"A love-at-first-sight wonderland of oddball collectibles, vintage clothing, and objets d'art." - Country Living Magazine

Homer & Langley's Mystery Spot Antiques is a must-see for tourists, treasure hunters, curiosity seekers, and antiquers alike. Packed to the rafters with unusual antiques, collectibles, found objects and downright oddities, The Mystery Spot will amaze and delight!

(New around here? Then you may wish to take a stroll over to our new and faithfully updated blog for all the latest in Mystery Spot photos and updates. p.s. we have some more wonderful press links to add....we're just a little behind there, sorry!)

The (former) entrance to Homer & Langley's Mystery Spot. We're tucked away on Phoenicia's "World-Famous" Boardwalk, mere steps from right on Main Street! Our pal and neighbor Keith Strahan made this fabulous Mystery Spot sign with a log and a chain saw.

MEET Desdemona, THE DEVIL GIRL OF PHOENICIA!
MARVEL at the CREEPY DOLL EXHIBIT!

Yes, The Mystery Spot has something for everyone. Primitives, mid-century modern, cookie jars, lighting, paint-by-number art, kitchenware, Fire King dinnerware, salt & pepper shakers, vintage clothing, old clocks, board games, vintage fabric & tablecloths, mod curtains, books, chrome, garden gnomes, pottery, rusty tins, and other curiosities.

"The Mystery Spot is sure to provide a few of the weirdest sights you've ever seen - at least since your last visit to grandma's attic." - Albany Times-Union La la, the Magical Mystery Door. Once it opens, who knows what wonders await inside? (Note lower left: our special "Yard Sale in a Box," or, the "Mistake Box" - anything in this box for a dollar. Our lapse in judgement = your treasure!)

VISIT the KINGDOM OF RUSTICALIA!
THEN VISIT the SUB-KINGDOM OF PLASTICALIA!

Named for Homer & Langley, the infamous Collyer Brothers (who were tragically crushed under their 136-ton accumulation of "collectibles"), the Mystery Spot is a shrine to clutter. As a child, proprietress Laura Levine still remembers being warned by her mother that she might end up like one of the Collyer Brothers if she didn't clean up her room.

Did she listen?

You be the judge.

Old cameras, knitting and sewing notions, linens, pole lamps, enamelware, vintage hats, Russel Wright, old radios, school primers, sixties trash tabloids, cocktail shakers, vintage christmas tree ornaments, black velvet paintings, teapots, early surgical instruments, record albums, old postcards and photographs, telephones, art glass, groovy afghans, and much MUCH more.

An overview of the shop. Don't be scared. A place for everything, and everything in its place.

MEET Petey, the MAN-EATING PIRANHA
(CAPTURED ALIVE FROM THE ESOPUS CREEK ........but watch your fingers!)
MARVEL at the REALLY BAD DENTAL HYGIENE EXHIBIT!
WONDER how Homer & Langley managed to cram all of this clutter into such a SMALL SPACE!

**********> THIS JUST IN! The Mystery Spot is pleased to announce that they have recently expanded into the back room and have opened a new wing, *** HOMER'S BOOKS D'ARTE ***. Featuring out of print, used & useful books on the arts -- all periods, all media. Paintings, sculpture, architecture, photography, design, artists, decorative arts & antiques -- plus an assortment of interesting old books in many other fields, hand-picked from Homer's personal library of over 10,000 volumes.

See why Homer & Langley's Mystery Spot Antiques was named one of the most "Bizarre Attractions of the Catskills" by the Albany Times-Union and was rated "SPECTACULAR!" by Mary Randolph Carter (the world's foremost authority on junk and the author of "American Junk"). (Go to www.carterjunk.com, then click on "On the Road" and then "Junker's Journal" and you'll find us there. Thanks, Carter!)

The Mystery Spot is a proud member of the Ulster County Antique Dealers Assn., the New York State Adopt-a-Highway Program, and Club 57.

Mystery Spot Antiques also provides prop rental services for films and photo shoots.

"The quirky shop bulges with affordable 20th-century kitchenware, costume jewelry, '50's table linens, art pottery, Americana, and more." - Country Living Magazine A mere drop in the bucket of the amazing vintage fashions we have to offer here at The Mystery Spot. Fresh merch brought in every weekend!

The Mascot of the Mystery Spot: Desdemona, the Devil Girl of Phoenicia. (Note horns and cleft tongue.) We found her at Brimfield for $15. and would not part with her for the world. Also there's that metal 4-H sign that George Holz keeps trying to buy from us, but we won't part with that either. (Sorry, George!)

Our favorite wall. Great old canvas school map of New York State (NFS); a pair of child's leg braces, on loan from the David Goldin Collection of Medical Oddities (thanks, David!); a bumper sticker of one of the many other Mystery Spots which dot (or once dotted) the landscape of this great country of ours - this one is (was?) in the Adirondacks (NFS); a coconut head in a bird cage (NFS). Lest you think everything in the Mystery Spot is not for sale, pish posh! This photo is an aberration. Everything else you see on this website is for sale. We promise!

Except this. The Creepy Doll Exhibit (on loan from the David Goldin Collection), topped with a bisque baby doll in an egg. And Dopey in a Bell Jar. All NFS. Above, a small sampling of the incredible salt & pepper shaker collections we have scattered about the shop. Which ARE, believe it or not, for sale. We DO have to pay our rent, after all.

A nice view showing our variety of wares. A corner of the extensive religious icon collection, specializing in many versions of The Infant of Prague (or, as we like to say, The Infinite Frog).

The front counter. Vintage patches, 2 for five bucks; Large Creepy Beetle, twenty bucks (SOLD - enjoy, Tony!); Walk-A-Matic, five bucks; mint sexist comic postcards from the 1940's, a buck each; dental mold (NFS); cast iron woodpecker toothpick dispenser; miniature rock and mineral collection; Cow's Relief Udder Balm; etc.

Our extensive display of vintage clocks and radios. Many of which actually work. A small section of one of our religious displays, featuring a one-of-a-kind crucifix made of clothespins. Nice collection of antique birding books. And Hector, the large mounted fish head.

The March of the Wooden Chef Salt and Pepper Shakers.

Meet Petey the Piranha. This "Terror of the Esopus" was captured in 1964 after years of terrorizing tubers. He lived happily in captivity until he died of old age in 1982. "Watch your fingers!"

Visitors to The Mystery Spot always make sure to check out Homer's Books d'Arte in the back room for the widest selection of out-of-print art and design books. And for style-conscious ladies and men, the latest in vintage fashions as well.

An alligator head, a baby doll's arm, vintage lesbian trash pulp fiction, old cameras, and a bandleader's Fez.

We call this, simply, (Ar)gyle, Interrupted.

This wonderful old store fixture for Lady Louise Nylons in baby blue makes a great display for our ever-growing selection of tres chic vintage shoes, hats and purses for the fashionable Phoenician woman.

Mr. Guckenheimer is happy to hand you his business card as you enter the shop. He is joined by a ceramic pig planter ($10.) who is filed with genuine Missouri Meerscham corn cob pipes ($4.), an empty bottle of Chickencock Whiskey ($14.), an authentic Walk-A-Matic (still in original box - $5.), and a bowl filled with antique medicinal advertising tins ($4 - $15).

This is one of our favorite examples of good old American marketing ingenuity combined with genius graphic design. An Electric Callous Eraser from the 1950's. Note the smiley faces drawn on all the little toes. Many Spot customers have picked it up and considered taking it home, but none have yet to take the plunge. We'll be heartbroken when it goes. At a mere $15. we're amazed it hasn't walked right out of the Mystery Spot door yet!

A peek at the Mystery Spot kitchen. A stack of Fiestaware, Russel Wright, Universal, Harlequin and other colorful anonymous kitchen pottery from the 40's and 50's brightens up this little corner. Note the fabulous canary yellow two-piece kitchen cabinet and spice chest in the background. Covered with period decals and a steal at $65. for the pair!

		Don't forget to look up when you come visit the Mystery Spot! You never know what you'll find. A whole slew of early 20th c. waterfall oils on canvas, enamelware coffee pots and pitchers, framed bird pictures made of feathers...and watching over it all, a very pink and fuzzy creature in a bottomless bird cage.
Our very own Capistrano. Every year like clockwork, the swallows return to Phoenicia. To the very same nest they built right above the front door of The Mystery Spot. They renovate the winter’s damage with a few well-placed twigs and leaves, and the next thing you know – baby birds! It never fails to give us a thrill, and it always makes us very proud – and a little sad – when, inevitably, we arrive open up the shop, don’t hear the expected “tweet tweet,” and realize that the babies have left the nest.
		The New York Times recently did a story on folks whose cars reflect their unique workspaces. They sent Times shutterbug Richard Harbus up to Phoenicia to photograph us for the article (most cleverly written by Claudia Rowe). We were thrilled when the article and photo ran, and we continue to be in total denial that we were deemed newsworthy simply for having a messy car. In any case, our pal Steven Bernstein took this great photo of the Times in action.
Back in the days before the cell phone, nay, before CB radios, there was the humble Ham Radio Operator. Usually headquartered down in his basement or garage, he would stay up all night tweaking knobs to see what far-off lands he could make contact with. When successful contact was made with another ham operator, they would mail a QSL card to let them know they received their signal. These wonderful handmade cards are a sort of graphic folk art of the mid-century, and we recently uncovered a stash of them which we have for sale here at Le Spot for a mere 50 cents apiece.
		Visitors to Brimfield were treated to the landing of the Mystery Spot Satellite Outpost, right on the shoulder of Rte. 20. We did a bang-up business despite the rain, and picked up lots of treasures to bring back to the Mothership. Look for us this spring!
Viva, Tessa, Georgia and Sylvia (the Spot-ettes) help advertise our phenomenal Back To School Sale!
		A nice view of some recent offerings to be found in Rusticalia. Old bellows cameras ($35), Prom hair product advertising box, ($3.), a selection of book banks, old wooden crutches ($35.), and a great pair of chalkware rooster lamps ($115. pair).
A bevy of hand-painted folk art wooden bunnies ($12. each) stand guard over our always-evolving rack of trashy pulp fiction paperbacks. When the Goddess Festival came to town we sold out of every lesbian pulp in the shop! Come back again soon, girls!
		The year 2003 marked the 100th anniversary of the volunteer MF Whitney Hose Co. Fire Dept. To celebrate the centennial, there was a parade down Main Street. Let’s hear it for the wonderful men and women volunteers of our local EMT/Fire Departments!
Here come the Catskill Mts. Pipes & Drums!
		The Phoenicia Rotary Club Float floats down Main Street.

Our Motto: "Clutter My World"

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