Up Close & Peculiar
More than 100 years ago, the globetrotting Robert Ripley began collecting artifacts from his journeys around the world, which today form the heart of the greatest collection of oddities ever assembled. Up Close & Peculiar brings the curious history of these pieces to a personal level as our very own, Allyson Iovino, explores the strange relics that lie within our Warehouse walls! Become a part of the story as we share pieces for every history buff, pop culture junkie, and oddities collector alike.
Today: The Psycho House Door
Psycho is one of the most iconic horror films of all time, with its eerie house being one of the most recognizable in cinema history. So how did this door end up in Rib Lake, Wisconsin, a small town with a population of less than 1,000 people? It's a story that sounds like it came straight out of a Hitchcock movie!
The Psycho house set was dismantled sometime in the early 2000s. The owner of Dallmann-Kniewel Funeral Home, a fan of the film, purchased the door from a dealer in LA, had it shipped to Wisconsin, and installed it as the front door of his mortuary. The door remained there until the business was sold in 2012, and the new owners decided they wanted a more energy-efficient door.
Walking into a funeral home and seeing the same door that Norman Bates used to hide his mother's corpse is creepy enough, but it gets even more bizarre when you consider that Psycho was inspired by Wisconsin native and real-life serial killer Ed Gein. Gein was notorious for making trophies and furniture out of human skin and bones, and some of his victims were exhumed from local graveyards.
The door was modified a bit to make it better for practical, everyday use while it was in Wisconsin. It’s made out of walnut hardwood and is about 9 feet tall, which is a good three feet taller than an average six-and-a-half foot-tall door.
If you want to get Up Close with this daunting door, stop by Ripley's Believe It or Not! Ocean City!
