International Monster Museum - Salem MA

Last month, Mrs Dex and I took advantage of the Labor Day holiday (which happened to be our wedding anniversary) to walk around Salem before things started to get in the full swing of the season. We decided to visit the newly opened International Monster Museum. Life Pro Tip: If you meet someone that would go to a Monster Museum on your anniversary, marry that person!

 

 The snazzy logo for the museum was designed by Chad Savage of Sinister Visions. Chances are if you're reading a blog counting down the days to Halloween, you probably know his work!

This is a self guided walk-thru tour of monsters from around the world. After paying your admission fee, you're given an electric lantern to light your way. So turn your lantern on, and we'll be on our way! 

 

All these photos were taken with my iPhone 12. Prior to this tour, I hadn't really experimented with the night mode shooting. As you might presume, monsters like dim lighting so I really got to flex the night mode and am very impressed with how well the photos came out!

Each monster exhibit has a sign next to let you know which beastie you're looking at and give you a little information on them. This is where the lantern comes in handy as I don't know if I'd be able to read some of the signs without the extra light.

Unfortunately, some of the signs have typos or poor use of the English language like this Chupacabra that "is a legendary creature in the folklore of parts of the America". That's really my only complaint with the museum overall. 

The lighting is really well done and helps set an appropriately creepy atmosphere.

 As part of some exhibits, you might find a shadowbox with related items. Like this one with a possession potion, witch's book of spells, and an achromatic lens. Yeah, I thought it was some kind of weird dagger at first too.

The best feature of the museum (spoiler alert) is that some of the exhibits have motion sensors that bring them to life! It's kind of fun after you encounter the first one which lets you know that any of them could animate. It makes you a little cautious entering new areas. It's not so much that they're scary but the startle factor coupled with the loud pneumatics can give you a jolt!

I have to think someone is having a sly laugh with this part of the zombie exhibit. I mean, that has to be Rob Zombie, right? I kept my eye on him because it looked pretty real. I bet during Halloween season, the museum will have live actors hiding around the exhibits for extra scares.

The Mothman was one of my favorites just because it's so large.

There's a science gone wrong section which has this Demogorgon that appears to be legally distinct from any other Demogorgons you may be familiar with.

There's also this Dr. Frankenstein that kinda sorta looks like Peter Cushing.

Has this post been going on too long? I won't keep you but I do have lots more photos that you can view on Flickr.

Click below to hit the Countdown site with a list of all the participants this year!