Curiosities
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The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things might be an imaginary institution, but it's so captivating that over 4 million people have already paid it a visit.
Created by curator and art historian Dr. Chelsea Nichols, the museum celebrates the odd, the creative, the spooky, and the eccentric. Oftentimes all at once, too.
From early twentieth century German Halloween accessories to eighteenth century Japanese medical book illustrations, the display showcases a diverse array of artifacts that defy conventional categorization, providing a unique experience for those who are interested in all parts of culture.
More info: ridiculouslyinteresting.com | Instagram | Facebook
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
A Woman Of Many Disguises! This Is An Example Of An Unusual Fad From The Mid-1600s: Miniature Oil Portraits That Came With Clear Slices Of Mica Painted With Different Costumes
Final score:
202points
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zububonsai zububonsai Community Member Follow
So, basically an antique pic filter?
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#2
Gilt-Bronze Bat Chandelier Made Around 1910 By Swedish Lamp Company Böhlmarks. My Favourite Detail Is The Pendant Lights That Are Enclosed By Little Furled Bats Hanging Upside Down
Final score:
199points
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Multa Nocte Multa Nocte Community Member Follow
I want this!
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According to its website, The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things started back in 2011 as Dr. Chelsea Nichols' personal blog. However, it eventually fell into "a period of outrageous neglect and decay," and was relaunched in 2019 as an umbrella site for "a series of digital, curatorial, and writing projects dedicated to making the world a weirder and more interesting place."
#3
Amazing Illustrations From A C.1720 Japanese Medical Book On Smallpox, Which Cleverly Uses Paper Embossing To Show The Changing Texture Of Smallpox Lesions During Different Stages Of The Disease
Final score:
169points
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Deta Rossiter Deta Rossiter Community Member Follow
super cool
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#4
Black Cat Paper Fan Made In Germany In The 1920s. I Know This Was Intended As A Novelty Halloween Accessory, But I Can Think Of At Least Six Of My Regular Outfits That Would Go Perfectly With A Pissed-Off Cat
Final score:
163points
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Floeckchen Floeckchen Community Member Follow
Germany doesn't really celebrate halloween. Especially not in 1920
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#5
About 4500 Years Ago, Ancient Egyptian Parents Put This Homemade Ball In Their Child's Grave As A Toy For The Kid To Play With In The Afterlife
Final score:
145points
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Dante McBride Dante McBride Community Member Follow
Sweet
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As a curator, Nichols is interested "in the strange and dark corners of art history." She has a DPhil from the University of Oxford, where her doctoral thesis examined human curiosities in contemporary art. When she's not posting online, Nichols works as the senior curator at The Dowse Art Museum, throwing such bonkers exhibitions as Candy Coated, The Truth Is Out There, and Steamed Hams.
#6
Traditional Irish Jack-O'-Lantern Carved From A Turnip, Circa 1850. Preserved All These Years By The Tears Of Children, I Presume
Final score:
138points
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Donteatme666 Donteatme666 Community Member Follow
The horror 😭 theee horrorrrr
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#7
These Are A Very Rare Set Of 16th Century Italian Notation Knives. Each Side Has Musical Notes And Lyrics Engraved On The Steel Blade, Which Are Meant To Be Sung As Grace Before And After A Meal
Final score:
135points
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glowworm2 glowworm2 Community Member Follow
The one on the bottom got disGraced!
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#8
A Neon Salesman's Sample Case, Circa 1935
Final score:
131points
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Mat O'Dowd Mat O'Dowd Community Member Follow
The Pulp Fiction briefcase revealed!!! It wasn't Marcellus Wallace's soul after all!
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#9
Screaming Baby Dolls Made From Bisque Porcelain By German Dollmaker Kestner Around 1920. This Doll Gives Me Such A Visceral Stress Response. Honestly, I Don't Understand Who Would Ever Want Such A Thing Unless It Shoots Birth Control Pills Out Of Its Mouth At You Like A Pez Dispenser
Final score:
129points
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Daria 3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017
so toothy
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Nichols is also one half of the duo Curator of Screams, a collaboration with fellow curator Aaron Lister, through which they explore the relationship between contemporary art and horror movies. Their exhibition projects have included artist-as-vampire Josh Azzarella: Triple Feature, an exploration of the witch archetype in Sisterly, and an ode to folk horror with Eerie Pagentry.
#10
The Shoe That Marie Antoinette Lost When She Tripped Going Up The Steps To The Guillotine On The Morning Of Her Execution, 16 October 1793
Final score:
120points
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Awkward lady Awkward lady Community Member Follow
Poor woman, she didn't deserve her fate.
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#11
Shoe Doll That Belonged To A Child In The Slums Of London In The Early 20th Century. It Is Handmade From Fabric Scraps And The Heel Of A Man's Delapidated Shoe, With Hair Made From An Old Black Sock
Final score:
117points
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JoNo JoNo Community Member Follow
"Children these days should count themselves lucky"! The child who had this would have loved their dolly.
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#12
Gold Spider Earrings, 300 Bc To 100 Bc, From The Bactrian Region In Modern Day Afghanistan
Final score:
112points
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Kazza Kazza Community Member Follow
Thats all my nightmares need: Spiders with hands and opposable thumbs to grip.
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#13
When The Lid Is Opened On This Victorian Gold Charm, A Little Demon With Sparkling Rhinestone Eyes Pops Out. These (Frankly Adorable) Devil Totems Were Worn As Symbols Of Temperance -- A Reminder To Resist The Sinful Temptation Of Drinking Alcohol
Final score:
107points
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Awkward lady Awkward lady Community Member Follow
Would like this!
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However, in 2020, The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things also entered the real world, in the form of an acclaimed pop-up exhibition called Lost Heads & Hobgoblins at The Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. ADVERTIsem*nT
#14
In The Early 1900s A Man Couldn't Afford Proper Dentures, So He Made His Own Using Melted Down Toothbrush Handles And The Teeth Of A Dead Coyote
Final score:
99points
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Tiffany Marie Tiffany Marie Community Member Follow
Smart resourceful guy.
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#15
A Tiny Devil Vitrified In A Prism Of Glass. In The 18th Century, The Imperial Treasury Of Vienna Attested That This Was A Real Demon Which Had Been Trapped In Glass During An Exorcism In Germany A Century Earlier
Final score:
99points
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Donteatme666 Donteatme666 Community Member Follow
Interesting 🤔 then again I'm the type to say let's let it out to see if it's true
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#16
Ghoulish Gold Earrings Depicting The Severed Heads Of Marie Antoinette And King Louis Xvi Were Sold As Souvenirs During Their Execution By Guillotine In 1793
Final score:
96points
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Awkward lady Awkward lady Community Member Follow
Where's the fridge magnets?!
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#17
Silvered Glass Bottle Said To Contain The Spirit Of A Witch Inside. It Was Collected In 1915 From An Old Lady Living Near Hove, Sussex, Who Sternly Warned That If You Opened The Wax Seal There Would Be A "Peck O'trouble"
Final score:
93points
POST
Poppy Poppy Community Member Follow
She probably farted into it.
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#18
These Amazing Vintage Krampus Claws Come From A Small Town In Austria, And Were Used At An Annual Krampus Festival For Approximately 70 Years
Final score:
92points
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Rebecca Derr Rebecca Derr Community Member Follow
Needs to become more well known.
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19points
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#19
Don't Fear The Reaper, But Do Fear Poor Oral Hygiene. Fancy Memento Mori Toothpick, In The Shape Of A Skull With An Arm Holding A Sickle
Final score:
90points
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Tamra Tamra Community Member Follow
If I were a pirate, this would be the toothpick for me.
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#20
These Are Dummy Soap Heads Made By Frank Morris And Brothers John And Clarence Anglin, Which They Tucked Into Their Beds To Fool The Night Guards During Their Successful Escape From Alcatraz Penitentiary In June 1962
Final score:
88points
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Multa Nocte Multa Nocte Community Member Follow
"Semi-successful escape."
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#21
A 15th Century Painting Of St Bartholomew Wearing His Own Flayed Skin As A Robe After Being Skinned Alive And Honestly He Is Totally Pulling Off The Look
Final score:
86points
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Katrina Nixon Katrina Nixon Community Member Follow
Looking dapper.
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#22
Marble Sculptures Of The Left Arms Of Princess Louise (1848), Prince Alfred (1845) And Princess Beatrice (1859). They Were Carved By Mary Thornycroft, Who Was Commissioned By Queen Victoria To Sculpt The Arms Based On Plaster Casts Made From Her Sleeping Babies
Final score:
82points
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Daria Daria Community Member Follow
But why??
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#23
This Enchanting Painting Is 'Silence Of The Forest' (1885) In Which A Nymph Rides Out Of A Darkened Wood On The Back Of A Freaked-Out Unicorn
Final score:
78points
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Tiffany Marie Tiffany Marie Community Member Follow
That unicorn has seen some sh*t.
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#24
Folk Art Wood Carving Of An Exorcism Scene, With A Demon Sitting On Top Of A Terrified, Wide-Eyed Child
Final score:
77points
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Nika the Great Nika the Great Community Member Follow
For a second I was confused and thought the demon was the child
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#25
An Antique Bear Automaton Whose Fur Was Destroyed By An Infestation Of Moths
Final score:
76points
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Auntriarch Auntriarch Community Member Follow
Needs to go to The Repair Shop
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#26
Morgue Chocolates, Made From Molds Of Wounds Found On Bodies In A New York Morgue
Final score:
71points
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Donteatme666 Donteatme666 Community Member Follow
Is it bad I still wanna eat them?
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#27
A Posthumous Portrait Of A Child Holding A Lizard, Which Sheds Its Skin And Regrows Its Tail -- A Symbol Of Resurrection, Rebirth Or Regeneration
Final score:
69points
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Marcellus II Marcellus II Community Member Follow
60y old child tho.
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#28
Unsettling 17th Century Mask Made From Real Human Hair, Leather Skin, Feathers And False Teeth. It Was Worn As A Disguise By The Outlaw Preacher Alexander Peden (1626-1686), A Popular Scottish Covenanter In Hiding For His Treasonous Views That Rejected King Charles I As The Spiritual Head Of The Church In Scotland
Final score:
69points
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Kazza Kazza Community Member Follow
Can you hear the lambs, Clarice?
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#29
A Witch Whistle Or 'Heksenfluit' Made From A Rat's Paw And Carved Bone. Made In 19th Century Belgium, And Purchased By The Museum Aan De Stroom In Antwerp In 1964
Final score:
65points
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Pernille. Pernille. Community Member Follow
In danish that would be a hekse fløjte.
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#30
A Brown Velvet Hat That Belonged To A Street "Dentist" Or Travelling Tooth Puller In London In The 1820s-50s. It Is Decorated With 88 Decayed Human Teeth From His Former Patients, Each Drilled With A Hole And Attached With Twine
Final score:
61points
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Dingooo Dingooo Community Member Follow
We are so lucky to have modern dentistry.
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Note: this post originally had 48 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
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Gabija Saveiskyte
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Hi there! I am a Visual Editor at Bored Panda. My job is to ensure that all the articles are aesthetically pleasing. I get to work with a variety of topics ranging from all the relationship drama to lots and lots of memes and, my personal favorites, funny cute cats. When I am not perfecting the images, you can find me reading with a cup of matcha latte and a cat in my lap, taking photos (of my cat), getting lost in the forest, or simply cuddling with my cat... Did I mention that I love cats?
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Gabija Saveiskyte
Author, BoredPanda staff
Read more »
Hi there! I am a Visual Editor at Bored Panda. My job is to ensure that all the articles are aesthetically pleasing. I get to work with a variety of topics ranging from all the relationship drama to lots and lots of memes and, my personal favorites, funny cute cats. When I am not perfecting the images, you can find me reading with a cup of matcha latte and a cat in my lap, taking photos (of my cat), getting lost in the forest, or simply cuddling with my cat... Did I mention that I love cats?
Read less »
Rokas Laurinavičius
Writer, BoredPanda staff
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Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.
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Rokas Laurinavičius
Writer, BoredPanda staff
Read more »
Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.
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Multa Nocte Multa Nocte Community Member Follow
These were great! Thanks!
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gibsonpic gibsonpic Community Member Follow
Love this!! 😀
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RabidChild RabidChild Community Member Follow
Best BP post I've seen in awhile. Well done!
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Multa Nocte Multa Nocte Community Member Follow
These were great! Thanks!
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gibsonpic gibsonpic Community Member Follow
Love this!! 😀
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RabidChild RabidChild Community Member Follow
Best BP post I've seen in awhile. Well done!
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