Entry No. 13 — the Seattle file — filed under: oddities

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

Founded in 1899 and run by the same family for five generations, this is the oldest surviving oddities museum-store in America. Sylvester, an Arizona-desert mummy whose body scans revealed traces of arsenic embalming, lies in a glass case near a second mummy nicknamed Sylvia, and the shop claims more genuine shrunken heads on display than anywhere outside Ecuador. Deformed-animal taxidermy (a two-headed lamb, an eight-legged pig) and curio-cabinet weirdness fill every wall between the souvenir racks.

The move: Pay your respects to Sylvester the mummy, then split a paper boat of fish and chips from the pier next door.

• 📍 Downtown Waterfront, Seattle
• 💸 $$
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Indoors

Where: 1001 Alaskan Way, Pier 54, Seattle, WA 98104

Hours: Added 2026-06-24 — confirm current hours before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4

last checked: 2026-06-24