Photo by Jennifer Curington

Museum of the Weird can be found downtown on East Sixth Street.

Real or fake? Shop owner has visitors decide

Museum of the Weird, located in the back of Lucky Lizard Curios and Gifts, opened in 2004 and continues to challenge visitors visually and mentally.

"If you come into the Museum of the Weird as a skeptic and you dismiss everything in front of you you're probably going to leave thinking everything in there is fake, which is totally not true," owner Steve Busti said. "I spend a lot of time and a lot of money tracking down these exhibits."

A mummy, shrunken heads, two-headed animals and other exhibits can be found after paying entry to the museum.

"The vast majority of these exhibits are real. That being said, we do like to throw in a few [manmade creations] because I want people to come in and wonder what it is they're looking at," Busti said.

Because Austin lacked sideshows museums, Busti said he decided to open a family-friendly one himself.

"We live in an age where there's no mystery anymore—you just pull out your phone and use Google," General Manager Danielle Wilson said. "It's kind of nice to have a place where you go in, you see stuff you don't know—is it real? Is it not? We like to leave some mystery in a world where it's not very prevalent."

Trinkets and other tourist gifts are also available for sale.

Museum of the Weird, 412 E. Sixth St., 512-476-5493, www.museumoftheweird.com