Sometimes you just want to get into your car and drive. Go somewhere different.  Take an unfamiliar path and go exploring.  This was what I was thinking when I decided to pop in on The Louisville Stigmatorium and Oddities.

 

It wasn't in a part of town I was really familiar with and that actually made it more exciting to find.  This is the exactly the type of business you would expect to find on Bardstown Road, but minus the traffic and pretentiousness.

 

In fact, I had a hard time even finding the Stigmatorium at first!

 

​It was stuck in what appeared to be an alley in an industrial zone of South West Louisville.  The block came complete with a demolished building, a warehouse and now the Stigmatorium with it's entrance created by a skull sign, a boat and a staircase made of telephone poles.  This would be interesting. We were far away from Bardstown Road now, this was real urban exploring.

 

"People always say Keep Louisville Weird'" says owner Andy Harpole "but where is the weird here?  I couldn't find any so I had to make it myself." 

 

The Louisville Stigamatorium has been open about six months.   The result of two personal collections which just sort of blended together after an Ebay transaction.

 

"I sold him a coffin and a skull and we have been in contact ever since." said Johnny Walker, his partner in the shop.

 

The Louisville Stigmatorium is stacked with some unusual and creepy items.  Flesh eating beetles, skulls, bones, funeral supplies, medical tools, mummified pigs, vintage toys, old pictures and masks decorate the shelves.

 

While the Stigmatorium itself only currently fills one medium sized room, the eventual plan is to make many different spaces or themed rooms connected by hidden doors as the inventory expands.   Andy is an expert on medical devices used in surgical procedures, and eventually sees one space being dedicated soley to them.

 

"My attraction to the old medical equipment is seeing the torturous learning curve of western medicine, some of the stuff they used to do was nuts."

 

He points to a trepanning device (like an auger with a rotary saw and a middle spike to keep it in place).  He says you can tell the age of the device by it's construction materials.  

 

One look into a glass case at the Louisville Stigmatorium and you'll be convinced that Andy definitely has the pulse of Weird Louisville.  One case featuring two skulls and some rather unsafe looking medical equipment, such as a bone saw and embalming tools.  I thought about making a joke about U-Need-a Medical Supply, but didn't want to push my luck.

 

Beyond the items on display, The Louisville Stigmatorium also has regular movie nights throughout the month and the occasional live music act.

 

The Louisville Stigamatorium

1722 Maple Street

Louisville, Kentucky

 

Check out their facebook Page for available hours

as these tend to change weekly.