These weird archaeological discoveries provide a window into the cultures of the past. Click here to view the video.
Museum curators around the world reveal their ‘creepiest objects’, News.com.au., 23 September 2021
A while back, somebody asked museum curators to share photos of their most unsettling objects – and the results are quite simply the stuff of nightmares.
And just when you thought you’d seen the worst of it, a few new additions leave the others for dead.
A burial ‘hair bun’
This is a 3rd/4th-century hair bun from the burial of a Roman woman, still with the jet pins in place. It’s from the Yorkshire Museum in York, UK.
A ‘cursed’ children’s toy
This is from the PEI Museum on Prince Edward Island, Canada. This ‘cursed’ children’s toy was found inside the walls of a 155-year-old mansion. Staff at the museum called it “wheelie” and here’s the kicker: it moves on its own. Apparently, staff put it in one place, and find it in another spot later on.
Image of a clown band from the 1920s
Honestly, this is the stuff nightmares are made of. Every member of that band is more creepy than the last. It’s from the Wi Maritime Museum in Wisconsin, US.
A pubic hair snuff box
This snuff box is said to contain the pubic hair of one of George IV’s mistresses. Nothing creepy about that. Nothing creepy at all. This is kept by Museums of the University of St Andrews, Scotland.
An 18th century diving suit
Imagine being underwater and seeing this monstrosity coming towards you. Frankly, we’d prefer a shark. It’s from the Raahe museum in Finland.
A human hand
The Library Company received this mummy’s hand in 1767 as a gift from the famed American painter, Benjamin West. What a gift. Super thoughtful.
Art, using real hair from a baby
Victorian hair art was a way to memorialise a person. This is made using a baby’s real hair. Making it just that little bit more creepy, it was found behind the wall in a home during a renovation. You can view this beauty in person at the Lombard Historical Society, Chicago, US.
A plague mask
Next time you are whingeing about wearing a mask to the shops in lockdown, consider what plague masks looked like around 1650-1750. This is from the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, Germany.
A sheep’s heart, stuck with pins and nails and strung on a loop of cord
Cripes. That’s quite a fistful of horror right there. This was made in South Devon, circa 1911, “for breaking evil spells”. It’s from the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, UK.
A human finger bone
According to the curator at the Clarke Charms Collection in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK, this bone was carried around by a gambler as a good-luck charm. To each their own.
