An eclectic shop/museum supposedly established in 1967 by a Portland (Oregon) explorer named Conrad Talmadge Elwood whose love for all things weird caused him to have a dream of the store (which he promptly forgot) is not a new sketch from the tv show Portlandia. The store is actually real, except for its fabricated origins and always changing dates (was it started in 1967 or 1972?).
At the Freakybuttrue Peculiarium, customers are greeted by a Bigfoot statue and shelves filled with weird pop artifacts and creepy specimens. There is even a life-size recreation of an alien autopsy, which just calls out for an Instagram pic to share with your friends. There is also a dollhouse of nightmares. Besides the strange items for sale, the space also doubles as an art gallery for local Portland artists as well as an ice cream parlor. Yes, because the Peculiarium isn’t peculiar enough, why not sell ice cream with such toppings as dried scorpions, mealworms, and crickets? If you actually eat one of these delicious-sounding desserts aka the Bug Eater’s Delight, then you may join the shop’s Insectatarian Club. It sounds like this place is doing a fine job of continuing to “Keep Portland Weird”.
