Tom Devlin’s Monster Museum

Entering Tom Devlin’s Monster Museum is like walking into a who’s who of horror films. Life-sized recreations of It’s Pennywise, and Halloween’s Michael Myers share space with the Creature from the Black Lagoon, while a series of creepy anthropomorphic puppets from the Puppet Master film series co-exist beside a smorgasbord of other screen-used characters. 

Devlin is a professional special effects artist who has contributed to more than 100 scary movies and TV shows, from Leprechaun to The X-Files, in a career that has spanned over two decades.He opened the museum in 2017 as a way to display his own personal collection and make it accessible to the public, while preserving the art and history of special effects makeup.

Despite its penchant for the macabre, the museum isn’t the type of place where things will jump out at you. Instead, it’s brimming with information and displays devoted to people like revolutionary practical effects artist John Chambers, who created the prosthetics for the original Planet of the Apes, and Ash, the protagonist from Evil Dead. There are dozens of custom-made pieces throughout the space, as well as a “Cinema Sideshow” where you’ll find screen-used makeup and memorabilia. 

The bulk of items on display are Devlin’s own one-of-a-kind recreations of classic characters, such as Lon Chaney Jr.’s Wolf Man and Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street, that represent monsters throughout TV and movie history. However, there are also some authentic film creatures that Devlin has acquired, including the Spider Gremlin, made by legendary makeup effects artists Rick Baker and his team, from Gremlins 2: The New Batch.

The museum also features an onsite shop stocked with costumes, TV and movie collectibles, and a line of Devlin-created one-of-a-kind Halloween masks for purchase.