Austin Sideshow and Curiosities

Museum of the Weird: Austin's Living Tribute to the Dime Museum

Austin, Texas, United States

By the Wicked Cool Places editors · Published Wed, Mar 18, 2026 · Updated Thu, Jul 23, 2026

Why it’s cool

This rare survivor of the dime-store museum era keeps P.T. Barnum’s spirit alive with a mix of taxidermy gaffs, historical oddities, and live sideshow acts.

Southwest Hidden Gem

Tucked behind the Lucky Lizard storefront on Austin's bustling th Street, this curated collection of oddities revives the nearly extinct tradition of the American dime museum. While most of these curiosity shops vanished by the mid-th century, this Texas outpost keeps the spirit of P.T.

Barnum alive, inviting visitors to distinguish between genuine biological anomalies and clever "humbugs."

Why It Stands Out

Founded by artist Steve Busti, the museum is a rare survivor of a genre that once defined American entertainment. The collection is anchored by classic "gaff" taxidermy, most notably the Feejee mermaid, a grotesque hybrid of monkey and fish parts.

Similar displays of taxidermy can be found at Woolly Mammoth Antiques and Oddities. Nearby, display cases hold shrunken heads, a two-headed chicken, and a "hand of glory," which is purportedly the preserved limb of a convicted criminal.

The experience deepens with a walk through a wax museum and an encounter with the "Minnesota Iceman," a frozen mystery that has fueled cryptozoological debates for decades. The visit concludes in a small theater, once a temporary residence for Johnny Depp, where a rotating cast of sideshow performers, such as the Black Scorpion or John T.

Rex, demonstrate feats of endurance and physical anomalies.

Before You Go

Admission is $, providing access to the main galleries, the special exhibits, and the live show. Because the performers rely on the generosity of the audience, it is customary to bring cash for tips.

The museum is located at the back of the Lucky Lizard shop, so look for the retail entrance to find the ticket counter.

Questions worth answering

Where do we find the entrance?

Head to 6th Street and look for the Lucky Lizard storefront. The ticket counter and museum access are tucked in the back of that retail shop.

Is there a specific mood here?

It feels like a hidden gem because it revives the nearly extinct American dime museum tradition. You'll spend your time deciding if the biological anomalies are real or just clever humbugs.

What should we expect to pay?

Entry costs $12 for the galleries and the live theater performance. You'll also want some cash on hand to tip the sideshow acts.

Who is responsible for this write-up?

This started with the Museum of the Weird as a source. We took our own editorial from there to highlight things like the Minnesota Iceman and the shrunken heads.

Visit Snapshot

Tickets are $. The experience includes oddity displays, a wax museum, and a live sideshow performance.

Note that performers work for tips, so consider bringing cash.

Location

Austin, Texas

Know before you go

Tickets are $

Editorial source

Museum of the Weird

The dime or dime store museum is by all accounts an endangered species. The first dime museum, "The American Museum," was opened in by none other than P.

T. Barnum himself.

It represented a departure from high-class art and science museums, catering to a poorer crowd and offering items of a much more dubious nature. Part of the appeal of the dime store museum lay in arguing about what was real and what was a "humbug," as P.

T. Barnum called a hoax or fake display.

Feejee mermaids (a type of fake or "gaff" taxidermy made from a monkey and a fish, sewn together to form an incredibly ugly "mermaid") mixed with real exotic animals, and scientific instruments sat next to a loom run by a dog. Unfortunately, Barnum's American Museum burned to the ground in .

Though many dime museums had disappeared by the s, dime museums such as New York City's Hubert's Museum would remain open until the late s. One of the best recreation dime museums, Baltimore's American Dime Museum, opened in only to shutter its doors in .

So though it may not look like much at first, "Austin's Museum of the Weird" is, in fact, a rare beast. Created by artist-entrepreneur Steve Busti, the museum lives in the back of his store, the "Lucky Lizard," and features many of the same types of curios you might have encountered in a turn-of-the-century dime museum, including a feejee mermaid.

Among the other items shown are a cyclops pig, a hand of glory (supposedly the dried and pickled hand of a man who has been hanged), a two-headed chicken, shrunken heads, and mummies. Followed by a tour of their very own Wax Museum, then you'll be ushered into a dark room and shown their special exhibit, "The Minnesota Iceman", a decades-old mystery.

Lastly, you'll be shown into a theater (where Johnny Depp once stayed) and given a live sideshow performance. A rotating cast means you'll see "The Black Scorpion" perform a traditional show, John T.

Rex hold a live wire in his bare hands, "The Amazing Face" hurt himself, and a three-legged dog. (Note, performers work for tips.) Though more expensive than a dime, the Museum of the Weird happily continues the tradition of the dime store museum.