Black Museum

"If it did something bad, chances are it's in here. Take a look around, take your time, see what pops out at you. Anything piques your interest, I can tell you all about it. There's a sad, sick story behind most everything here..."

- Rolo Haynes The Black Museum is a roadside attraction appearing in the 2018 Black Mirror episode "Black Museum." Founded, owned and managed by Rolo Haynes, the one-story building houses an extensive collection of authentic criminological artifacts from around the world, including items from past episodes of Black Mirror; at some point prior to the start of this episode, the Museum once enjoyed record profits based on its lurid entertainment factor, but protests over the main exhibit ultimately drove away most of Haynes' customers, forcing him to make do with a much more unpleasant client base in order to keep his business open for the foreseeable future - if at all. At present, the building serves as a part-time Evil Lair for Rolo Haynes - as well as a prison for the few artifacts unfortunate enough to possess a consciousness.

BASIC OVERVIEW
Situated somewhere in the deserts of Nevada, the Black Museum sits immediately adjacent to a lonely stretch of highway; as with many such roadside attractions, the museum building is situated next-door to a gas station in order to encourage visits from curious travelers who've stopped to refuel, but by the beginning of the episode, the BRB station has long since been shut down, further whittling away at Haynes' potential customers.

The Museum itself is contained entirely within a simple one-story building, ornamented with arches on one side of the facade and fitted with bars across the windows to prevent theft - for despite the faltering business, quite a few of the items inside are priceless artifacts. Other than the coat of black paint, little exists to distinguish the building apart from the distinctive sign on the roof: an eye-catching crimson display in the shape of a head exploding open the back (as if shot), it is emblazoned with the words "Rolo Haynes' Black Museum," perfectly capturing the establishment's morbid, sensationalist atmosphere.

Past the glass doors, the front desk offers guests a variety of opportunities for enhancing their experience, including audiovisual headphone guides: a sign next to the headset rack indicates that certain exhibits marked with the headphone symbol provide audio tracks that attendees can listen to, including commentaries, interviews with criminals, or even 911 calls. However, security is still paramount, and all guests are required to pass through a metal detector before entering the main body of the collection.

From here, visitors are funneled through a corridor featuring a number eye-catching screens displaying images and titles relating to the various exhibits, including text such as DOUBLE SUICIDE, CLONING WITHOUT CONSENT, AND CONSPIRACY TO KILL. The largest of these screens displays mugshots and sketches related to the trial of Victoria Skillane, the fiance and partner-in-crime to child killer Ian Rannoch. Beyond these displays, guests are led past a number of mannequins in murderous poses and a large collection of antique death masks, before finally entering the Museum concourse.

It is in this single large room that most of the exhibits can be found. Though some of them feature more commonly known examples of criminal history dating back to the 20th Century (a mugshot of Charles Manson can be seen, for example), the overwhelming items have been gathered from crimes that occurred during the 21st century, many of them related in some way to technology or tech-related abuses. The most precious of the relics - namely the ones that Haynes had a direct role in creating - are given pride of place in the glass display cabinets at the front of the concourse.

At the back of the concourse, Hayne's main attraction remains hidden behind a red velvet curtain; in this back room, Clayton Leigh's consciousness is stored, exhibited and regularly tortured for the amusement of what few guests remain.