When we think of museums, we usually expect paintings, sculptures and beautiful art collections. But some have more, exhibiting all sorts of collections related to everything creepy, haunted and cursed! If you’re feeling brave enough to visit such places, here are 10 of the world’s creepiest museums.
1. Torture Museum, Amsterdam
From the spiked inquisition chair to thumb-screws and skull-crushers, visitors to Amsterdam’s TOrture Museum can see the historical tools of pain and punishment that were used to brutally extract confessions of crimes at the time.
2. Vent Haven Museum, USA
Located in Kentucky, USA, Vent Haven Museum is the world’s only museum dedicated to ventriloquial figures and memorabilia. Housing a disturbing collection of ventriloquist dolls, the museum was founded by William Shakespeare Berger, a Cincinnati businessman and amateur ventriloquist.
3. Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, England
The museum is dedicated to European witchcraft and magic and is located in the village of Boscastle in Cornwall, southwest England. It houses exhibits devoted to folk magic, ceremonial magic, Freemasonry and Wicca and its collection of objects has been described as the largest in the world, making it a must visit. The most famous item here is the sculpture of the Horned God of Wicca, so be sure to check that out.
4. Pitt Rivers Museum, England
This museum is located not far from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and is an incredible place to visit. You can find a bizarre display of real tsantsas, or shrunken heads, from the upper Amazon region between Peru and Ecuador, as well as all sorts of weird and curious displays.
5. Clown Museum Leipzig, Germany
Some people think clowns are hilarious, others are terrified of them. If you’re one of the latter maybe avoid this museum! Located in Leipzig, Germany, the museum houses more than 3,000 clown figures all in different sizes and materials. The collection is made up of clowns from all around the world and also a huge archive of newspaper articles, photos, film footage, and 350 circus posters related to clown entertainment.
6. Catacombe dei Cappuccini, Italy
Catacombe dei Cappuccini is a burial catacomb in Palermo, Italy. A long time ago this place was a cemetery and it has the largest collection of mummified bodies in the world. The most famous among them is the mummy of a little girl named Rosalia Lombardo who died on 6 December 1920.
7. Hair Museum, Türkiye
Perhaps one of the strangest museums in the world, the Hair Museum is located in Avanos, Türkiye, and houses thousands of hairs from around the world. The story began when Galip Körükçü, the owner of Chez Galip, a pottery shop, moved to Avanos and was separated from his girlfriend. In order to remind himself of her, he asked her to give him something that he will remember forever, and she gave him a lock of her hair. Some time later the story spread and more and more people started donating their hair.
8. Froggyland, Croatia
Froggyland in Split, Croatia, exhibits hundreds of stuffed frogs in all sorts human-like scenarios. Besides the well thought out scenarios, the displays are accompanied by witty captions, making the experience that much more entertaining.
9. Mütter Museum, USA
The Mütter Museum is a medical museum located in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It has huge collections of skeletons, including the tallest skeleton on display in the US. Besides all the bones, you can also find a collection of numerous wax models of various pathologies in the human body. You can also see the brain of Albert Einstein!
10. Siriraj Medical Museum, Thailand
The Siriraj Medical Museum, nicknamed the Museum of Death, is a medical museum in Bangkok, Thailand, comprised of six smaller museums. You will find the mummified serial killer named Si Quey on display in the Forensic Museum. You can also see parasites which have been collected from patients and are displayed with a presentation of their life cycle and natural habitat.
