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Museums Dedicated To Forteana / Oddities / Weirdness

View link with Michael Nyman's 'The Draughtsman's Contract'...

"...guided along as it were
a chain of flowers into
the mysteries of life."


The Cabinet of Curiosities for the 21st century - unspeakably cool stuff; visiting this place would almost certainly render you irresistable to all genders.

In fact, just talking about it enhances your personal magnetism ten-fold.

Have any of you fine people actually visited this palace? :)
 
Yes that place is great! It cracks me up when I visit and just wander around with a happy feeling of confusion. I love going with people and relishing their total bemusement also. We're lucky to have a place like that in a non-descript part of Los Angeles.
 
As a result of checking that place out (must visit when I'm next in California), I went looking for Ricky Jay's classic Cards as Weapons and found that it ranges in price from US$250 for a third edition in bad shape to US$525 for a signed first edition.

Bugger.

Does Jay run the place, or is he just a close friend? They have most of his other books available.
 
Curried sausage museum opens

July 20, 2005, 9:49:29

A museum devoted to curry-flavoured sausages will open in Berlin next year.

The 'currywurst' sausages - typically served smothered in ketchup dusted with curry powder and sliced into bite-sized chunks - have become a popular snack since they were first sold in Berlin in 1949.

Museum director, and sausage-lover, Birgit Breloh, said she was confident the museum would attract around 350,000 sausage-loving visitors every year.

www.femalefirst.co.uk/bizarre/75712004.htm
 
http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/mobp/

The purpose of this museum is to provide a shelter for strange, unwanted, malformed packets - abandoned and doomed freaks of nature - as we, mere mortals, meet them on the twisted paths of our grand journey called life.

Our exhibits - or, if you wish, inhabitants - are often just a shadow of what they used to be before they met a hostile, faulty router. Some of them were born deformed in the depth of a broken IP stack implementation.

Others were normal packets, just like all their friends, you or me, but got lost looking for the ultimate meaning of their existence, and arrived in places we should never see them.
 
Interesting. Sad that I am :)

Rest of the site is intriguing to say the least.......
 
Vampires, ghosts and mermaids under one roof


MALACCA, Tues. A rusty iron nail that can ward off vampires; a hideous "Jenglot" couple believed to be the shrunken husks of two mythical creatures which turned evil and are shunned by the netherworld (alam barzakh), leaving their souls earth-bound.

These are some of the items showcased in an exhibition themed "Mysterious World" ("Pameran Alam Misteri") at Bastion House here, jointly organised by the Malacca Museums Corporation (Perzim) and Famewell Venture Sdn Bhd.

The 35 items, some of which are said to be thousands of years old, were collected from India, the Middle East, Indonesia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia.

Other items of interest include a skull used by witch doctors in central Java to summon spirits, the bones of a "mermaid", and the purported remains of a "phoenix".

Perzim curator Mahadi Arifin said the two-month exhibition, which opened last Sunday, was aimed at addressing the public’s "morbid fascination with the supernatural".

"It is not to encourage their fascination, but to educate them on what makes them think an object or phenomenon is mysterious or supernatural by unravelling their so-called mystery.

"This exhibition is focused on what is regarded as mysterious in Malay culture, from the existence of pontianak (vampires) and Jenglot to jembalang (ghosts)," Mahadi said.

Entry costs RM3 for adults and RM1 for children and students. The exhibition is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5.30pm.

Source
 
Museum Of Jurassic Technology.Not Afiliated With The Park.

Mods, not sure where to put this, but it seems definately fortean. I just found this link http://www.mjt.org/ and it seems worthy of being added to my bookmarks.

The website is for the Museum of Jurassic Technology. I've not fully explored the site, but from what I've read it looks very promising....

The only thing that I've figured out so far is that it seemingly has nothing to do with the Jurassic Period, but is still worth checking out.

EDIT: It should be worth noting that I haden't even seen this thread as I don't ever browse this particular forum....
 
(Iceland's Phallological Museum / "Penis Museum" ... )

...finally gets a human specimen!

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top? ... 50b771ab22

visitors walk around the exhibits of phalluses from whales, seals, bears and other mammals, in the museum in the tiny Icelandic fishing town of Husavik. The museum started in capital Reykjavik but has since moved to Husavik, a small community probably better known for its whale watching. The museum is an important part of the region's tourist industry, bringing in thousands of visitors every summer. Highlights of the museum's collection include a 170-centimeter (67-inch) sperm whale penis preserved in formaldehyde, lampshades made from bull testicles and what the museum described as an "unusually big" penis bone from a Canadian walrus.

In life, Pall Arason sought attention. In death, he is getting it: The 95-year-old Icelander's pickled penis will be the main attraction in one of his country's most bizarre museums.

Sigurdur Hjartarson, who runs the Phallological Museum in the tiny Icelandic fishing town of Husavik, said Arason's organ will help round out the unusual institution's extensive collection of phalluses from whales, seals, bears and other mammals.

Several people had pledged their penises over the years — including an American, a Briton, and a German — but Arason's was the first to be successfully donated, Hjartarson said.

"I have just been waiting for this guy for 15 years," he told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview.
 
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According to a friend who's been there (the country not the frozen food store) they eat testicles pickled in bile.
 
Arent bowhead whales supposed to be bigger than sperm ones????
 
The story of the Red Palace oddities museum.

Plenty of pics at the link.

http://brightestyoungthings.com/articles/dcs-lifeless-menagerie-the-legacy-of-a-displaced-museum.htm

The solitary figure of Joseph Merrick (known to most as the “Elephant Man”) sits unattended in the empty hallway of a storage facility in East Baltimore. Though once proudly perched overlooking the rest of DC’s iconic Red Palace oddities museum, now, moth eaten and ravaged by circumstance, he is all but forgotten. Shelved and transported countless times over the last several years, he, along with the remainder of the extensive collection (owned and curated by James Taylor), is the unwitting victim of the gentrification of H Street, NE.

Hardly anyone would argue that a decrease in neighborhood crime and the increased availability of diverse retail and restaurants in the area is a bad thing. There are, however, always casualties when profitability becomes priority. So what exactly happens when you evict a museum? Particularly, to the residents of one brimming with bizarre, strange and unusual creatures- some of which completely defy explanation.

To understand the journey of the ousted menagerie, one must first understand the nature of museums. The intention of nearly every museum is preservation; whether the focus is history, heritage, imagination, or possibility, museums create a myriad of narratives intent on guiding their audiences through the veritable unknown. Museums also provide a powerful resource for shaping the identity of a community; the curiosity of an incredibly diverse set of patrons begets an extraordinary opportunity for conversation, exploration and adventure. The journey of this particular collection dates back to 1999 in Baltimore, MD where it was heralded and celebrated as the Baltimore Dime Museum. When the Baltimore location closed its doors in 2006, the exhibits took up residence in the Palace of Wonders, on H St NE in DC. After several years of successful exhibition, they were temporarily displaced during renovations, then resurrected and rearranged to adorn the walls, ceilings, nooks and crannies under the location’s new moniker, Red Palace. With exhibits dedicated to everything from sideshow to circus, vaudeville to burlesque and everything bizarre and unusual in between, it is one of the most unique and extensive collections ever housed in the DC area.

After the abrupt demise of the Red Palace in January 2013, the collection found itself dispossessed; Evicted, once again, doomed to (at least) a temporary stint in several local storage units. The owner, along with patrons and supporters of the museum, had high hopes for its eventual reemergence in the community, but days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and a year and 3 months later, the collection continues to gather dust. The closest thing to exhibition this collection of curiosities experiences these days is the mandatory shuffling from one unit to another as the pieces are re-evaluated, sold off or placed in a private collection. Packing away the lifeless zoo has become a bittersweet routine for its keeper, James Taylor, who spent years carefully amassing such peculiar history. The impressive archive, which had become an unrivaled and bizarre fixture in the community, has been reduced in the public’s eye to a fading memory.

There is a voracious public appetite for these sort of anomalies, though one would say it is like watching a car crash- everything about you wants to look away, but on some primal level, you can’t bring yourself to do so. These oddities, some macabre, others fanciful, and a few just downright perplexing, are endless conversation pieces and heroes in their own right. One wonders, for instance, how many times the Elephant Man came to the rescue during a lull in polite but desperate discourse on an otherwise mundane first date. Or how often the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Unicorn was cause for lighthearted debate on whether or not it was, in fact, a REAL unicorn. But these days, one can only wonder. The pieces of the collection lay strewn about the cramped storage space in relative disarray as the latest move unfolds. Fivey, a freakishly adorable five legged beagle who was once a focal point of the Palace’s display, now lay, wrapped in plastic, balanced atop several anomalous specimens, precariously out of reach, and very much out of sight. The Unicorn, despite its caretakers best efforts, suffers from relentless attacks by insects who make their favorite meals out of whimsical taxidermy.

As much as their displacement was a byproduct of profitability, their current state is just as much a result of this same dilemma. Re-housing the museum would mean finding a local venue that would support (both financially and otherwise) the collection, overall, and could properly showcase the unique allure of the individual pieces; to date, the opportunity for this has been all but absent. The wonder and spectacle of this once thriving treasury of all things odd continues to languish within the generic walls of a Baltimore storage facility, lacking the celebration it so richly deserves. And so the Elephant Man sits, the Velveteen Rabbit of this weird menagerie, longing for an audience, awaiting his next exhibition and a new life.
 
I'd love to work somewhere like that .. even if it was just getting the exhibits in and out of crates. This reminds me of the warehouse from Return of the Living Dead 8) . I expect some of this stuff will be auctioned off to private buyers.
 
kamalktk said:
Hardly anyone would argue that a decrease in neighborhood crime and the increased availability of diverse retail and restaurants in the area is a bad thing.

How does closing this place decrease crime? Does adding some chain store or over priced eatery really add anything to a neighborhood?
 
paranoid420 said:
kamalktk said:
Hardly anyone would argue that a decrease in neighborhood crime and the increased availability of diverse retail and restaurants in the area is a bad thing.

How does closing this place decrease crime? Does adding some chain store or over priced eatery really add anything to a neighborhood?
Perhaps Mr. Merrick came to life after hours and walked around the area as a pickpocket?
 
So that's what happened to the Dime Museum!

Were it open today, it might relocate to the new 'theater district' on north Charles Street-the old location was less than ideal.

You never know what will work in Baltimore. The old Brokerage mall, only a few blocks from Harbor Place withered and died, despite being one of the most beautiful retail spaces I ever saw.

Now, converted into a very ordinary shopping area, it thrives.

Go figure.
 
Tokens of broken dreams in a museum to the end of love
Zagreb letter: Collection of tat from around the world hilarious, moving and cringe-inducing


http://www.irishtimes.com/news/worl...-museum-to-the-end-of-love-1.2608179#comments
image.jpg

Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic have since 2010 have been collecting the remains of couples’ break-ups and exhibiting them in their Museum of Broken Relationships (above). File photograph: Hrvoje Polan/AFP/Getty Images
Croatia, a spot that lends itself to first kisses and whispered pledges, has also come to symbolise the end of many affairs.

The medieval heart of the capital Zagreb’s upper town, with its warren of cobblestone streets, tucked-away squares and stone stairs, offers a choice of quiet locations in which couples can gaze out over the city and admire the views. It is also the perfect backdrop for proffering that special love token, whether a soft toy or diamond ring.

While they busy themselves falling in love and exchanging mementoes, however, others for whom the gazing and admiring have worn thin bring the leavings of their failed romances to the nearby Baroque Kulmer Palace.

There they are met by ex-lovers Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic, who since 2010 have been collecting the remains of couples’ break-ups and exhibiting them in their Museum of Broken Relationships.

The result, a collection of tat from around the world presented alongside notes explaining the significance of each item, is at turns hilarious, moving and cringe-inducing.

Toast to the end
Now we know what becomes of the broken-hearted’s love letters, toilet-roll holders and garden gnomes.
There is, for example, the “Toaster of Vindication”, stolen by an aggrieved lover in Denver, Colorado, at the end of a four-year relationship. “When I moved out, and across the country, I took the toaster,” the note reads. “That’ll show you. How are you going to toast anything now?”

Then there is “Honey Bunny”: a photograph of a toy rabbit packed in the bags of a globe-hopping couple from Zagreb. “The bunny was supposed to travel the world but never got farther than Iran,” the partner left holding the rabbit explains. “This is not Photoshopping but a real photo of the bunny in a desert near Teheran.” ...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/worl...eams-in-a-museum-to-the-end-of-love-1.2608179
 
Abraham Lincoln's final (his corpse was in a few vehicles before this one) hearse and other non car related oddities await you at the Tallahassee Automobile Museum ..

 
Abraham Lincoln's final (his corpse was in a few vehicles before this one) hearse

One of the vehicles was a train, which was painted/draped in black for the purpose. People turned out to watch it pass, and it made such an impression that it's still apparently seen in ghostly form, steaming silently along the up-line to Heaven...
 
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Those are great link's I love that sort of thing, sort of a tributes to heroic failures, wonderful.
 
There is also a museum dedicated to failed products in Helsingborg, Sweden. The Museum of Failure.
 
The Museum Of The Bizarre, Willmington, North Carolina

 
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Weird and wonderful things that might or might not be part of the Smithsonian museum collection

 
Well, I have learned a lot about Museums now, and hope one day to end up in one...

(...You may interpret that how you may...)

I still prefer the old fashioned ones though.

One of my favorites at the moment is the one on Shipwrecks and Salvage in Charlestown, near St Austell.

A big privately run one, with lots to gawp at.

The ticket gets you into the Harbour area too, with tall ships and a pirate. The port is unchanged and for those who love architecture is a joy.
 
There is also a museum dedicated to failed products in Helsingborg, Sweden. The Museum of Failure.

The Museum of Failure is apparently an exhibition rather than an institutional museum in a fixed location.

The Museum of Failure is a collection of failed products and services. The museum showcases failures to provide visitors a learning experience about the important role of failure for innovation and to encourage organizations to become better at learning from failure. The exhibition opened on June 7, 2017 in Helsingborg, Sweden. The exhibit reopened at Dunkers Kulturhus on June 2, 2018. The exhibition closed for good in january 2019. A temporary exhibit opened in Los Angeles in December 2017. The Los Angeles museum is on Hollywood Blvd. in the Hollywood & Highland Center.

SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Failure

The museum's website (which may or may not be active) is at:

https://failuremuseum.com/
 
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