Weird dolls. Mummified cats. Severed limbs. Unthinkable things in jars.
Items straight out of your worst nightmare have been shared from around the world after a York museum challenge went viral.
Since it has been closed because of Covid-19, the Yorkshire Museum has launched a weekly #curatorbattle to challenge museums and visitors to put forward objects related to a particular theme.
Last Friday, the theme was #creepiestobject which has now been engaged with more than 220,000 times, with museums from Germany, France, Canada and the USA jumping on board to show off their objects – with horrifying results.
Objects include taxidermy “mermaids”, Victorian crab claws playing cards, cursed children’s toys and of course, dolls…
The Tweet thread can be seen here (if you dare).
The Yorkshire Museum started off the thread with one of their creepy objects, a 2,000 year old bun of real hair found in a grave of a Roman lady buried in York.
So far the Tweet has had 5,000 likes and 2,000 retweets and the Yorkshire Museum has gained 1,000 followers in a weekend.Replies have come from the German History Museum, Oshawa Museum in Ontario, Canada, the New York Historical Society and America’s first museum – the Charleston Museum.
Millicent Carroll, digital engagement officer for the York Museums Trust, said: “It is great for us and other museums to be able to still share our collections with the public when our doors are closed – we just hope we haven’t given anyone any nightmares!”
We’ve gathered together some of York’s weirdest. But which makes you shudder the most? Vote now!
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