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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

"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.

#2

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YoyoSthlm
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you turn it to the right it looks like a surprised cow! :)

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Monika Soffronow
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Insert a Hepa- filter and it will be perfectly fine today, with the added bonus that people will keep more than two meters away.

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Lyop
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Looking at it makes me feel I already caught something....

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Ana Jovanovic
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You should start selling these, it will go out like hot cakes pretty soon!

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Angela-Jayne Linford
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Drs would insert herbs into the 'beak' often to prevent spread to the dr but more often to prevent the smell of death and the dying.

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Eulalie Grace
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If I had the Plague and saw that coming at me, I'd be finished for sure.

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Daniel Mason
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I must of missed the Simpsons episode where Homer turned into Pinocchio

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GALAUNA BULLARD
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wonder if the plegue virus is in there if it is 2020 is doomed enough

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Ezigma
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Makes you wonder if centuries from now our Corona virus masks will be considered odd.

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Viv Hart
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember seeing pictures of these, from the Black Death.

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Roger Bird
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It is a death mask from the Black Death, 1340's Europe. Very appropriate.

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Iris T👁
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We might need to design our own like that at this point lol

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Jonahs Mrs
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think in the days of the bubonic plague the medical world believed that the plague was caused by the horrendous odours of the world at that time, human waste disposed of in the streets, animals living indoors etc, so the huge nose part would be filled with sweet smelling herbs to protect the doctor from catching the plague when treating people for it. The nursery rhyme "ring a ring of roses" is rumoured to be about the bubonic plague x

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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.

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Titas Burinskas
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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"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.

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Monika Soffronow
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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?

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Monika Soffronow
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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Orionpax75
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The "Real" Annabelle... I'd throw this thing deep in an abyss somewhere and never look back!

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Dutch VanZandt
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Scold's bridle... see this https://www.hevercastle.co.uk/news/castle-objects-month-february-scolds-bridles/

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Monika Soffronow
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I actually like this one, for bringing the completely unexpected to something as hopelessly mundane as a pincushion. Anyone up for a pincushion challenge?

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Cori
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The upraised, wagging finger is what pushed me iver the edge. **shudders**

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Jackson Bowen
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"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!"

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Monika Soffronow
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ha! Another one! Was it all the rage to present proof that mermaids are real? A Victorian pastime?

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Note: this post originally had 87 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.