10 great places to get grossed out
At Halloween, when mummies, skeletons and zombies can be found wandering the streets, it's important to remember that gross can be beautiful, says author Richard Faulk. "Gross is part of being alive. Human bodies are gross," says the author of Gross America: Your Coast to Coast Guide to All Things Gross (Penguin). Faulk says gross attractions offer a contrast to vacation spots that stress beauty. "It's a nice palate cleanser." He shares some favorite icky places with Larry Bleiberg for USA TODAY.
Tarantula Trek
Mount Diablo State Park, Calif.
If you have even the slightest case of arachnophobia, steer clear of this park in the fall, when, in a mating-season frenzy, hundreds of male tarantulas crawl the hillsides searching for female spiders. The weekend treks in September and October are popular. "It's always booked up solid. I've been trying to go for three years," Faulk says. 925-837-2525; mdia.org
The Gum Wall
Seattle
It's hard to get ickier than used gum, yet Seattleites celebrate their castoff chews on a brick wall near the city's famous Pike Place Market. Legend has it that the first contributions came from patrons waiting to enter a nearby comedy club. Now the wall
is a multicolored monument to mastication. "It's oddly beautiful and totally disgusting," Faulk says. 866-732-2695; visitseattle.org
Alferd Packer Grill
Boulder, Colo.
Leave it to college students to name a university diner for convicted cannibal Alferd Packer, who in 1874 ate companions caught in a Colorado winter storm. When Packer was released from prison, he allegedly gave up eating meat. In 1968, University of Colorado students decided to honor the criminal. "It's doubly ironic that a place that serves burgers and
tacos would be named for a cannibal turned vegetarian," Faulk says. umc.colorado.edu/dining/aprg
National Museum of Health and Medicine
Silver Spring, Md.
This collection started during the Civil War as the Army Medical Museum and has been making visitors gag ever since. "If you want to get really gross, they've got it," Faulk says. Highlights, if you will, include syphilitic brains, baby skeletons, diseased organs in jars and a giant hairball removed from the stomach of a 12-year-old girl. 301-319-3300; www.medicalmuseum.mil
Museum of Osteology
Oklahoma City
This new museum on skeletons ups the creepy factor with 300 specimens on display, from a tiny shrew to a
40-foot humpback whale. "My rule of thumb is that if anything on the inside is suddenly on the outside, it's gross," Faulk says. The museum is next door to Skulls Unlimited International, where the museum founder transforms carcasses into skeletons sold for educational purposes. 405-814-0006; museumofosteology.org
The Paisley Caves
Lake County, Ore.
The fossilized human poop found in an Oregon cave is one of the oldest signs of habitation on the continent. While the cave is still being excavated and can't be visited, nearby Fort Rock State Natural Area has other signs of early human habitation but, alas, is poop-free. 800-551-6949; oregonstateparks.org/park_40.php
Wilder Brain Collection
Ithaca, N.Y.
More than a century ago, top scientists thought they could determine personality by studying brains. That theory was ultimately discredited, but not until after Burt Green Wilder, founder of the anatomy department at Cornell University, had acquired about 600 brains. Now eight — including Wilder's — are displayed outside the university's psychology department. 607-254-4636; cornell.edu
National Museum of Funeral History
Houston
There's nothing silly or sacrilegious about this site describing how humans bury their dead. Still, a few exhibits, such as ones featuring colorful caskets from Ghana and Day of the Dead displays from Mexico, are kind of festive. But the embalming exhibit can get graphic. "You can't talk about embalming without getting gross," Faulk says. 281-876-3063; nmfh.org
Spam Museum
Austin, Minn.
Poor Spam. While the processed meat product has its fans, it's also an object of ridicule. "You don't know what you're eating. It's some crazy chopped thing. And there's that gelatin that's packed with it. It's super off-putting," Faulk says. Spam's maker, Hormel Foods, seems to be laughing along with us in this kitschy museum and extensive gift shop. 800-523-4635;spam.com/spam-101/the-spam-museum
Worm Gruntin' Festival
Sopchoppy, Fla.
Worm grunters attract their prey by scraping a metal file across a wooden stake hammered into the ground. And every April, the nation's best worm hunters descend on this rural community to prove their skill. "They aren't just little garden-variety
earthworms, they are the big, fat half-an-inch-wide ones," Faulk says. wormgruntinfestival.com