Have you ever heard museums be called weird and wacky? Chances are you never would have even imagined that museums could be described as strange and crazy. Museums are usually known as a place to store and exhibit historical artifacts, ancient objects, or anything of cultural interest. But there are some that redefines the definition of museums. As technology moves faster, museums keep on exposing our darkest preoccupations, brilliant ideas and limitless creativity. These extraordinary and not-o-traditional museums will make you squirm, skittish, creep out and bring all sorts of emotions there are in the world. Let’s dig deeper into the quirky and creepy museums across the world. But before that, make sure to have a glass of water as these museums will most likely spin your head.
Museum of Enduring Beauty, Malaysia
You might have seen creepy looking tribal people on National Geographic with weird jewellery and super-freakish rituals followed throughout the world. But that might not be as creepy as the museum of enduring beauty is. The museum exhibits outlandish customs and beauty standards that will make you appreciate your own beauty big time. You can see every bizarre standard of beauty followed in different cultures that is enough to make you writhe. What we consider mutilation is their modification. From inserting round disks into people’s mouth to neck stretching, feet growing restrictions to skin tattooing, the museum challenges our perception of beauty and opens up our mind to alternative cultures.
Avanos Hair Museum, Turkey
A hair museum? Like seriously? Well, don’t be surprised to read about Avanos hair museum as it might be a little weird but not as freakish as the museum of enduring beauty. With more than 16,000 samples of different hair, Avanos hair museum is an interesting place to be. Located in central Turkey, the museum has quite handful collections of hair from different women along with their names and addresses.
This hairy heaven has an interesting story behind it. A local potter Chez Galip while bidding farewell to his friend asked for a souvenir. The lady in the picture cut off stands of her hair and hand it over to him. The potter stuck the souvenir in his shop (now a museum) and told the story to everyone who passes by his shop. This gave rise to a tradition were women leave a sample of their hair and hang it on the walls of the museum. Fancy a visit to turkey now eh?
Museum of Bad Art, USA
Reading the headline, you must be thinking of how bad the museum of bad art can be? Well contrary to what we normally perceive that museums collect artifacts and a great piece of art, but there is a museum in USA that has a soft corner for lousy art too. Strangely, it attracts visitors in large numbers (who wouldn’t want to see bad art!) who come to see the ugliest piece of art there can ever be. It’s the only museum that collects, preserves, exhibits and celebrates bad art in all forms. The museum houses collection of work from both renowned artists and unknown ones who either had a terrible day when they made those masterpieces of bad art or were barely in their right senses. Nonetheless, it’s a great place to be if you wish to boost confidence in your artistic skills because the arts showcased there won’t even make it up to your storeroom let alone Louvre.
Sulabh International Museum of Toilet, India
If you take everyday things in life for granted, Sulabh international museum of toilet will make you understand the importance of toilets. As distressing as it sound, the toilet museum will walk you through a history of hygiene and sanitation dating back to 2500 BC. You will get to see every sort of toilet from gold-plated ones used by Roman emperors to medieval commodes. A walk through this museum will drag you to the world of toilets with different shapes, lores, facts, its evolution and everything in between that are strange but interesting. It also has a rare collection of toilet poems. Can you believe it?
Bread Museum, Germany
Don’t even think about eating bread in the bread museum, because there isn’t a single loaf of bread you’ll find there. If your heart also sank by reading this then you have to visit the museum once in this life. Bread museum isn’t creepy or freaky but rather an unusual one that houses all kinds of artifacts related to bread made in every corner of the planet. Those who are interested in learning about the history of bread and bread culture all over the world can pay a visit to this museum.
Museum of Cryptozoology, USA
To those who don’t know what Cryptozoology is, here’s a brief you should know before you visit the museum of Cryptozoology in USA. It’s a pseudoscience that is all about providing the existence of mythical creatures and animals that you might have read about in storybooks. From loch ness monster to yeti, mermaids to chupacabra, kraken to mothman, the museum is flooded with mythical creatures. In case you wish to laugh out loud with friends, this is the place you should be heading to. There are no scientific evidences of these creatures and walking past their figurines and is surely going to be an unusual experience. If you like looking at weird things, Museum of Cryptozoology is not going to disappoint you.
Cancun Underwater Museum, Mexico
Cancun underwater museum is unlike any museum you have had seen or heard of. While museums are usually constructed on surface, Cancun is special in many ways. Touring the museum is one experience that you will never forget in life. The unnerving calm and mystic underwater conditions will remind you of the land of Atlantis. The museum houses life-sized sculptures, and statues in different poses fixed to the seabed that adds mystery to the whole environment. To capture the beauty of the underwater world, you can opt for a glass-bottomed boat ride or snorkel/scuba dive to the place.
Museum of Broken Relationship, Croatia
Breakups are bad. All of us go through the tough times and figure out ways to get out of it and start living afresh. While some find comfort in listening sad songs, some make themselves busy plotting revenge and others just cry and cry till their tears run dry. But, there is a tiny faction of heartbroken lovers who write their failed love stories or more like break up stories and send it to the museum of broken relationship. Are you amazed? You have every right to be.
The museum encourages visitors to donate artifacts from their own failed relationships to overcome the emotional breakdown. Don’t get all mushy when reading this as the museum will surprise you at every step. Don’t get flabbergasted when you spot pink cuffs, wooden artifacts, garish rings, boots etc items are left by former lovers along with the synopsis of their failed relationship.
The Plastinarium, Germany
Biology teaches us so many things about ourselves and addresses questions like how we were made, what is the role of tissues, how body parts work etc. Chances are you might have read about internal organs and human body in your school days. You might not have taken your body parts seriously back then. But the Plastinarium in Germany gives grim views of human and animal anatomy that is bound to shock you to the core. Plastination is a process where polymers are used to preserve the tissues. The grotesque preserved bodies might give you a nightmare. Which is why, the Plastinarium is one of the most freakish and weird museums in the world.
The Museum of Food Anomalies
So far we’ve been discussing museums that are literally brick and mortar buildings. But can you even imagine an online museum that displays ‘food gone wrong’ pictures? Well, there is one for sure! The museum of food anomalies has a collection of food that is wacky and deformed. It’s quite an entertaining museum that shows you the hilariousness of deformation in food from all over the world. The website is so quirky (although foodies would hate to see those images) that you won’t be able to see regular food the same way. Some of the extremely funny figures on this museum are- smiling fry, suffocated candy, pac-man chip, pickle face, Dracula pepper and happy pepper.
