The Skeleton Key Odditorium – Portland, Oregon - Atlas Obscura

The Skeleton Key Odditorium

This museum and curiosity shop provides a glimpse into an often-overlooked past to show guests that there is beauty and wonder in the macabre. 

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The Skeleton Key Odditorium is a unique and one-of-a-kind treasure, found in the heart of the arts district in downtown Portland, Oregon. Both a museum and a curiosity shop, the Skeleton Key is filled with carefully sourced and mesmerizing trinkets, and pieces of history long forgotten to time, as well as countless curated pieces from local artists and creators. 

As you enter the museum space, you are immediately transported into a world of the macabre, where you’ll experience an immersive self-guided tour. There is an entire dungeon dedicated to vampires, a touching showcase of Victorian mourning practices, highlights on local Pacific Northwest macabre history, scary clowns, and much more.

The Skeleton Key Odditorium provides visitors with a personalized look into a world of the strange and unusual, things often overlooked, purposely ignored, and frequently misunderstood. Here, those artifacts are dusted off and have life breathed back into them. Visitors can expect an exceptional experience that will show guests that there is beauty and wonder in the macabre, the strange, and the unusual.

Know Before You Go

Tickets for the museum are sold in person only.


The shop gets pretty full at mid-day on weekend afternoons. To avoid any potential wait in entering the museum try to visit outside of that time.


Children can request EMF readers so they can go ghost hunting as they tour the space.

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June 5, 2024

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