Patee House Museum (St. Joseph, Missouri)
The Patee House served as the headquarters of the Pony Express from 1860-1861, but the really interesting stuff in this museum is related to the horrid crimes committed by the people of the area. Like a hammer and an electric drill used by a preacher’s son to beat a janitor to death, then drill holes in his body. The hair and blood is still visible on it. Or an axe that a housewife used to kill her husband, and a lynching rope that was used to hang a black man accused of raping a white girl. Or old horse-drawn hearses and an exhibit on Robert Ladlow, the world’s tallest man. In other words, there’s a cornucopia of morbid minutiae on display here. You can read all the best details at Roadside America. (Thanks to Bruce T. for the suggestion.)