Heart of Louisiana: Abita Mystery House

John Preble says he's always had a lot of stuff in his house.

"I'm from a family of collectors. My father collected stamps and rocks and his mother was an antique dealer of some sorts," he says.

Preble has a lot of hobbies - or jobs. He's a musician, composer, record producer, painter and ten years ago, the creator of the Mystery House in Abita Springs.

"The museum is sort of a hobby that got out of hand," Preble said.

The Mystery House has a large assortment of animals with alligator heads, sometimes with more than one head, a collection of old radios and barbed wire, paint by number art, a fortune teller and lots of other strange stuff.

"I don't want expensive things. I want things that are interesting. Someone brought me a bottle opener that looked like Jimi Hendrix. It was perfect."

Prebble already had a lot of stuff, but he hadn't thought about turning it into a museum. Then on a family vacation he stopped at a roadside attraction near Albequerqe, and that's where he got his inspiration.

"When we saw this, I was like I got all the same junk this guy has. I can open my own museum."

The signature piece is a 22-foot long bass-a-gator. It's part bass, part alligator. It's near the airstream trailer that once-upon-a-time was hit by a flying saucer. The aliens never left.

A 1920 barn has been turned into the house of shards decorated with 15,000 bits of glass and pottery.

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Heart of Louisiana: Abita Mystery House