "Your Host," a strange, deformed figure that babbles Ed Woodesque dialogue. "The fall and fabric of your existence is but a trickle in the Sands of Time!" Whew.