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Museums Are Competing Over Who Has The Creepiest Exhibit, And Here Are 30 Of The Best Ones
Interview
Since its closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Yorkshire Museum in England has launched a weekly #curatorbattle on social media to challenge others to showcase their objects related to a particular theme. A couple of days ago, the museum posted a picture of a hair bun from the burial of a Roman woman in the third or fourth century, kicking off a new competition. This time, curators from all over were asked to share their most sinister possessions. And they delivered.
From a chilling plague mask and haunting dolls to a painted whale eardrum and beyond, museums have been responding to the #CuratorBattle with their #CreepiestObject and it's what horror movies are made about. Continue scrolling and get your share of nightmare fuel!
Image credits: YorkshireMuseum
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"The curator battle has been gradually building as more and more museums and the general public look at our Twitter feed every Friday to see what theme we're going to pitch," Millicent Carroll, digital engagement officer for the York Museums Trust, told Bored Panda in a statement.
"Last week's 'Best Egg' had replies from the Hermitage in Russia and the American Museum of National History, but the creepiest object has taken it to another level!"
Replies have come from the German History Museum, Oshawa Museum in Ontario, Canada, the New York Historical Society, and America's first museum - the Charleston Museum. It has also been popular in the UK, with museums such as the Imperial War Museum, Bank of England Museum, curators from the National History Museum, the Ashmolean Museum, and many Yorkshire museums getting involved.
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Carroll said it is great for museums to be able to still share their collections with the public when their doors are closed.
The pandemic hasn't been kind to these establishments. For example, the York Museum Trust, a charity which runs several of York's museums, including the Yorkshire Museum, was forced to close all of them due to the coronavirus. "We have lost 70% of our income, as most of it comes from visitor admissions," Lee Clark, communications manager for the trust, added.
#3
Titas Burinskas 5 years ago
His last words were "Tell me, after my head has been chopped off, will I still be able to hear, at least for a moment, the sound of my own blood gushing from the stump of my neck? That would be the pleasure to end all pleasures." Trust me, he was creepier when he was alive.
"Social media is one of the few ways we can still engage with audiences so we have been working really hard to come up with innovative and interesting ideas to get people talking and learning about objects in our care," Clark explained.
And it looks like the staff is doing one heck of a good job. Their creepy object tweet has had nearly 10K likes and 4K retweets, gaining the Yorkshire Museum 2.6K followers over the weekend alone.
York Museums Trust has also created Museums From Home, a page on their website dedicated to ways people can get involved with its collections, buildings and stories while they're closed.Also, if you want to support the organization and all the wonderful things they're doing, consider donating through their website.
Also, if you want to support the organization and all the wonderful things they're doing, consider donating through their website.
#6
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
Someone had a whole lot of fun putting this one together. I wonder how old it is and why it was made. To prove the existence of mermaids or to frighten the wits out of the kids after dinner?
Jon S. 5 years ago (edited)
They were frequent circus exhibits. Made to seduce the curious with promise of the proof of a mermaid.
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glowworm2 5 years ago
This is clearly a "Fiji Mermaid" in which the body of a monkey is attached to that of a fish and then shown in sideshows to people.
Jon S. 5 years ago
Some were definitely made with monkeys, but others were just papier mache. I have a friend who still makes and sells them on ebay.
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Tom Hardeveld 5 years ago (edited)
"Welcome to the Mystery Shack, my name is Stanford Pines..."
MysticSailora 5 years ago
Wait I'm confused, did someone in the past make these for people in the future to find, like this?
Deer dipper is so cute uwu 4 years ago
That looks like a child was sewed onto the body of a fish or a monkey
DYspLay ARt 5 years ago
Before the movie "Little Mermaid" people believed mermaids looked like this; creepy.
WhatsUpKittyCat? (I wuv dogs too) 5 years ago
Momma, I think there's something in the fish tank, and it's eaten all the fish...
Daniel Mason 5 years ago
Looks like the fish from Finding Nemo turned Darla into one of them! =|
#12
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
Can you imagine tripping over that thing on a dark and stormy night? I'd go 0 to 100 km/h faster than a Ferrari.
#13
Orionpax75 5 years ago
The "Real" Annabelle... I'd throw this thing deep in an abyss somewhere and never look back!
#15
Dutch VanZandt 5 years ago
Scold's bridle... see this https://www.hevercastle.co.uk/news/castle-objects-month-february-scolds-bridles/
#21
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
I actually like this one, for bringing the completely unexpected to something as hopelessly mundane as a pincushion. Anyone up for a pincushion challenge?
#27
Jackson Bowen 5 years ago
"Oh, dum dee dum, what a great day of whale hunting! I wonder what I should do with this earlobe I cut off of it? Oh, I have an idea! Let's paint a super cool, not creepy, face on it!"
#28
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
Ha! Another one! Was it all the rage to present proof that mermaids are real? A Victorian pastime?
#32
Steve Bowman 5 years ago
Maybe during a plague when no one went outside, the people had to do with what was in the house.
#34
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
It is a broken doll in need of some TLC, nothing creepy about that
#37
Mashedpotatoes 5 years ago
My great great grandmother made my great grandfather's first tooth into a necklace......
#42
Myrtille rat 5 years ago
'sad' fact a crew member offered to send the tricycle to Danny Lloyd after the movie but the kiddo never got it
#43
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
Maybe it was not that uncommon to wear a face mask to cover disfiguring scars from leprosy, syphilis, smallpox, or plague back in the 17th century? Modern medicine has changed the game altogether, but that does not extend to the infallible capability of idiocy by some people, anti-vaxxers, homeopaths, and others of comparable ilk.
#45
Mishte Tine 5 years ago
Olduvai has many secrets. Or did. I wanted to go to the Gorge and sift when I was a kid - so much.
#49
#50
Dutch VanZandt 5 years ago
I already disliked dolls... this has done nothing to sway my opinion.
#51
#52
#53
Mishte Tine 5 years ago (edited)
Beautiful and disturbing-ish. The flashlight, all the writing... is this a children’s book illustration?
#55
Mary McDonald 5 years ago
Ha! Notice the skeleton. I didn't know that losing all your skin was part of the aging process.
#60
#63
💥 Bakugou, Katsuki 💥 5 years ago
If he was “assassinated” then where is the blood and or puncture marks in the clothes! If they really did wash out the blood and sew the holes then it makes it less realistic. 💁♀️ Sorry this quarantine has me asking a lot of questions. 🥳
#64
#65
#67
Merlyn Emrys 5 years ago
Look at the little hands. Dolls wear out where theyre handled a lot. "Betsy" was well loved. How many games of patty cake or tea party did she sit through?
#69
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
Is this available as a poster? Asking for a friend who wants to decorate the spare bedroom for special occasions. ;-)
#71
Dutch VanZandt 5 years ago
Maybe it is a family's collection- it is still common practice for a mother to keep a lock of her child's hair from their first haircut.
#73
Hello Dolly 5 years ago
I wouldn’t be too terrified of hand made children’s play things. I bet quiet a few home made kids projects gone wrong are being made right now that just might make their way into museums not to far off into the future ( Yay not really for pandemic and the need to preserve history).
#79
Dutch VanZandt 5 years ago
I prefer to think of my dead pets (buried or cremated) as gamboling over the rainbow bridge into Pet Heaven...
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What do you think ?
JessG 5 years ago
I'm surprised there isn't anything from the Mutter museum here, just about EVERYTHING in it is creepy AF
mph seti 5 years ago
My naturally mummified crow. (It's in a shadow box on my wall now.) IMG_0026sm...ab188c.jpg 
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
OK, got lead quite astray here. I was thinking two things at the same time. "How is that a mummified cow" and "A mummified cow in a shadow box on the wall???" and then it hit me. I skipped reading one little letter'r'. LOL
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Jacey Brenda King 5 years ago
I honestly didn't think the hair bun was all that creepy. People have been wearing extensions and the like for ages. A lady's got to look her best! Right?
Seabeast 5 years ago
I suspect that this wasn't a hair extension, but the lady's actual scalp and hair.
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Animal lover❤ 5 years ago
Well, I saw it. I'm now more disturbed then I was before. Thank you.
Katinka Min 5 years ago
Fantastic battle! I did have to take a break after about 30 pics, though. I do want to eat something today, at some point.
Sarah Melville 5 years ago
Yes, how about Madame Tussauds? There are so many creepy people in there. Look in their eyes!
Pensive 5 years ago
Ask a Mortician fans reply in chorus: 'Bentham's Head!'
Load More Replies... JessG 5 years ago
I'm surprised there isn't anything from the Mutter museum here, just about EVERYTHING in it is creepy AF
mph seti 5 years ago
My naturally mummified crow. (It's in a shadow box on my wall now.) IMG_0026sm...ab188c.jpg
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
OK, got lead quite astray here. I was thinking two things at the same time. "How is that a mummified cow" and "A mummified cow in a shadow box on the wall???" and then it hit me. I skipped reading one little letter'r'. LOL
Load More Replies... Jacey Brenda King 5 years ago
I honestly didn't think the hair bun was all that creepy. People have been wearing extensions and the like for ages. A lady's got to look her best! Right?
Seabeast 5 years ago
I suspect that this wasn't a hair extension, but the lady's actual scalp and hair.
Load More Replies... Animal lover❤ 5 years ago
Well, I saw it. I'm now more disturbed then I was before. Thank you.
Katinka Min 5 years ago
Fantastic battle! I did have to take a break after about 30 pics, though. I do want to eat something today, at some point.
Sarah Melville 5 years ago
Yes, how about Madame Tussauds? There are so many creepy people in there. Look in their eyes!
Pensive 5 years ago
Ask a Mortician fans reply in chorus: 'Bentham's Head!'
Load More Replies...
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