These Weird Museums Prove the Strangest Stops Can Be the Best
Not every great museum is grand or traditional in style. Some of the most memorable ones are located within small towns and devoted to the strangest subjects imaginable. These museums prove that the oddest ideas can make the most fascinating stops.
Leila’s Hair Museum – Missouri
Credit: Tripadvisor
Inside a modest brick building in Independence is a museum dedicated entirely to human hair art. Leila’s Hair Museum houses over 2,000 pieces of Victorian-era jewelry and wreaths made from real hair. The founder, a retired cosmetology instructor, began collecting in the 1950s and now runs the only museum of its kind in the world.
Sulabh International Museum of Toilets – India
Credit: Tripadvisor
Toilets don’t often get credit for changing human civilization, but this museum makes a compelling case for their significance. Sulabh’s collection explores 4,500 years of toilet history, including ornate 18th-century French commodes and early flushing systems. It also highlights global disparities in access to hygiene and the real-world health implications of inadequate sanitation.
Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum – Japan
Credit: Tripadvisor
This museum in Osaka is dedicated to the inventor of instant noodles and offers an in-depth insight into the history of Cup Noodles. Exhibits include a replica of Ando’s backyard shed, where he created the first batch, and a wall of international ramen packaging. Guests can even design their own custom cup.
Kansas Barbed Wire Museum – Kansas
Credit: Tripadvisor
With over 2,000 wire varieties on display, this exhibit showcases how fencing technology influenced land use, cattle ranching, and conflict during the westward expansion. Visitors can examine the subtle differences between designs and discover how something so simple has had such a profound impact on American life.
Meguro Parasitological Museum – Tokyo
Credit: Tripadvisor
This research-focused museum features approximately 45,000 parasite specimens, with around 300 on display. Its most famous exhibit is a 30-foot-long tapeworm, stretched out behind glass for visitors to study up close. Displays explain the life cycles of parasites, their medical effects, and the ongoing research behind their preservation.
The Museum of Broken Relationships – Croatia
Credit: Tripadvisor
The Zagreb museum’s collection features donated mementos from past relationships—notes, clothing, and unusual personal objects, each with a brief backstory. It draws thousands of visitors who connect over love lost and lessons learned. The stories are anonymous, but universally familiar.
The National Mustard Museum – Wisconsin
Credit: Tripadvisor
This museum in Middleton features over 6,000 mustard jars from more than 70 countries. Founder Barry Levenson began collecting in the 1980s after a visit to a grocery store helped him cope with grief. It’s free to visit, but most people walk out with at least one spicy souvenir.
Plastinarium – Germany
Credit: Tripadvisor
The Plastinarium in Guben is both a museum and a laboratory, where visitors observe technicians preparing real human bodies using plastination, a preservation process that replaces fat and fluids with silicone. Gunther von Hagens, the inventor of plastination, started it, and the spot showcases bodies posed mid-exercise and organs cross-sectioned for study.
Spam Museum – Minnesota
Credit: Instagram
Hormel’s tribute to canned meat history is surprisingly comprehensive. Located in Austin, Minnesota, the Spam Museum explains the product’s role during WWII and its pop culture moments. Visitors can explore and walk through a tunnel of cans and try their hand at canning simulations.
Museum of Bread Culture – Germany
Credit: Tripadvisor
The Museum of Bread Culture traces 6,000 years of bread-making through tools and global history. Exhibits explore famine, farming, religious symbolism, and the economics of grain. Despite the name, no actual bread is served.