Cleveland, p. 7

Buckland Museum of Witchcraft & Magick

Raymond Buckland began amassing objects tied to the history of witchcraft and the occult in 1966. His collection lives on at a small museum in Cleveland.

Raymond Buckland grew up in England, but he garnered fame for bringing Wicca — a modern pagan religion that draws from ancient influences and traditions — to the United States. During his life, he collected objects tied to witchcraft and the occult, and more than 200 of them are on display in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood.

Visitors can browse Buckland’s intriguing collection that fills two rooms at the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft & Magick. The hourlong guided tour allows museum director Steven Intermill to provide insight about objects that catch visitors’ interests. One of Intermill’s favorite pieces in the collection is a mandrake (a root of a plant that some believe has magical powers) that is more than 200 years old and carved to look like a pregnant woman.

“This would have been used by an actual practitioner and the local healer,” Intermill explains.

Buckland, who assembled the collection during his world travels, was introduced to Wicca when he met Gerald Gardner, an English Wiccan who operated a Museum of Magic and Witchcraft. After moving to the United States, Buckland lived in Long Island, New York, where his own museum began to take shape in his basement.

The museum, which Buckland claimed was the first of its kind in the U.S., provided an anthropological approach to the subject. He moved the collection to New Hampshire and then Virginia during the 1970s, before placing it in storage, where it remained for years. In 2015, two years prior to his death, Buckland gifted the collection to Toni Rotonda, who opened the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft & Magick with Intermill in 2016. Despite its unusual subject matter, Intermill says the museum is a place where everyone can learn.

“No matter what you are interested in,” he says, “[if] you have a curious mind or have an open heart — come see us.” — Liam Morrison

Tickets must be purchased in advance. 2155 Broadview Rd., Cleveland 44109, bucklandmuseum.org

Famous Endings Museum

The walls at John Herzig’s Famous Endings Museum are filled with a who’s who of notable names, from John Glenn to John Belushi and Abraham Lincoln to Elizabeth Taylor. The Dover funeral director’s collection of memorabilia and artifacts from the funeral services of famous people started as a hobby but has since grown into a destination that highlights the stories and lives of noteworthy people who have shaped our world. Discoveries abound, including a replica of the puppet Lamb Chop handed out at ventriloquist Shari Lewis’ funeral and a flashlight from the “Star Trek” actor James “Scotty” Doohan’s service (“Beam Me Up,” get it?). The museum opened in 2015 in a room at Toland-Herzig Funeral Home that was previously used to displays caskets. Since then, it has taken on a life of its own. — Jim Vickers

803 N. Wooster Ave., Dover 44622, 330/343-6132, tolandherzig.com