Museums are meant to be prestigious, showcasing the highs of culture and history. But all over the world, you can find museums dedicated to just about anything, regardless of how strange the subject may seem.
9Museum of Bad Art
With three locations in the Boston area (each displaying different pieces), MOBA is dedicated to showcasing terrible art, complete with interpretations of said art (because some of it is a bit unclear, to say the least). They also exhibit pieces online, saving you the trip.
8Iceland Phallological Museum
The centerpiece of this museum is its collection of over two-hundred and fifty pen**es and pen*s parts from various land and sea mammals (including one human). There’s are also artworks depicting pen**es, but really, that’s not why anyone is paying admission to this place.
7International Friendship Exhibition
Built-in 1978 under Kim-Il Sung, Pyongyang’s International Friendship Exhibition displays all the gifts given to North Korea (or more specifically, its leaders) by other nations. Citizens are told that these gifts show how highly regarded the country is by the rest of the world. The strangest gift amongst the twenty-thousand plus: a VHS copy of Space Jam.
6Museum of Death
With two locations across the United States, this museum covers all aspects of death, from an early suicide machine to baby coffins, letters and artwork from serial killers, and even the severed head of a serial killer, the Museum of Death isn’t exactly the happiest experience, but it certainly is interesting. Our hats are off to the on-site recreation of the Heaven’s Gate cult suicide scene, which features the actual beds used by the group.
5Museum of Menstruation
Though it’s been closed since 1998, this museum deserves mention. The MUM paid tribute to “menstruation culture” with displays of tampon advertisements, mannequins in menstrual underwear, and sanitary products, all of it spanning different decades. The collection currently resides online here.
4Siriraj Medical Museum
This Bangkok museum is divided into five sections, each one focusing on a different medical field. Of these, the Ellis Pathological Museum is perhaps the most intriguing, containing diseased specimens that display all sorts of natural demises, including cancer and heart disease. The museum is meant to be educational, however, and also includes information about preventing and treating the anomalies is showcases, adding a level of value that similar collections don’t always have.
3Toilet Seat Art Museum
Located in sunny San Antonio, Texas, the Toilet Seat Art Museum—that is, art made on toilet seats—operates out of Barney Smith’s garage. He makes the pieces himself with seats others donate. He has over one-thousand pieces in his collection with various themes, including license plates and historic moments (with one piece commemorating the Challenger explosion—it actually has a piece of the shuttle on it).
2Museum of The Holy Souls in Purgatory
Housed in the Church of the Sacred Heart of the Suffrage in Rome, Italy, this is a small collection of items alleged to have been touched by the souls of those stuck in purgatory. Bibles, clothes, and tabletops with handprints burned into them are on display, presented as evidence of the existence of purgatory.
1Avanos Hair Museum
Originally started to promote the owner’s pottery shop, the Avano’s Hair Museum proudly displays the hair of female visitors who want to aid in the collection. It currently has over sixteen-thousand locks, and each piece is accompanied by the name and location of the donor. For a little extra WTF, the museum itself is in a cave.
