There’s no predicting what you’ll find at Hail, Dark Aesthetics, a vintage taxidermy and curiosities shop in East Nashville. Owners Nina Camp and JD Tucker beckon shoppers to the dark side with displays of baboon and lion heads, coiled rattlesnakes, opossum and ram skulls, boar headdresses, framed tarantulas, hanging bats and mounted piranhas, diaphonized seahorses, coyote rugs, and mummified cats. (Don’t freak out, animal lovers: The taxidermy is vintage and newer specimens died of natural causes.)
If stuffed animals aren’t your bag, Hail sells a cheeky selection of antique medical devices, including vintage breast pumps and creepy old CPR dummies, as well as knick-knacky odds and ends like vintage casket keys, funeral flags, tarot decks, hand-poured candles, Ouija boards, and used books on everything from Charles Manson to monster makeup. A modest selection of pentagram jewelry, black-metal greeting cards, and grindcore records round out the hellfire-with-humor vibes. And, best news ever: Prices here are much lower than you’d imagine, with a simple raccoon penis bone starting at just $6.
Check Hail’s Facebook for invites to bizarre in-shop events—like a photo session with Satan Clause. The 2016 holiday drive helped raise money for a local branch of Toys For Tots, so you know they can’t be totally evil.
2410 Gallatin Ave., Nashville, TN; 615-727-4199.

Additional photos courtesy of Hail Dark, Aesthetics