Drive-Thru Museum of Wonder

Drive-Thru Museum Entrance Seale, AL

See Art & Animal Skeletons without Leaving Your Car

Oddities and outsider art collide at the Drive-Thru Museum of Wonder, a place so weird you can hardly believe it exists.

The museum is the brainchild of self-taught artist Butch Anthony, who cut windows into an old aluminum travel trailer and a couple of shipping containers and filled them with artwork and items from the “cabinet of curiosities” he’s amassed over the years. 

Located just off Highway 431 in Seale, Alabama, the Drive-Thru Museum of Wonder is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—there for you whenever you get a hankering to see art, animal bones, old sports trophies, baby doll parts, taxidermied animals, funny signs, and the world’s largest gallstone. [1]It is truly off the beaten path, but well worth the detour. Plus, it’s the world’s largest gallstone. Who doesn’t want to see that in person?


Drive-Thru Museum Seale Alabama Ooh Ahh Bird
A Joke Turns Serious

Anthony began making art in mid-90s as something of a joke, but some of his pieces now sell for thousands and can be spotted in restaurants, hotels, and galleries throughout the country—even as far away as London and Moscow.  [2]I am prepared to offer you some original Fred art for thousands of dollars. Why are you laughing? THIS IS NOT A JOKE!  

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Drive-Thru Museum Seale Alabama Animal Skulls
Young Taxidermist

When he was just 14, he opened his own taxidermy business on his family’s 80-acre farm in Seale, where he still lives.


Drive-Thru Museum Seale Alabama Revelations
Cabinet of Curiosities

In his teens, Anthony also started collecting oddities that caught his fancy, like a ring found growing inside a potato, the aforementioned gallstone (removed from a Georgia woman in 1977), a spider trapped in amber, and some bizarre dioramas from a traveling preacher show depicting scenes from the book of Revelations. [3]You can see all of this from your car, but we actually parked and looked closely on foot like a couple of rubes.


Drive-Thru Museum Seale Alabama
Putting Seale on the Map

Butch Anthony has become something of a legend in Alabama and in the folk art world. The state once commissioned him to make an ornament for the White House Christmas tree, and for a number of years he organized the “Doo Nanny” folk art and music festival on his family’s compound. If people know about Seale, Alabama, it’s probably thanks to him.


Drive-Thru Museum Seale AlabamaSpaceship
One Man’s Junk…

“I just make things out of junk,” Anthony explains in this really cool 5-minute video produced by Etsy, in which he also gives a tour of the absolutely amazing cabin he built by hand. [4]In the meantime, I figured out how to use an air-fryer all by myself.


Drive-Thru Museum Seale Alabama Signs
A Fortunetelling Chicken

The painting you see on the right is of an actual rooster Anthony once owned. He named it Bob Ross and claimed it could tell fortunes. [5]It paints a verbal picture of your future. Okay, I’ll stop.


Drive-Thru Museum Seale Alabama Skeleton Family
See for Yourself

If you go: Seale is only about 15 miles from Columbus, Georgia. We’ve got lots of ideas for what to do there. And from Columbus, it’s just another 35 miles to the amazing Pasaquan folk art complex. One thing to note about the Drive-Thru Museum of Wonders: It’s just a fraction of Butch Anthony’s collection. If you call ahead, you may be able to schedule a tour of his entire compound. [6]I wish we had time to do this. Maybe next time.

FredNotes

FredNotes
1It is truly off the beaten path, but well worth the detour. Plus, it’s the world’s largest gallstone. Who doesn’t want to see that in person?
2I am prepared to offer you some original Fred art for thousands of dollars. Why are you laughing? THIS IS NOT A JOKE!
3You can see all of this from your car, but we actually parked and looked closely on foot like a couple of rubes.
4In the meantime, I figured out how to use an air-fryer all by myself.
5It paints a verbal picture of your future. Okay, I’ll stop.
6I wish we had time to do this. Maybe next time.

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