About the Museum

Museum of Death is a museum with locations on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. It was established in June 1995 by J. D. Healy and Catherine Shultz with the museum's stated goal being "to make people happy to be alive." Originally founded in San Diego, the museum began as a hobby of Healy and Shultz in a building claimed to be the city's first mortuary. They would write to serial killers they were interested in, and then show off the artwork their pen pals had created once a year at a specialist show. In 1995, after a few years of exhibitions, the collection, and many other materials, were made into a museum. In mid 1999, the couple attempted to acquire a large amount of materials from the Heaven's Gate cult suicides. Although they had been able to purchase many items prior to the main police auction, their interest in buying enough merchandise to recreate the scene in its entirety, led to enormous press interest and publicity. They were subsequently evicted by their landlord, and moved to Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Prior to the new Los Angeles building becoming a museum, the building was the home of Westbeach Recorders, and prior to that, Producers Studio, where Pink Floyd and others recorded. The walls include deadening agents to help with recordings, which now serve to lend a quiet acoustic setting for the various exhibitions.