Just outside of Pittsburgh, nestled at the top of a hill among a series of otherwise standard homes, is a place called Trundle Manor. Its owners, Anton and Rachel Miriello better known as Mr. Arm and Velda Von Minx have filled their home with a variety of objects that the couple has collected over the years. But not the sorts of objects you might expect.Their collection ranges from old antiques and unique thrift store finds, to taxidermied cryptids and medical oddities including a belly dancer friends tumor. Trundle Manor is unabashedly weird, and its owners would gladly tell you the same. We grew up sort of in happy lives and still ended up weird, Mr. Arm told All Thats Interesting. So anyone can be like that.Take a look at Trundle Manors macabre collection of curiosities below, and read on to learn more about Pittsburghs strangest museum.Click here to view slideshowHow Childhood Obsession Led To Pittsburgh's Most Unique CollectionBefore he was Mr. Arm, Anton Miriello was an only child growing up in the home of two artists. His parents worked as artists for a company that renovated churches, and eventually they went on to start their own company together. From there, they fell in love, and in the words of their son, "have been perfect partners ever since." Trundle Manor/FacebookAnton and Rachel Miriello, a.k.a. Mr. Arm and Velda Von Minx.Mr. Arm's family often frequented vintage markets and antique stores, where their curious son would pick through the bins for things that interested him. Some of those early finds still adorn Trundle Manor to this day, but not many object in the collection came from a market. In fact, a great deal of them came from the outdoors the result of bored, curious wandering during fishing trips with Mr. Arm's father. "A lot of the bones I found in the woods when I'd hang out with my hillbilly cousins, and my dad would take me fly-fishing, but I just wandered around collecting stones and skulls and things I found lying on the banks," he said. "I hated fishing. I can't stand it!" Strange stones and animal bones made their way into Mr. Arm's nascent collection, and he soon started learning how to transform them into something more artistic."My dad built stuff with me, and I think I learned from that," Mr. Arm explained. "Our motto for the family was, if you can't find it, you find out how to build it." Austin HarveyA range of items in Trundle Manor's collection.Indeed, Mr. Arm remarked that he never had a comfortable couch because his parents insisted on building them. His father built and upholstered one particular couch with canvas, which his mother then painted. Canvas, Mr. Arm pointed out, was uncomfortable enough as is but painted canvas wasn't exactly the ideal seat. That couch did, however, have a storage compartment under it, which he would crawl into as a child and treat as a personal getaway of sorts. In his teenage years, he became a full-on "greaser" and joined a car club around the back of the manor are two souped-up old cars he has worked on for decades, kitted out with flamethrowers and his parents continued to support his artistic endeavors. Then, around 2007, he bought the house that would turn into Trundle Manor. It wasn't long after that Mr. Arm and Velda Von Minx met. How Trundle Manor Went From A Home Collection To A 'Tourist Trap'Before she knew about his nascent collection, Velda Von Minx was first drawn to Mr. Arm's cars. "His whole club had the kind of old school hot rods that were flat, black, and kind of scary and punk and rock and roll, and less like your grandfather that has a pristine yellow car when he was a teenager," Velda Von Minx said. "So it was very attractive to me, and I'd see him around town and then MySpace was a big thing when we were that age so I stalked him on that because it made it quite easy. And like a creep, I found out that he was freshly single and [had] this house. So I DM'd him to try and come visit."For their first date, the two taxidermied some squirrels, which still sit on top of a display case in their living room. It was a first-time experience for both of them, and far from the typical first date, but for two people who had grown up immersed in art and horror films, it was the beginning of a lifelong romance. At that time, they estimated the collection at Trundle Manor was just 10 percent of what it is today. Austin HarveyThe taxidermy squirrels the Miriellos made on their first date, along with an art piece commemorating the moment and their marriage. "After she got here," Mr. Arm remarked, "the collection grew to what you see now. I mean, we were on MTV Cribs in the very beginning. When you look at that episode, it just feels so sparse." As their collection grew, they began to start thinking about ways they could share it with other people. That was when they decided to turn their home into a "tourist trap.""After we met, we realized that we had been on so many school field trips and weird little road trips as kids where there was a museum that was just kind of offbeat and just made you think about it forever," Velda Von Minx explained. "And we said, why don't we be one? Why not be a tourist trap?"This is also why Trundle Manor doesn't do traditional advertising. You'll never find an ad for them on a billboard or website. Early on, they did print out some brochures and deposit them at rest stops, but mostly, Trundle Manor's visitors find out about the "tourist trap" through word of mouth. Besides, Mr. Arm and Velda Von Minx both have day jobs and limiting the number of guests makes it easier to keep enjoying what they do. In the decade since opening their home to the public, they've built a solid community. Their wedding had 14 different bands perform. They are frequent guests at some of the city's biggest artistic events. Many of their oddest collection pieces were donations from friends and visitors including Trundle Manor's famous "singing tumor." The Story Of Trundle Manor's Famous "Singing Tumor"For Mr. Arm's 18th birthday, his parents wanted to do something a bit unusual. So, they hired some local belly dancers to perform at his party. A few years later, when he was presenting some pieces at an art show, one of those belly dancers happened to be in attendance. Her name was Olivia. She recognized Mr. Arm, and over time they became good friends. Eventually, Olivia was informed that she had a tumor on her uterus. Somehow, she managed to convince the doctors to let her take it home with her after it was removed. And then she offered it to Mr. Arm. Austin HarveyTrundle Manor relies entirely on donations either monetary or in the form of booze."And then she said, 'I'm having this thing removed. Would you like to have it?'" Mr. Arm recalled. "I was like, 'Oh, please, yes!'"Olivia's Singing Tumor, as it's now called, is the coup de grce at Trundle Manor. Normally hidden beneath a curtain, the hosts reveal it with a bit of flair and showmanship, regaling visitors with the tale of how it came to them."We try to give it a bit of life, entertainment, quality, and beauty, much like the lady it came out of," Mr. Arm explained. "Thusly it was born, Olivia's Singing Tumor. Now, this tumor of hers was uterial in nature, so we like to say it came from the belly of a belly dancer. What more beautiful place to come from, and I dream of its home all the time." The tumor is one of the collection's most popular and storied items, and it encapsulates everything Trundle Manor is about: unique items, macabre celebration, and a local community of weirdos. These factors have attracted people from far and wide to come see the collection Mr. Arm and Velda Von Minx have built over the years a total of 13,736 items at the time of our interview, totaled up thanks to an old mining tally clicker. Austin HarveyVarious taxidermy animals with accessories. "The tour thing is nice because the whole point is to show people that you can live this way because, weirdly enough, people don't know that you could just do this because it's your house," Mr. Arm said. "Like, do whatever you want. I think the main thing that we show off is that you are allowed to do this in your own home."Velda Von Minx added that while they were vacationing in London, a man once told the couple, "You decorate the world that you live in." It is a quote that has stuck with them ever since, and their home is now a quite literal representation of that ethos. If you ever find yourself in the Pittsburgh area and you're in the mood for something you can't find anywhere else, consider checking out Trundle Manor for yourself. In the meantime, enjoy the gallery of photos above. After reading about Pittsburgh's fascinating Trundle Manor, learn more about the Steel City's history through our gallery of historic photos. Then, see inside the Viktor Wynd Museum, possibly the strangest museum on Earth.The post Inside Trundle Manor, The Pittsburgh Museum Packed With Macabre Curiosities appeared first on All That's Interesting.