Museum Twitter war over who has the creepiest objects will haunt your dreams
With museums closed in most parts of the world due to the coronavirus crisis, what's a bored curator to do? In the case of one UK museum, they're using iso to stick it to fellow curators just how creepy their displays are.
On April 17, Yorkshire Museum — home to some of the country's finest historical treasures — issued the challenge, along with a formidable contender for creepiest display, the hair bun of a dead lady. *Shudder*
"MUSEUMS ASSEMBLE! It's time for #CURATORBATTLE! Today's theme, chosen by you, is #CreepiestObject! We're kicking things off with this 3rd/4th century hair bun from the burial of a #Roman lady, still with the jet pins in place... CAN YOU BEAT IT?"
Needless to say, it didn't take long for weirdness to ensue, with everything from mangled dolls to baffling taxidermied critters and pube containers (yes, really) apparently gracing museum collections around the world. Hold me?
There's clearly a fine line between creepy, and just plain gross.
There was even a cluster of posts devoted to "mermaids", and we're not talking Ariel
While another portion of the thread was themed around terrifying dolls and toys.
There were also plenty of superstitious artifacts and charms to remind us of how strange and violent the world is.
Surely this is just a sick joke?
Just, why??
The thread has been haunting the Internet for the better part of the last five days, and even other museum workers — who've clearly seen some stuff — admitted to being chilled to their core.
Ashmolean Museum in the UK said: "In a lot of ways, we wish we could un-see this entire thread. And we most definitely cannot beat the hair bun. But we'll just leave this here..."
The challenge theme may have struck a chord with other museum staff, with entries pouring in, in an attempt to out-creep one another.
Yorkshire Museum appeared equally impressed and terrified by the enthusiasm. "Unsure if we'll sleep tonight thank you all for your amazing entries - keep them coming!"
