I’ve been writing about Wolf’s Museum of Mystery for a few years now, chronicling my discovery of the place down in Saint Augustine, Florida, to its relocation to New York State, to the tragic loss of the site and much of the contents in a fire a coupla years back. I consider the owners, Wolf and Ali Mertz, friends, but in truth I don’t know them all that well. We’ve only met in person a few times, and most of our interaction has been online. Even so, I grieved hard over their loss. It broke my heart. And it does my heart good now to see the Museum of Mystery—wait, make that the Museum of Gods and Monsters—on its way back.
That’s it in the photograph accompanying this article. Looking pretty swanky, isn’t it? Located in another deconsecrated church (and more recently an antiques shop before Wolf and Ali purchased it) the structure is as beautiful on the inside as the outside, and the owners are in the process of rebuilding their stock of curiosities and treasures.
All self-respecting Monsterkidz will recognize the new title of the reborn attraction as an homage to THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and the line spoken by Dr. Septimus Pretorius: “To a new world of gods and monsters!” Yes, I’ll drink to that, Dr. Pretorius! A new world, indeed!
