With Fall comes cooler weather, colored leaves on the ground, and your favorite Fall-themed beverages. It also comes with horror movies, haunted houses, Halloween costumes and candy. Just in time for this time of year comes the Michigan Museum of Horror.
Located at 44 S. Monroe Street in Monroe, Michigan is the latest endeavor by horror enthusiast, Nate Thompson. The Michigan Museum of Horror is a truly terrifying museum, showcasing only the spookiest collections from around the world including REAL Skulls and Skeletons, Witches, Dolls, Wet Specimens, Funeral Items, and more. The expected opening will occur during the second or third week of October.
Filmmaker Nate Thompson’s love of horror began at a young age when after his uncle passed away, Thompson inherited a number of things from him including old VHS tapes of horror movies. Some of these movies include “Return of the Living Dead” (Dan O’Bannon, 1985), “Halloween” (John Carpenter, 1978), and “Creep Show” (George A. Romero, 1982). He also cites more family-friendly movies such as “Hocus Pocus” (Kenny Ortega, 1993) as a notable movie for the genre.
Over time, Thompson got into filmmaking with features including “The Dead Record”, “Cult Affairs” and “The Cult Leader” and establishing the haunted attraction “HorrorTown” in Irish Hills, Michigan. According to him, there’s a great community in Toledo of horror lovers that derive from our local wrestling and music communities. With those groups, you tend to get a lot of people who are also passionate about horror.
The Michigan Museum of Horror, according to Thompson, is really a passion project he wanted to do for the community. “I’ve always wanted horror-related retail spot, but to give something cool to people that they couldn’t get elsewhere.
I eventually landed a location that could hold a retail setup, but it came with an extra room that was about 1,500 square feet. After thinking about what to do with it, I decided it would be a great place and opportunity to house a horror museum of sorts”, says Thompson.
Nate Thompson, curator of the Michigan Museum of Horror. Once Thompson decided on what to do with the space, the vision for the museum really started coming together. Thompson says “it’s branded as a horror museum, but it’s also like an anatomy showcase featuring real skulls and real bones that you would find at a university where people donate bodies to science.
The featured items are authentic, but I wanted it to be a more casual atmosphere for the public while also having a space dedicated to video games and having metal music playing in the background. The exhibits will be tasteful and I wanted to do it in a way to be respectful to others”.
According to Thompson, he wants to make this exhibit feel like you’re watching the scariest movie of all time at 3am in the dark while maintaining a safe environment for visitors. He wants people to let go of their imaginations and realize what they’re surrounded by is real. All of the items in the museum are backed by certificates of authenticity and have a tracking history for where they came from.
Most of the medical specimens (bones, skulls, brains, etc.) come from retired medical practitioners. Examples of witchcraft that’ll be showcased will include items like voodoo dolls, broomsticks, and other artifacts touching upon fictional and factual examples of witchcraft.
The Michigan Museum of Horror, “where all souls are welcome”.
For more information on The Michigan Museum of Horror and Nate Thompson’s other endeavors, visit https://www.natethompsonvideo.com/
