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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

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#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

#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

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

#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 [angry]-Off Cat

#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

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

#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

#8 A Neon Salesman’s Sample Case, Circa 1935

#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

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

#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

#12 Gold Spider Earrings, 300 Bc To 100 Bc, From The Bactrian Region In Modern Day Afghanistan

#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

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.

#14 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

#15 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”

#16 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

#17 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

#18 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

#19 An Antique Bear Automaton Whose Fur Was Destroyed By An Infestation Of Moths

#20 A Posthumous Portrait Of A Child Holding A Lizard, Which Sheds Its Skin And Regrows Its Tail — A Symbol Of Resurrection, Rebirth Or Regeneration

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20 Pictures From ‘The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things’

#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

#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

#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

#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 [angry]-Off Cat

#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

#6 Traditional Irish Jack-O’-Lantern Carved From A Turnip, Circa 1850. Preserved All These Years By The Tears Of Children, I Presume

#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

#8 A Neon Salesman’s Sample Case, Circa 1935

#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

#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

#12 Gold Spider Earrings, 300 Bc To 100 Bc, From The Bactrian Region In Modern Day Afghanistan

#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

#14 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

#15 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”

#16 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

#17 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

#18 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

#19 An Antique Bear Automaton Whose Fur Was Destroyed By An Infestation Of Moths

#20 A Posthumous Portrait Of A Child Holding A Lizard, Which Sheds Its Skin And Regrows Its Tail — A Symbol Of Resurrection, Rebirth Or Regeneration

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#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

#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

#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

#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 [angry]-Off Cat

#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

#6 Traditional Irish Jack-O’-Lantern Carved From A Turnip, Circa 1850. Preserved All These Years By The Tears Of Children, I Presume

#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

#8 A Neon Salesman’s Sample Case, Circa 1935

#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

#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

#12 Gold Spider Earrings, 300 Bc To 100 Bc, From The Bactrian Region In Modern Day Afghanistan

#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

#14 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

#15 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”

#16 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

#17 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

#18 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

#19 An Antique Bear Automaton Whose Fur Was Destroyed By An Infestation Of Moths

#20 A Posthumous Portrait Of A Child Holding A Lizard, Which Sheds Its Skin And Regrows Its Tail — A Symbol Of Resurrection, Rebirth Or Regeneration

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