This Abandoned Wax Museum Is Basically the Stuff of Your Nightmares

A new, viral craze has been taking over the Internet in recent months called urban exploration. The gist is this: individuals go and check out frightening and chilling places and take a camera along with them. These places are often abandoned buildings, and the things these urban explorers find can range from extremely cool to extremely scary.

All across the country (and the world, for that matter) there are thousands of abandoned buildings. Some are abandoned because the owners passed away. Others were abandoned in the literal sense, in that the owners didn’t want them anymore and bounced. There can be an infinite number of reasons why a building falls into disrepair and becomes attractive to urban explorers.While there’s plenty of “creepy” to be had in abandoned schools, hospitals, churches and old houses all around the country, today we’re looking at something kind of unique: an old abandoned wax museum. And while numerous, unique places have been explored and documented during this craze of urban exploration, few, if any, are as purely nightmare-creating as what you’re about to see.

The urban explorer who visited this abandoned wax museum has said this was probably the scariest and most unique place he has ever been. His name is Ariston Santos De Leon. He is a public school teacher by day and a photographer and explorer by night. Thanks to him, we have these great and frightening pictures from the museum.

Every urban explorer has their own reasons for taking up the hobby. De Leon simply loves to see the stuff that was left behind. As you could imagine by the fact this was a wax museum, there are a ton of wax figures and mannequins left over. It was like taking a step into an old time machine that took him back to when this place would have been up and running, bustling with people.

This building was left to rot and looked like it has been abandoned for decades. However, not much is known about the building, including what it was used for (though all the wax figures and creepy “doll-like” sculptures certainly make it seem like it was a wax museum).

The actual process of dressing wax figures in human clothes began as a funeral practice way back in the Middle Ages. Models of the deceased were laid out and dressed atop the coffins of the dead. Later, the figures were kept so people could come see and pay their respects to the models of the dead. Eventually, these wax collections became popular tourist attractions, and the rest is history.

Since De Leon won’t reveal the exact location of this site, these chilling pictures may be our only peek into the history that resides in this old wax museum.