It may be a small segment of the population, but anyone who has ever had the urge to kick a shrunken head around now has their chance at Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
The museum recently renovated one of its galleries and has added an interactive light display that also allows visitors to scatter leaves and bubbles.
"It was traditionally a very weak gallery for us, but we've had a great reception to these new exhibits," Regional Manager Ryan DeSear said. "Ripley's is really focusing on putting quality into its attractions and this is one part of that."
The gallery also includes a wax model of the world's tallest man that allows visitors to compare themselves to the giant. There's also a section that allows folks to cast their own hands in wax.
Of course, it wouldn't be Ripley's without a little bit of the weird. The gallery now includes paintings of four celebrities on cow manure and a picture created by a man who paints while swimming.
"We're Ripley's and people come here expecting to see odd exhibits," DeSear said. "Ripley's is about cow dung art and kicking around shrunken heads."
So devoted to the hard to believe is the museum chain that it is converting all its locations from Believe It or Not Museums to Odditoriums. The name change may seem insignificant but could actually make the facilities more appealing to those who might be turned off by the word museum, DeSear said.
The renovation cost just shy of $100,000 and also included the installation of benches in the small theater near the gallery. The interactive light display was created by a company called GestureTek.