Are you planning a trip for your annual leave? Are you looking for interesting things to do and visit? Well then, heading to a museum might not really be at the top of your list. The stereotypical idea of visiting obsolete objects that are supposedly “historical symbols of culture” may not seem very intriguing and might end up feeling like an elongated tour of watching paint dry. But surprise, surprise, it looks like there’s an exception to every rule, even in the world of museums! Head on down the list to find out more about eight of the world’s most shocking museums!
The Disgusting Food Museum
Located in Sweden, the disgusting food museum has a name that’s pretty self-explanatory. It is a collection of 80 of the most revolting foods from all around the world. The fun part is that the daring visitors should feel free to try the food, but not so fun as the ticket for the museum is literally a barf bag. The types of foods in the museum don’t even sound like food, quite frankly, and the ‘menu’ varies from the smelliest to the grossest looking, to the two options mixed together. But the museum is not just about unusual food for shock value; its aim is to challenge visitors’ perception of what is and what isn’t edible; to maybe push towards the idea of more environmentally sustainable sources of food that aren’t normally thought about. Would you give it a try?
Via NDTV.com
Museum of The Odd
Located in the USA, Randy Walker turned his Kansas home into what is now known as “Museum of the Odd”, filled with collections of the creepiest objects! And when we say creepy we mean things like photographs of corpses in their coffin, ashtrays and lamps made of animal limbs, and the creepiest of all: a lock of Elvis Presley’s hair, one of his toenails, and a piece of the sheets he slept on. No, thanks, we don’t want to know how he could’ve possibly gotten those.
Via Journalstar.com
Museum of Enduring Beauty
The Museum of Enduring Beauty, in Malaysia, proves that throughout history beauty really has been pain. The museum explores different standards of beauty through time and culture. It also highlights the extremes people went to trying to reach these beauty standards. It shows pictures and sculptors of different beauty regimes and modifications that might be shocking. The most agonizing practice has to be feet binding, which is done to girls at a very young age, by tying their feet so tightly that the bones actually break in the process. The girls are then forced to walk on them until the bones heal in that shape. All of that just to make the feet look inhumanely small.
Via mashable.com
The Cancun Underwater Museum
Based in Cancun, Mexico, The Cancun Underwater Museum (known as MUSA) is a non-profit organization devoted to the art of conservation. The museum consists of galleries submerged three to six meters underwater, and the fun twist is that you can actually dive underwater to explore a total of 500 sculptors! If you’re not into diving, you can still enjoy the incredible museum through a glass boat. But diving around art has got to be a once in a lifetime experience!
Via saatalgroup.com
For those of you who are faint hearted, this is about to take a very dark turn. So here is your reminder to click that back button now.
The Vrolik Museum
Back in the 1800s, Gerardus Vrolik, one of the most important scientists in Amsterdam at the time, started his own collection of human deformities. Yes, you read that right. The collection includes conjoined twins, deformed embryos, deformed skulls and spines, and all types of abnormalities in the human body. All of which ended up being purchased by the city of Amsterdam and found its place in The University Of Amsterdam for academic and research purposes.
Via cvltnation.com
Museum Of Mummies
Also known as The Mummies of Guanajuato, these are the naturally mummified bodies resulting from a cholera outbreak in Mexico in 1833. During this period of time, a tax fee was required for burial, so the bodies that weren’t paid for ended up being stored in an empty building. Apparently, the climate in Guanajuato led to natural mummification, which cemetery workers made use of and started charging people to enter the building where bones and mummies were stored; making it a tourist attraction back then. Years later, the place was turned into a museum called El Museo de las Momias (“The Museum of the Mummies”). The museum is still one of the most interesting, freaky touristic attractions and has a collection that totals 111 different types of mummies.
Via culturetrip.com
Torture Museum
Surprisingly, there are a lot of torture museums all around the world and they are all equally and insanely dreadful. In ST. Augustine, Florida, you’ll find the scariest means of torture used on humans in the dark, medieval times. Watching a video or shots of the museum, through a screen sends shivers down your spine on its own, so being surrounded by those tools and demonstrations of how they were used on humans must be a whole different level of unbearable!
Via tiqets.com
Museum Of Death
We had to save the absolutely most horrific for last. The Museum of Death found in Hollywood, Los Angeles, is a museum established not only for entertaining, but also, to make people “happy to be alive”. The museum’s collection is unbelievably shocking and not at all for the faint hearted.
The collection includes: a freaky art section showcasing art made by serial killers, graphic pictures of murder scenes and gory deaths and an instructional video of how to perform an autopsy, on a real dead body. It gets worse; the museum kept the preserved head of a serial killer named Henri Landru “bluebeard of Paris”. Although they don’t allow taking pictures inside, we don’t advice you to look any of that up, in fear of what you might find.
Via vice.com
