Avanos (Chez Galip) Hair Museum

• Location: Avanos, Cappadocia – Turkey

A museum centered around hair should probably trigger some weird feelings. Yet what ranks this place as one of the weird science museums that give us the creeps is that it contains hair gathered from more than 16,000 women. Yes, this is the world’s largest collection of hair. Avanos is a small town in Turkey that is mostly known for its pottery scene. The earthenware pottery has been famous here since the BCE period. However, the hair museum, created by Chez Galip and housed inside caves, has become a must-see place when you visit. What might be freaky is that the museum not only has all of this hair, but they also give you the name of the woman the hair was taken from along with their address. There are hair locks of literally every color and size you can think of, which is nice but still very weird!

Iceland Phallological Museum

• Location: Reykjavík, Iceland

We’re pretty sure the name of the museum says it all, but we’ll discuss it a little. Clearly, it is one of the weird science museums that would give many people the creeps and we could not blame you. After all, even men do not like looking at their own “male members” very often. Thus, most of us are not really big on looking at others. Yet you should know that this museum is not meant to be some adult-themed entertainment tour. It is a place where one can learn all about the “male member”. This does not involve just human members. They house 276 of these members, even those from hamsters (the tiniest member) to the member of a sperm whale (the largest member). On an interesting note, this museum was given its first human exhibit when a 95-year-old Icelandic man provided his in 2011.

Meguro Parasitological Museum

• Location: Tokyo, Japan

Japan is known for having some of the coolest and newest technology. They are the home of some of the world’s most notable technology and entertainment corporations, which are worthy of checking out. Along with the amazing food and shops. Yet if you’re ever in Tokyo, we’d recommend one of the best weird science museums in the world. The Meguro Parasitological Museum is dedicated entirely to the world of parasites. Ironically, the museum is quite large with two stories of space. It revolves mostly around parasites in humans along with what they do. Stuff like nematodes, trematodes, and even tapeworms. 300 preserved specimens are on display including a 29-foot-long tapeworm. The attached research library contains another 60,000 specimens along with 50m000 papers and 5,000 books on parasitology.

International Cryptozoology Museum

• Location: Portland, Maine – United States

Cryptozoology is a real scientific subject that mostly studies the world of pseudoscience and its subcultures. Within it, there is a search for and the study of unknown, legendary, or extinct animals. Especially those that’s existence is either disputed or unsubstantiated. This is especially true for those that were popular in folklore like the Loch Ness Monster, Yeti, Bigfoot, etc. The International Cryptozoology Museum has all of this. The museum has exhibits about the likes of Bigfoot but it also has some dedicated to mermaids. Perhaps the most shocking exhibit it has involves Santa Claus… Sure, this is one of the weird science museums that can creep people out but everything here is all part of good fun. However, you will sometimes see conspiracy theorists in the museum…we’d recommend avoiding them.

Siriraj Medical Museum

• Location: Bangkok, Thailand

The Siriraj Medical Museum is the home of many medical materials, especially human skeletons and organs. This has led to the museum being known, colloquially, as the “Museum of Death.” However, we won’t give it that title for a reason we’ll discuss later. It should be noted that this is one of the weird science museums that could make you lose your lunch, so don’t go there after having a big meal. Entering the museum, you’re instantly met with the museum founder’s real skeleton, essentially grinning at you. Inside, you’ll be able to see hemorrhaged brains, along with severed and mutilated arms and legs. That is just part of the fun, as they also have lungs cut by a deep knife wound along with skulls punctured by bullets. This was displayed to show how bullets can ricochet inside your skull. The place is morbid but also very… memorable?

Museum Of The Occult – Warren Occult Museum

• Location: Monroe, Connecticut – United States

While some will scoff at us adding the Museum of the Occult to our weird science museums list, it makes sense. People believe in many pseudoscience concepts, which are still part of the scientific world. This museum holds the personal collection of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. You probably know their names due to their involvement in the Annabelle and Amityville cases, both with their own notable horror movies. The duo kept a lot of creepy stuff in their basement. Including things like vampire coffins, shrunken heads, satanic alters, and obviously the notorious Annabelle doll. Of course, the doll is said to have tortured a young woman and has since been exorcised. They keep her behind protective glass. It does not seem to help though, as she somehow keeps escaping.

Museum Of Enduring Beauty

• Location: Malacca, Malaysia

On the surface, the Museum of Enduring Beauty does not seem like a bad place. Among the weird science museums one can visit, it is pretty tame. However, you should not let the name fool you. The museum highlights the extremes that people have gone to just to feel pretty or, well, beautiful. Records at the museum go back to early human history where they display the crazy concepts centered around what was beautiful in those times. From bound feet to insertions of round discs into mouths all the way to molding heads into oval shapes and much more. They even have a display where they show how tribes elongated necks with brass rings and stretched earlobes with plates. Perhaps the lesson here is that you’re beautiful, and you should stop trying beauty trends that will eventually be insane to people in the future.

The Kunstkamera

• Location: St. Petersburg, Russia

The Kunstkamera is Russia’s very first museum and obviously the oldest in the country. It began under the reign of Peter the Great. He was the Tsar of all of Russia starting in 1682 as well as Russia’s first Emperor of all Russia starting in 1721, both until his death in 1725. He wanted a place to display some of the world’s most interesting things, in his view. Leading to some curious and bizarre items. There are over 200,000 natural and human oddities. Some of the displays are pretty weird and creepy, such as a collection of deformed fetuses, creatures with extra heads/limbs, as well as a decapitated human head preserved in vinegar. There are hundreds of preserved human fetuses here, all of them with their own odd anatomical mutations. You could say this is the creepiest of the weird science museums on the list.

Mütter Museum

• Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – United States

The Mütter Museum in Philadelphia might not be as creepy as The Kunstkamera, but it’s not too far off. The museum is the home of numerous items from medical history, including several creepy body parts, entire skulls, and other anatomical specimens. One of the featured items you can see is a cancerous tumor that was removed from then-President Grover Cleveland’s mouth. It also houses a ton of medical tools that one would use throughout history, such as those one might use during the Middle Ages or even during ancient periods. There are also displays of various drugs, some of which are no longer on the market for some pretty obvious reasons. If that isn’t enough for you, check out some of the wax models that are well, creepy on their own without the other stuff around.

Catacombs of Palermo

• Location: Palermo, Italy

The Capuchin monks are from the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. This was a religious order of the Franciscan Friars from the Catholic Church. The Friars still exist today and aren’t out of the public eye too often. However, the Capuchin Monks used to live in the outer limits of Palermo, Italy. Starting in 1599, the Friars discovered a new technique for embalming bodies. Before going public with this, they embalmed each other upon their death. Now, the Catacombs of Palermo is a museum to the world that holds thousands of dead bodies in several different states of decay. Yep, some are still in the decaying process despite being dead for centuries. The final person added here was a 2-year-old girl named Rosalia, who still has eyelashes and hair.

Museum Of The Weird

• Location: Austin, Texas – United States

It would seem pretty terrible of us to not include the Museum of the Weird on our weird science museums list. The museum truly lives up to its name as well, as they have displays that you might not see anywhere else. This includes monsters, zombies, mummies, and even those weird shrunken heads you might see witch doctors carry around. Of course, this Texas museum certainly knows they have some pretty wild stuff here so they do not give away much about what you can see there. Making it a place you must check out to find out more, which is kind of enticing. Essentially, it is trying to keep the original idea of P.T. Barnum alive by displaying all sorts of weirdness and oddities. With the circus kinda going away, it only makes sense to carry on this type of tradition in some form or another.

Roswell UFO Museum

• Location: Roswell, New Mexico – United States

Historically speaking, Roswell, NM has been considered a hotbed of potential alien activity. It is claimed that many UFOs crashed in the area even if that cannot be technically proven. However, Roswell knows its value and decided to capitalize on it. Using a converted movie theater, the Roswell UFO Museum and Research Center is dedicated to everything related to UFOs and aliens. Obviously, the biggest thing comes from the 1947 UFO crash that the military claimed was a weather balloon. The museum has written, audio, and visual materials as well as artwork related to numerous UFO events. There are also some pretty impressive exhibits, such as one with a spinning UFO with aliens as well as the outdoor “Roswell Believes” mural. It is well worth checking out if you’re interested in extraterrestrial life.

Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments

• Location: Damrak, Amsterdam – Netherlands

There are a few museums dedicated to torture devices and instruments. One is located in the Czech Republic but the one we want to discuss is located in Amsterdam, where they have some of the creepiest torture instruments of all time. While many feel a museum should have torture instruments from all of history, they specialize in the Medieval time period because this was perhaps the most “creative” period for these devices. Ancient tools and devices were not bad but people were pretty sick during the Medieval period. You can see pretty much all of those tools and devices here, and it will rightfully make you happy to be alive today. Especially since most places no longer use torture as a method of getting information, considering we know torture does not exactly always get correct information.

The Museum of Death

• Location: Hollywood, California & New Orleans, Lousiana

Funny enough, there are actually two locations for this museum. Unlike the other museum we referred to that might be called the “Museum of Death” by the locals, this is the true Museum of Death. Here you will find artwork made by serial murderers as well as photos from actual murderers like Charles Manson and the Black Dahlia. There is also a video display that includes the Heaven’s Gate Cult recruiting tape along with various autopsies. As funny as it is to say, the museum allows you to walk around and look as long as you want. The self-guided tour does not have a time limit, probably because they do not expect people to stick around all day. Considering there are two locations, some things won’t be present at both. Making it worth your time to visit both locations.

Where Do We Find This Stuff? Here Are Our Sources:

Library of Congress

The Guardian

Washington Post

New York Post

New York Times

Atlas Obscura

Britannica

ProPublica