Let’s Talk About Death The Hollywood Death Museum

Disclaimer: This article contains references to details of murder, suicides, and other graphic material that may upset some readers. No photos were taken inside the museum, as not only is photography prohibited, but to maintain respect for the deceased individuals who will be mentioned in the article. While no depiction of anything graphic will be shown, I will do a walk-through description of what was there for educational and documenting purposes. I will spare specific details if possible.  Reader discretion is advised. 

Several years before this story, I was browsing the internet when I came across a video about the Hollywood Death Museum. Many YouTubers have documented visiting the museum and mentioning the Heaven’s Gate bunk beds. 

The museum's founders are J.D. Healy and Catherine Shultz. They started writing letters to serial killers and received letters and art from them. The first building that housed their ghoulish collection was claimed to have been a mortuary long ago in San Diego. Around the late 90s, the landlord evicted them. I need to get specific information on why. 

The next location that would be home to their macabre collection is a former music studio, Westbeach Recorders, which was located at 6031 Hollywood Boulevard from 1999 to 2019. It was supposedly where Pink Floyd and other musicians recorded.  

In 2019, the Death Museum announced on Instagram that it was relocating to another location in Hollywood to expand the space for the gruesome exhibits. 

Fast-forward to 2024, when I was in Downtown LA with the Carpenters tour group. We were given a few hours of free time to do whatever we wanted. While my mom and sister opted for the wax museum, I went to the Death Museum, past the tourist traps and the guy trying to sell a TV from a shopping cart. 

Outside the Death Museum is a sign with the grim that reads “Museum of Death” and the slogan “Have a great life.”

Entering the museum is the gift shop and the counter where tickets are sold. There was a merch of the museum's logos and puns about death. More disturbing merch included John Wayne Gacey’s clown painting as pins and the Black Dahlia body part pins. I was reminded that no photos were allowed in the museum and was pointed to the curtains where to enter through. 

The next paragraphs recount my museum experience. I will summarize any individuals mentioned, but I will provide links to articles or YouTube videos if you want to learn more about the cases. 

Going through the curtains was a display case with articles talking about the OJ Simpson trial with a tag talking about his birthdate and death date( passing away recently.)

On the wall heading up the stairs were gruesome crime photos of the Black Dahlia case, where an aspiring actress named Elizabeth Short was found gruesomely dismembered with her face cut as a Glasgow Smile at a park in Hollywood. It remains one of Hollywood’s most prominent cold cases, as the suspect was never found. 

Climbing further up the stairs, where disturbing is an understatement, graphic crime scene photos were displayed. 

At the top of the stairs, there were adult and child-sized caskets around and more graphic crime scene photos. One of them showed possibly the killer posing with the corpse. 

The first room I entered had letters and art from serial killers such as John Wayne Gacy and Robert Rameriez the NightStalker. There was also Ed Gein-inspired art and memorabilia, such as action figures. I am unsurprised, as Ed Gein inspired movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho. There was also a self-portrait of John Wayne Gacey, a clown. 

The first room I went into showed mortician equipment and embalming. A video showing how an autopsy was done was playing. Additional photos demonstrated this as well.  Eye caps were displayed to help hide decomposition and prevent the eyes from opening. There was also an embalming creation(I have one for ghostbooks at home). There was a display room with a mortician table and scale. On the wall next to the display are post-mortem photos from the Victorian era. It was common back then as medicine was not further developed yet and mortality rate was high. In some cases, this was the individual's only photo. 

The next room covered Charles Manson and the Manson family with memorabilia and newspaper clippings. While I’m sure many of you might be familiar with this case, I will briefly describe the context. Charles Manson was the leader of a cult called the Manson Family, which consisted of teens and young adults. Manson preached radical ideas and wanted to start a race war. He sent his followers on a killing spree called Helter Skelter, where members would go on to kill nine people, including actress Sharon Tate, who was 8 ½ months pregnant. 

On top of the display case, a menacing Charles Manson mannequin in a prison jumpsuit sat peering down at me. There were also crime scene photos of several people who were found killed, including Sharron Tate and courtroom sketches of Manson. Video of the new reports played about the Manson Family murders.

Outside the room was a display case with an electric chair (not sure if it’s real or a replica); however, a framed shirt was there). It was worn by an inmate who got electrocuted with stains still present. Next to it in a climate temperature case on a rotation table was the mummified head of French serial killer Henri Landru, who was dubbed Bluebeard. Landru was a con man who would play on the heartstrings of women to get close to their assets. When the time was right, he would murder them. He had 11 known victims when he was caught, but there were possibly more. As the French did not take too kindly to serial killers, he was sentenced to the guillotine in 1922 for his heinous crimes. He would serve as an inspiration for Charlie Chaplin’s character, Monsieur Verdoux. 

In the center of the room was a wall set up of members and leaders of the Nazi party and Axis members getting executed for their war crimes. Many of them were hanged, as depicted in the photos. 

On the other side of the wall was information about an infamous cannibal known more on the west side of the United States, Alfred Packard. Alfred Packard was notorious for a murder case where while acting as a wilderness guide to 5 men whom he would confess to cannibalizing while traveling to the Colorado Territory and getting everyone lost. Alfred got off on a technicality as, at the time of the murders, Colorado was not officially a state yet. 

There was also a movie poster for the dark comedy musical Cannibal the Musical, directed by Trey Parker, a college student at the time and future co-creator of the TV show South Park. I have seen this movie, and I highly recommend it. One museum staff I talked to alleged that one of the actors supposedly visited the Death Museum. 

Across from it was a window to a room showing a white metal framed bunk bed with two mannequins wearing black clothes with a patch that said Heaven’s Gate Away Team and Nike Sneakers with heads covered by a purple shroud. On the walls around the bunk bed and outside around the window are newspaper articles talking about the infamous UFO cult Heaven’s Gate. In the late ’90s, the cult, with their leader Marshall Applewhite, committed mass suicide when the Hale Bob comet came by Earth. Applewhite took it as a sign it was a vehicle that he and the members should leave their current cars, a.k.a their bodies. The bunk beds displayed are one of the many bunk beds that members took their lives on. A documentary on Max (formally HBO Max) covers it.

In the late 90s, the owners tried to obtain stuff from the police, but they were able to get some stuff beforehand. They bought as much stuff as possible to recreate the crime scene, which drew interest when the public learned of their intentions. Next to the window, an eerie video of Marshall talking about leaving Earth is played. There was also another infamous cult leader, Jim Jones and the JonesTown Massacre, with pamphlets and newspaper clippings. 

In the room next to the display room was a taxidermy with a boar in the center. Several taxidermies surrounded the room. Outside that room was a case with a collection of shrunken heads. 

Near the wall going down the stairs were more gruesome pictures, some of those containing hangings and a person who jumped off buildings. Downstairs, there was stuff from Native Americans depicting them scalping people and even a framed lock of scalped hair. 

There was more taxidermy but of beloved pets in a display case across from the dark past of the Wild West. The motion-censored light abruptly came on, showing the deceased pets, many of whom had photos of when they were alive. The light added more to the creep factor. 

A wall had a collection of real human skulls. According to a museum employee, the skulls were obtained through auctions, donations, or trades with other museums. 

Next to the case, the hallway leads to a room called Death Theatre. You guessed it: It shows gruesome crime clips in a theater setup. The room walls also display some additional horrors. 

The whole experience was a lot to take and I emphasize ALOT. I pondered on the value of the information and what was informative or too far. Morally ambiguous might also sound like a stretch with some of the displays. There is one instance where I see the funeral room as educational as it shows how a corpse is prepared for a funeral to the gift shop selling pins of a dismembered Elizabeth Short. There is also a yearly Black Dahlia look-alike contest with two categories being alive and post-mortem cause that’s a thing. I could seriously make a list all day of what could be educational, gray areas, or see it as complete glorification in that museum, though I will spare you from that. While many visitors find the museum interesting, some people on Google reviews express disgust at the museum's ghastly collection and see it as disrespectful to the victims in the museum. 

According to the museum staff, about 1-2 people faint weekly at the gruesome site of the gory crime scene photos. One of the fans sold in the gift shop jokes about fainting, though it is about heat. However, that might add more layers to it either way.

They also have another location in New Orleans, Louisiana, called “Musee de Mort Orleans.” They supposedly have one of Jack Kavorichans' machines that the owners purchased in 2014. I will just leave a link if you want to learn more about him, as I probably already talked enough about gruesome and other depressing details, but basically, his whole campaign was the right to die. 

When looking online, people debated whether $20 was too much for admission. I did not have an issue with the price, considering there were cheesier tourist traps around that were worth more. If you can stomach gore and taboo topics, it’s worth the trip, but if blood is not your friend and you are willing to pay a few more dollars, then there is the Hollywood Wax Museum on Hollywood Blvd.

Also, I think it’s important to remember that many people in the museum were once living people who faced miserable circumstances. Some are only remembered for how they died and what they did in life or aspired to do. For example, Elizabeth Short wanted to be an actress and was working jobs around Hollywood till she could make it big. Sharon Tate was in sixteen movies and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in Valley of the Dolls. The people in Heaven’s Gate cult were emotionally vulnerable, which made it easier for them to be persuaded by a cult leader who personally was grasping at straws trying to make sense of the world. This would be another way to come to terms with death, remembering them as individuals.

Links:

Hollywood Death Museum: https://www.museumofdeath.net/museum-of-death-history

Elizabeth Short- https://www.novelsuspects.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-black-dahlia/

John Wayne Gacey- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbO7Yo2oHZM 

Richard Ramerize- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byJ6JqL3B-Q

Henri Landru Blue Beard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xMM8_L47Qk

Alfred Packer- https://www.coloradolifemagazine.com/blog/post/the-mystery-of-alfred-packer 

Jim Jones (Jonestown Massacre)-https://