Museums: The Strange and Weird

Museums can be educational, informative, fascinating, and occasionally very weird. Below are some that range from completely bizarre to flat-out grotesque, so you might not want to read on if you are squeamish or sitting down for lunch.

The Mutter Museum

The secret tumor of Grover Cleveland, the thorax of John Wilkes Booth and a really big 9-foot colon are just a few of the wonders that you can expect to encounter at Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum, a museum of historical pathology containing about 20,000 fluid-preserved anatomical and pathological specimens, models, medical instruments, and memorabilia of famous scientists and physicians.

See the “Soap Lady”—the body of a woman who died of Yellow Fever during the 19th century that turned into soap due to the chemical properties of the soil she was buried in.

Then there’s the huge 9-foot colon of a man who took a dump only once a month for his whole life until he died. It is perhaps no great surprise that he only lived into his late 20s.

If that wasn’t enough for you, there are skeletons of a giant and a midget, various skull collections, the brains of epileptics and a murderer, and drawers filled with objects removed from the windpipes of choking people.

Feast your eyes on a plaster cast of the conjoined twins Chang and Eng, various baby deformities and many more displays that will fascinate you and make you feel totally creeped-out.

Museum Vrolik

Enjoy viewing dead babies in jars? That’s what you’ll find a whole lot of on a visit to the Museum Vrolik in Amsterdam, which may even be creepier than the Mütter Museum.

Located at Amsterdam University, the Museum Vrolik is a private collection of anatomical, zoological and teralogical specimens.

The museum was founded by Professor Gerardus Vrolik and his son, Professor Willem Vrolik.

It contains more than 5,000 specimens of congenital anomalies, human and animal anatomy, embryology and pathology.

In other words, it contains many dead, deformed babies preserved in jars of formaldehyde, in addition to other, similarly terrifying jars containing people’s heads, faces and various other body parts.

Cyclopic babies, babies with two heads, skeletons, plaster molds and casts and many other examples of deformities are displayed in this eerie collection. The pictures speak for themselves.

If you find yourself in Amsterdam and want to visit, guided tours are available for groups of up to 15 people.

The Icelandic Phallological Museum

At first glance the Icelandic Phallological Museum in Húsavík looks rather unassuming, until you notice its penis-shaped sign and phallic statues out front.

Inside you’ll find a museum completely devoted to the field of phallology, the supposed ancient study of the penis and its role in society and history.

The museum is home to 200 penises and penile parts. Inside the museum, petrified phalluses hang on the walls like trophies, each bearing a description of the creature they once belonged to.

The museum boasts a collection of phallic specimens from every single mammal in all of Iceland, which someday will include a human specimen donated posthumously from a man named Pall Arason.

Among the specimens are penises from an Icelandic Christmas lad, a merman, a changeling and an elf, in addition to phalluses of whales, reindeer, polar bears, mice, Enriching Sea Mouse, and a Seabull.

Visit http://www.phallus.is/ for the complete phallic catalogue.

The Meguro Parasitological Museum

On two floors of an unsuspecting office building in Tokyo lurks a formidable display of creatures that may make you regret your decision to eat sushi for lunch.

Welcome to the Meguro Parasitological Museum, your destination for everything pertaining to roundworms, hookworms, leeches, flukes, nematodes and the nasty little effects they have on their hosts (it could be you!)

Glass jars filled with formaldehyde preserve these pesky parasites, while terrifying photographs like that of a Japanese dude with elephantiasis of the scrotum depict the damage that they are capable of.

Feast your eyes on a dog’s heart that’s been ravaged by heartworm, the head of a tortoise whose eyelids have been completely ransacked by blood-sucking leeches.

There’s also the incredible 8.8m-long tape worm that came from a raw trout eaten by a very unlucky man.

When you’ve had your fill of the displays, you can visit the gift shop for parasite tee-shirts and jewelry for something to remember your visit by, as if you could ever forget.

Sulabh International Museum of Toilets

If you’ve ever wanted to immerse yourself in toilet history, you’ll be delighted to know that at the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets in New Delhi, India, you can do exactly that.

The museum traces the history of the toilet, while also promoting awareness of hygiene and clean disposal of human waste.

Founded by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak (who also founded the Sulabh International Social Service Organization), the museum seeks to educate people about historical trends in the development of toilets, as part of a “sanitation crusade.”

At the museum, you can see how the toilet has evolved through the ages, from humble chamber pots to ornately decorated commodes and urinals.

There are plenty of interesting tidbits of toilet history to take in. Apparently King Louis XIV used his “throne” for conducting business both official and personal—simultaneously! Gross. I feel bad for anyone who had to serve under his rule.

Pictures, facts and objects cover the history of toilets from 2,500 BC leading up to present day, including a rare collection of toilet-related poetry.

If you are unable to visit the museum in person, you can explore toilet history online at the virtual version: http://www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org/mus01.htm

The Museum of Menstruation and Women’s Health

Have you ever felt a burning desire to learn everything there is to know about the “culture of menstruation”? Of course you have.

Devoted entirely to the “culture of menstruation,” the Museum of Menstruation and Women’s Health in Maryland is a collection of all things pertaining to a woman’s “monthly visitor.”

The museum walls were covered in tampon and pad advertisements, while female mannequin torsos dressed in rubberized panties and menstrual belts hung from the ceiling or sat on tables in a similar fashion. This was the place to go for a complete menstrual education.

Some may find it strange to learn that the museum was created by a man.

The museum was created and curated by Harry Finley in the basement of his Maryland home from August of 1994 to August of 1998, when maintaining it became too great of a task.

This was one of the strangely specific museums that you could hope to visit. Although the museum is closed, it lives on at http://www.mum.org.