Bend, OR

Never having been to a waxworks museum but always wanting to go I decided it was time to wander amongst the dead, regaled in the historical form and see how they spoke to me. Recreated in waxy life forms and reminiscent of the past were several very lifelike characters, some I knew and some I was being introduced to. Of course the ever famous Dracula was the first one to see. There were displays that reminded me of the prohibition, back alley bar fights amongst gangsters. Maybe these folks should have paid their dues in the business.

The myriad of things and people who popped out of the walls, the talking illusory heads, one of them of Phinneas tripped me out. The disembodied heads were unique and I was unable to photograph them yet they looked so real. One of the other optical illusions reminded me of the Star Trek beaming portal that Omsi held so long ago. I looked through a window, over the back of the head of this older guy watching tv, only to see that it was me he was watching on tv. I love this illusion and what a cheap way to get my 15 minutes of fame. I found myself being silly and acting as if it were live and not a Memorex recreation.

All the wax figures were amazing in detail. I found myself looking at the undersides of hands and other places that you wouldn’t see and the lifelike of wrinkles, fingernails & palms were uncanny. I found myself talking to these figures, so human like were they that I wondered when they were going to come to life, as they do in the Wax Works movie.

The walk through the museum was great. There is so much more to see than what I have written here. You’ll experience moments of laughter, moments of almost disgust when looking upon the grotesque, you’ll jump at the unexpected surprises which I have purposely withheld so as not to spoil the surprises when you go visit the Wax Works Musuem located in Newport’s Old Bay Front. When you go next door to Ripley’s (Believe it or Not) Museum you’ll experience a form of synergy with the way these two museums tie themselves together.

The museums are fully accessible to kids and those with any form of a disability.

Newport is almost 4 hours from Central Oregon, meaning Bend-LaPine area and I am including the map quest link for directions. There are numerous signs, once in Newport, as to how to get to the bay front.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/La+Pine+OR/Newport+OR/