Evicted by the Cult: The Bizarre History of the Museum of Death
Opinion | Dark Tourism & True Crime History
The Museum of Death is a bucket-list destination for true crime aficionados, known for its locations in Hollywood and the French Quarter of New Orleans. But few visitors realize that the museum’s modern success was shaped by a disastrous controversy in the late 1990s. After attempting to acquire Heaven’s Gate cult artifacts for a planned exhibit, the museum’s founders triggered a media storm that ultimately led to their eviction—forcing a relocation that permanently changed the course of dark tourism.
If you walk down Dauphine Street in New Orleans, you might pass a building that feels heavier than the rest. The Museum of Death isn’t for the faint of heart. It is a catalogue of mortality—featuring serial killer artwork, crime scene photography, and cultural artifacts related to death. But while the New Orleans location feels established, the museum’s history is a nomadic tale of controversy that began in a very different city.
San Diego 1995: Where It All Began
The Museum of Death was founded in June 1995 in San Diego, California, by J.D. Healy and Cathee Shultz. Originally conceived as an art gallery, the founders noticed that exhibits exploring death and mortality drew the largest crowds.
They pivoted, turning their space into the country’s first museum dedicated entirely to the subject of death. For several years, they operated quietly in San Diego. Then, in 1997, the Heaven’s Gate cult committed mass suicide in Rancho Santa Fe—an event tied to the group’s belief in a spacecraft following the Hale-Bopp comet. Two years later, the fallout from that tragedy would unexpectedly reshape the museum’s future.
The Strange Twist: The Cult Eviction
In 1999, items from the Heaven’s Gate mansion were made available through a public auction. While most people viewed the objects as remnants of a tragedy, the founders of the Museum of Death saw them as historically significant artifacts.
The twist: the founders attempted to acquire enough Heaven’s Gate items—reportedly including bunk beds and personal effects—to recreate the scene inside their San Diego museum.
“The intense media attention surrounding the proposed Heaven’s Gate exhibit brought unwanted scrutiny to the building, prompting the landlord to terminate the museum’s lease.”
The Museum of Death was suddenly homeless. Forced to relocate, the founders moved north to Hollywood Boulevard. In Los Angeles—a city built on spectacle—the museum not only survived but flourished, eventually becoming a landmark that enabled later expansion to New Orleans.
The French Quarter Outpost: Death in the Big Easy
The New Orleans location opened years after the Hollywood branch and fits seamlessly into a city long associated with ghosts, ritual, and public displays of death. The experience is largely self-guided, allowing visitors to move through exhibits at their own pace.
Depending on collection rotation, displays have included Dr. Jack Kevorkian–related artifacts and correspondence from notorious criminals. The effect is less spectacle than confrontation—forcing visitors to engage directly with humanity’s fascination with mortality.
What Then? The Ethics of Displaying the Dead
The Museum of Death exists in an uncomfortable space between preservation and provocation. Its founders argue that death is a fundamental part of human history and should not be hidden or sanitized.
The Heaven’s Gate eviction illustrates society’s limits. We stream true-crime documentaries casually, but physical artifacts tied to real deaths still provoke visceral reactions. The Museum of Death forces that confrontation—and reminds us how uneasy we remain when reality refuses to stay on the screen.
FAQ: Visiting the Museum
Yes. After relocating to Hollywood, the museum displayed a recreation of the Heaven’s Gate scene using authentic items acquired from the group, including bunk beds and clothing associated with the event.
Yes. While the theme is consistent, the collections differ. New Orleans places greater emphasis on local history, ritual, and regional crime.
The eviction followed intense media controversy surrounding the museum’s attempt to display Heaven’s Gate suicide artifacts, which brought unwanted attention to the property and violated lease expectations.
Leave a comment