So I'm getting very close to my destination here, right in it, right in the very center of Times Square.

It's just up here.

Oh, saxophone man. I'm Dylan Thuris and this is Atlas Obscura and today we cross the Rubicon and go to what might be the least obscure, most touristy place in all of New York City.

The Madam Toussou Wax Museum in Times Square.

This is not sponsored, Big Wax did not get to me. I am here

because I want to tell you the incredible story of the very real Madamssel, even if it cost me.

$44.

$48. Damn. And the There's Maryland Monroe, there's Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Yeah, Nicholas Cage.

A Stephen Spielberg... I don't know about you but I always associated Madam Toussoes

wax museums with Ground Zero for the most touristy locations in the world.

And that is true, that is correct.

But what surprised me was that Madam Toussou

isn't a brand name, or at least it didn't start out as one.

So the real... Ah yes, here's what I came for.

Here's where I want to define.

This. Here's where I want to define. This is the wax model of the woman herself, Madam Toussau.

You're real. Madam Toussoue.

He's a real person.

In the Madam Toussou, Wax Museum in New York, I was staring into the wizened face of a small old woman.

She's wearing glasses and a bonnet.

She looks a little bit like old mother Hubbard.

And in this building of glitzy wax celebrities,

...