HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!
Every year during the month of October THIS BELONGS IN A MUSEUM attempts to highlight some Halloween-worthy museums and attractions. I hope you enjoyed learning about them. Maybe one day you will be able to visit Munich’s Asamkirche where a gilded skeleton sculpture tries to cut down an innocent cherub with a pair of scissors at or see with your own eyes the table made completely out of human remains at the Museum of the History of Medicine in Paris. One can only hope! Because I am sort of like a character in High Fidelity, here is a Top 10 list of the scariest and creepiest places from the blog’s archive, in case you might have missed them the first time around:
Witch’s Dungeon Classic Movie Museum Open since 1966, this is the longest-running Halloween-ish museum in the U.S. with classic movie monsters on display and outdoor screenings of silent horror classics.
Serial Killer Museum Forget the history and art of Florence, you should go see this museum, which goes back to the mass murderers of the 15th century. There’s even a mock-up of Ed Gein’s shack full of his creations made out of the skin of his victims.
Mütter Museum Shout-out to Philly’s gross anatomy museum, which started in 1858 with the medical research collection of Dr. Thomas Mütter. Known for its oddities and specimens, you can check out the thorax of John Wilkes Booth or the famous Soap Lady.
Museum of Vampires and Legendary Creatures Known as the Musée des Vampires, a French scholar opened his small vampire-related collection to the public. You can see hundreds of vampire films, books, art objects and paintings, movie posters and props, and even a vampire-killing kit!
Ten Courts of Hell Nobody likes hell (except for the people who choose to never leave their suburban subdivisions) so you will probably find this Chinese Mythological Outdoor Park absolutely frightening.
Museo Galileo We’re back in Florence, this time at a Science Museum for one creepy object: Galileo’s mummified middle finger from his right hand on display in a gold and glass reliquary
Devil Museum Lithuania’s Žmuidzinavičius Museum displays over 3,000 sculptures and carvings of devils from all over the world. One famous piece ’The Division of Lithuania’, features Hitler and Stalin as two fork-tailed devils, dancing on a pile of human skulls.
Munster Mansion In Waxahachie, Texas there is a nearly perfect replica of the Munster family home. Yes, a television show. If you’re interested in visiting the house, it is available for FREE tours during the month of October. Add it to your bucket list!
Waldsassen Basilica This is the place where your macabre dream come true. The church contains ten reliquaries of richly dressed and bejeweled skeletons of Christian martyrs, the largest intact collection in all of Europe, known as the “Holy Bodies”.
Cockroach Hall of Fame Museum Okay, maybe some of you people are not at all afraid of these godawful insects, but try living with them for two years and see how you like it. Anyway, some guy in Texas turns dead roaches into the art of nightmares. I am sweating just thinking about it.
Honorable Mentions: Vrolik Museum, Austria’s Undertakers’ Museum, and Toland-Herzig Funeral Home’s Famous Endings Museum.
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