#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 Pissed-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
#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 In The Early 1900s A Man Couldn't Afford Proper Dentures, So He Made His Own Using Melted Down Toothbrush Handles And The Teeth Of A Dead Coyote
#15 A Tiny Devil Vitrified In A Prism Of Glass. In The 18th Century, The Imperial Treasury Of Vienna Attested That This Was A Real Demon Which Had Been Trapped In Glass During An Exorcism In Germany A Century Earlier
#16 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
#17 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"
#18 These Amazing Vintage Krampus Claws Come From A Small Town In Austria, And Were Used At An Annual Krampus Festival For Approximately 70 Years
#19 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
#20 These Are Dummy Soap Heads Made By Frank Morris And Brothers John And Clarence Anglin, Which They Tucked Into Their Beds To Fool The Night Guards During Their Successful Escape From Alcatraz Penitentiary In June 1962
