Let me begin this blog post by saying that I’ve never been more impressed or surprised by a museum here in Houston.
What you are about to see is pretty amazing, if you ask me.
When I began this quest to visit the most interesting museums in Houston, I had no idea about this museum. I found it listed in the Things To Do in Houston list, but it was way in the back pages and you had to go looking through everything to see it.
It’s not in town, but out near the Intercontinental Airport, a bit of a drive… but well worth it.
The first thing that I noticed when I entered was this Presidential Hearse. I knew then that there was going to be some pretty cool things to see here.
These photos must be from the funerals of Reagan and Ford.
They had the uniform of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
And they had other uniforms on display as well.
There was one section dedicated to Abe Lincoln.
Here’s a mannequin that looks like Abe in a casket.
This was pretty eerie. Notice the flowers are in the shape of AL for Abraham Lincoln.
There was a display behind glass of Abe’s funeral.
Very detailed and very awesome to see.
Next, I saw the boots of the calvary that ride in the funeral procession of a President.
There were old newspapers.
They especially had ones for JFK.
Here’s little John John saluting his dead father’s casket.
They had a replica of JFK’s casket.
This was a good display.
They even had a replica of the Eternal Flame that is for JFK.
They also had a replica casket for Reagan.
In the big room, there were several hearses.
I had never seen a casket for a man, woman and child. Kinda sad actually.
I thought this casket looked pretty cool.
They had a display of a casket maker.
Here’s another older method of bringing the casket to the graveyard.
There were lots of hearses on display.
I never thought I’d see a hearse on sleds.
This one was probably the best looking one. It’s small, so probably for a child.
Here’s another ornate one.
Here’s some more.
This was a long line of hearses.
Now, here’s what the back of those hearses looked like.
Probably the coolest area that they had was the ‘Thanks for the Memories’ section.
To the left of the entrance was this Wizard of Oz display.
Very funny.
They, of course, had the King of Rock and Roll.
Nearby was the King of Pop.
And next to Michael was his favorite lady, Liz Taylor. She’s one of my favorites too.
They had Shirley Temple Black.
Lucille Ball.
And for the NASCAR fans, Dale Earnhardt. The famous number 3.
Sally Ride.
Neil Armstrong.
The astronauts from the space shuttle tragedies.
This wall had those that were ‘Gone too Soon’.
In the center, it had those that had all died at 27 years of age. Very interesting to see.
Some Star Trek fans would like to see their show represented.
Walt Disney was in this area.
They even had Snow White’s glass casket.
Very cool.
Sadly, Paul Walker was also in this area.
They had people from the Wild, Wild West.
Most would probably only know John Wayne though.
They also had old newspapers in this area.
Some will remember the TV series Bonanza.
Here’s the main characters.
They had other famous people on banners near the top of the room.
There were cases with memorabilia also.
And good old Bob Hope. As a kid, I loved his movies. Always funny.
I didn’t know he lived 100 years.
Right outside this area, they had shoes that Robin Williams had worn in the movie RV.
They also had the hearse for Grace Kelly.
And here it is.
Here are some more hearses.
I think this was for 9-11.
This display definitely was for 9-11.
They had a wall dedicated to the Vietnam Wall.
Regrettably, we will all end up in one of these.
This is what our final resting place will look like.
Here’s what the big room looked like.
On my way out, I noticed this display for George Washington by the Presidential hearse. I almost missed it.
They have his bill for his funeral and the Eulogy on display.
As I was leaving, I stopped by the gift shop.
They had some really neat items for sale.
Lots of ‘Day of the Dead’ stuff.
There was even Egyptian things for sale.
They had more stuff on the other wall.
And a collection of some very interesting books.
This should be the end of this post, but it’s not.
As I was leaving, I grabbed a brochure and noticed the Pope Mobile. I returned and asked it they had the Pope Mobile on display.
They said yes and then told me about some areas that I had missed.
One lady even walked me back in and showed me around.
Here’s the famous Pope Mobile.
This hearse was very fancy. It’s a German hearse from 1860. Very old and very cool.
This one, not so much.
This next one is a Japanese styled hearse.
Here’s what the back looks like.
They had some ‘Day of the Dead’ skeletons on display.
I was able to see some more hearses.
This next section was a trip.
These are Fantasy Caskets from Ghana.
Most are for children because they are so small.
I now want a Fantasy Casket to be buried in.
Another area I almost missed was the Pope’s area.
Check out this display.
Very detailed.
I’ve never seen a ‘Jesus’ with bloody knees before.
Here’s an actual picture of the Pope lying in his casket.
And here’s another of their great displays.
This was a photo that was taken when a Pope dies.
Check out the long line.
Another great display of the Pope.
Here’s some things from the Pope.
They had a poster with all of the Popes on it.
And I almost missed the Egyptian area.
Their displays were great.
This was a Civil War display showing embalming.
Their attention to detail was superb.
A 19th century embalming room.
19th century funeral attire.
A 19th century wake at home.
Mourning badges from the 19th century.
Another old hearse.
19th century funeral attire.
And this was the last casket that I saw.
The museum is 30,500 square feet and has Event Planning for small 50 person cocktail parties or larger catered events.
Pretty strange place for these types of things, but I guess some people do it or they wouldn’t advertise it in their brochure.
The brochure also says, “Recognized both nationally and internationally, the museum is ever changing and home to many rare collections, some even featured in movies and plays”.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing the Natl. Museum of Funeral History from Houston, Texas.
I really enjoyed my day there and writing this blog post.
Stay tuned for my next museum to cover for you.
Spider Michaels
Spider Michaels 