The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Marketplace
    • Autos
    • Jobs
    • Real Estate
    • Classifieds
    • Shopping
    • Dining Out
    • Education
    • TWT Store
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • National

    Justices weigh juveniles' life without parole

  • National

    Leadership changes at the Times

  • National

    Hood suspect earlier came under scrutiny

  • National

    PRUDEN: Fatal reluctance to see evil

  • World

    Envoy: Europe relies on U.S. shield

  • National

    'Anti-vaccine' attitude hampers H1N1 effort

  • Business

    Sinking dollar fuels new gold rush

Home » News » Entertainment

Friday, May 23, 2008

Crime pays at new museum

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

District's latest niche-entertainment attraction hopes to make a killing

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos
Please stand by, images loading!
  • Photographs by Katie Falkenberg/The Washington Times
An exhibit about the first FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, can be seen at the National Museum of Crime and Punishment (above). Crime and consequences are examined in the Dark Ages exhibit (right). The privately owned museum also has an autopsy exhibit (far right).
  • Photographs by Katie Falkenberg/The Washington Times
The restored John Dillinger getaway car is just inside the front door at the National Museum of Crime and Punishment. A visitor looks at a typical prison cell (left) that is on display at the museum in Northwest.
  • The entrance to the National Museum of Crime and Punishment is at 575 Seventh St. NW. John Dillinger in repose and a replica of his escape gun (above left) are among the exhibits.

More Entertainment Stories

  • GREEN & GLOVER: Santa loves the troops
  • Media Room: DVD & Blu-ray reviews
  • Taking Names
  • Tuning In to TV

By Deborah K. Dietsch

Crime does pay. At least John Morgan, a lawyer from Orlando, Fla., is counting on that. He is the owner of the National Museum of Crime and Punishment, a venue opening today on Seventh Street Northwest in Penn Quarter's blossoming cultural district.

At $17.95 per ticket (half-price today) visitors are invited to pick up a rifle in a Wild West shootout, plan a prison break and test their knowledge of infamous murderers. Much of the three-level museum glorifies violence in exhibits of weaponry and artifacts such as Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy's paint set and typewriter, but Mr. Morgan claims otherwise.

"These are just the facts," he says, standing next to a poster noting that "every 22.2 seconds there is one violent crime committed in the nation." He says that throughout the museum, "There's a strong message that criminals are not heroes and there are consequences for their actions."

However, the museum is introduced by a lively history of American crime, and less theatrical displays devoted to law enforcement come at the end. Mr. Morgan says part of his inspiration came from the public tours of the Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest. They were discontinued in 2002 after the crime lab in the building, which constituted a major part of the tours, was moved to Quantico, Va.

The 28,000-square-foot crime museum houses not only exhibits, but a basement television studio for the popular Fox show "America's Most Wanted." Host John Walsh, who is part owner, will broadcast an episode about once a month from the space, which includes a call-in center for collecting tips on suspects profiled on the air.

This combination of television studio, interactive exhibits and life-size mannequins follows the niche-entertainment formula of the nearby Newseum, Spy Museum and Madame Tussaud's wax museum. Mr. Morgan, who owns the WaterWorks amusement parks in Orlando and Pigeon Forge, Tenn., hasn't created a museum in the traditional sense, but, rather, an attraction meant to titillate with stories of the bad guys, their punishments and the work that goes into catching them.

Still, the museum includes some fascinating, if esoteric, stuff related to the country's most-wanted criminals. Just inside the front door is the shiny red 1933 Ford Essex driven by bank robber John Dillinger, purchased from a Pennsylvania collector for $100,000, according to Mr. Morgan.

Upstairs, exhibits on the history of crime begin with medieval contraptions, such as a funnel for water torture, before moving on to Colonial stocks and pirates' pistols. A section on Western outlaws features Billy the Kid's knife and Jesse James' slate notebook. Displays related to the Great Depression include the Stetson worn by Crazy Joe Gallo on the day he was shot.

Some of the objects aren't authentic but are replicas from the movies: the shot-up getaway car from "Bonnie and Clyde," the machine gun used by Al Pacino in the movie "Scarface" and the pistol brandished by Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness in "The Untouchables." This blurring of the line between reality and make-believe enlivens the viewing experience but reduces the depicted criminal activities to mere entertainment.

Artwork is another tool for making the gruesome acts more palliative. "Many criminals have highly developed artistic gifts," reads the text for a disturbing display of jewelry and drawings by serial killers such as the Boston Strangler and "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz. Crafts, tattoo designs and paintings created by inmates are also on view.

[Get Copyright Permissions] Click here for reprint permissions!
Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC

12Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Please login or register to post a comment

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. EXCLUSIVE: Rare virus poses new threat to troops
  2. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
  3. Parents buying homes for kids at college
  4. EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism
  5. Deer dies after leap into D.C. zoo lion exhibit
More Top Stories »
  1. Federal Reserve opposed as big bank savior by odd allies
  2. Court refuses to halt sniper's execution
  3. House OKs health reform bill
  4. Annandale man killed in hit-and-run
  5. Inside the Beltway

Most Shared

  1. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
  2. Deer dies after leap into D.C. zoo lion exhibit
  3. EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism
  4. EXCLUSIVE: Rare virus poses new threat to troops
  5. Parents buying homes for kids at college
More Top Stories »
  1. The enemy at home
  2. EDITORIAL: President Obama causes more unemployment
  3. Federal Reserve opposed as big bank savior by odd allies
  4. After the Berlin Wall: German unity proves elusive
  5. Patent case goes to Supreme Court

Most Commented

  1. House OKs health reform bill
  2. EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism
  3. Army chief wary of backlash against Muslim soldiers
  4. Health bill faces roadblocks in Senate
  5. EDITORIAL: Mr. Obama, stay away from this wall
More Top Stories »
  1. Lieberman vows probe of Hood rampage
  2. Suspected Fort Hood shooter is awake, talking
  3. Obama: It's Senate's turn on health care
  4. EDITORIAL: President Obama causes more unemployment
  5. The enemy at home

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Question of the day

Now that the House has passed the health reform bill, do you think the Senate will try to kill it?

Blogs & Columns

  • POTUS Notes

    New Dem talking point on Obama approval doesn't wash

  • The Back Story

    12 arrested at Pelosi's office

  • Belief Blog

    New Vatican constitution released

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Redskins 360

    No interest in Johnson

  • Tara's Two Cents

    On their way to summer vacation..

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.