City Lifestyle

Want to start a publication?

Learn More

Featured Article

Exploring The Oddities Museum

Looking for weird and different? The Oddities Museum has something for everyone.

Article by Courtesy of The Oddities Museum

Photography by Janet Howard

Originally published in Chamblee City Lifestyle

The only difference between The Oddities Museum and the museum's founder's childhood bedroom is that the space is larger and the treasures are grander. Jeremy Gibbs, founder of The Oddities Museum, explains that even as a young boy, he filled every square inch of his room with unique found objects. Now as an adult, the collection is splitting at the seams.

“It was only natural to open a museum,” he says. “I can’t recall the exact moment I formulated the plan, but I remember telling my wife, Kim, that I would never stop searching for weird and wonderful treasures. We should embrace the hobby and make it our lifestyle.”

And they did. Like a fractile, the collection grew. With Jeremy's vision coupled with Kim's shared ambition the path was made. Starting as a modest store, the space quickly tripled and became a prop house renting these rarities to films, and that made way for even more oddities. The store section relocated to Little Five Points in Atlanta and the Gibbs family hit the road as a traveling museum.

The traveling shows were very successful, giving Jeremy and Kim the reassurance they needed that others liked the rare and odd finds as well. Jeremy says that traveling and seeing the U.S. was fun, and building this masterpiece for Chamblee has been rewarding. But not without its challenges. The Covid-19 pandemic and the two-year film lull definitely slowed the momentum.

But after several months of re-designing the museum and relocating the store from Little Five Points, it became a marvelous maze of wonder with an attached art gallery. The museum officially opened April 20, 2024, and over the past year, it’s become a popular destination for all walks of life. From small children on field trips to tourist groups to punk rockers, doctors and even celebrities, the place is a draw. And it’s not just for the oddities enthusiast and collectors – it’s for everyone!

In The Oddities Museum you’re likely to see some things you’ve never seen before, maybe things you had no idea even existed. It’s recommended to enter with an open mind. This private museum has the largest collection of deformities on view - animals with two heads, cyclopia, dwarfism, along with other anomalies, and other fascinating taxidermy.

Museum patrons will witness a very dense collection of colorful art from around the world mixed with pop art, pop culture, and strange vintage and antique decor. A very popular section of the museum titled Weird Science holds a huge collection of antique and vintage medical items from every medical field.

On display are strange and barbaric tools used from the past. Moving along one will be amazed by a room full of circus artifacts, carnival, and clowns. In the darkest corner are displays of funerary items intertwined with Victorian décor such as caskets, coffins, skeletons and a real vampire lying next to a mermaid. This museum is whimsical and just a bit creepy.

Today this non-profit natural history museum depends on the general public’s interest to operate. Financials come from ticket sales of only $10 a person, memberships and donations. Also many of the operations are run by volunteers. The museum holds events paired frequently with charities or community outreach.

Watch this magic grow and be a part of something unique by following The Museum on social media or signing up for the newsletter on the website.

Jeremy says “The sky is the limit,“ and the goal is to grow. So much more to come. More space, more stuff, more events, a TV show and more surprises.

For more information, visit theodditiesmuseum.org.

"...I would never stop searching for weird and wonderful treasures." Jeremy Gibbs