Top 10 Strangest Museums That Will Scare You Silly

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10. House on the Rock
      Spring Green, Wisconsin

Originally designed to house a collection of basically anything, the House on the Rock in Deer Shelter Rock, Wisconsin first opened in 1959. The attraction is an awe inspiring array of sights, sounds and sensations. Experience fantasies such as the World's Largest Carousel, enormous music machines and the gravity defying Infinity Room. The house contains fascinating exhibits such as a re-creation of an early twentieth century American Town and a 200 foot model of a sea monster. Now this doesn’t sound too scary but only because I forgot to mention that the entire collection is basically left to rot in dark, dusty rooms. Now imagine such a room room filled with the stench of rot in which you can just make out a scattering of decayed mannequins sawing at old broken musical instruments – playing what sounds like a symphony written in hell! Having seen it, I can assure you that the real thing is far worse than the description!

9. Glore Psychiatric Museum 
    Saint Joseph, Missouri

Who wouldn’t want to check out a museum dedicated to the history of such wonderful things as electroshock treatment and lobotomies? Well – most people probably. But for those who have a taste for the downright shocking, the Glore Psychiatric museum is for you. And if you find the horrifying parts of the museum too much to cope with, you can relax in the “awful things people have swallowed” exhibition. Don’t forget to check out the ancient treatments area where you can see instruments for bleeding patients and the fascinating dioramas taking you step by step through a psycho surgical operation.

 8. Vent Haven Ventriloquist Museum

Vent Haven Ventriloquist Museum

In Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky there is a museum that contains nothing but row upon row of old ventriloquist’s dummies. Every seat in the theatre has a dummy in it – in fact, when you visit you have to stand on the stage because there is no room anywhere else. Now most people don’t suffer from autonomatonophobia (the fear of artificial humanoid figures – yes it’s real) but even the staunchest of the staunch will be horrified by this awful display. Just think “Chuckie” times one thousand.


7. Catacombs of Palermo
    Palermo, Italy

Not intending to be a museum, that is exactly what the Catacombs of Palermo have become – a museum of death. Deep in the bowels of the Capuchin monastery you can view hundreds of corpses – both monks and local members of the community. The bodies are lined up along the walls in the clothes in which they were buried. Bodies were put in the catacombs from the end of the 16th century to the last interment – little Rosalia Lombardo in the 1920s. The cool air and dry environment mean that the bodies are extremely well preserved – so well preserved in fact that some look like they are just sleeping. But most look like hideous corpses ready to wake up at any moment to attack the visitors. A must see holiday spot.

6. The London Dungeon
     London, England

The London dungeon

The London dungeon is really famous. So you may wonder why it isn’t in the top five of this list. Mainly because it is scary in a different way from the rest of the items here. It is scary in the sense that no one wants a random stranger dressed as the grim reaper to jump at them while screaming. That aside, the dungeon does present a great selection of macabre torture devices from the middle ages. Mind you, your local army base probably has an equally terrifying array of torture devices from the last decade! If you go to the Dungeon take your heart medication with you – those actors can certain put the frights up you. Oh – and be prepared to queue for a long time – it is a popular attraction.



5. Lombroso’s Museum of Criminal Anthropology
    Turin, Italy

Cesare Lombroso founded the Italian school of criminology. It is no wonder then that this museum – filled with objects from his work is a terrifying place indeed. Combined with the macabre collectibles are images of crimes, weapons used to slaughter humans, and even Lombroso’s own head perfectly preserved in a bottle of formaldehyde. If you are interested in crime – or just want to spend a day gazing at skulls, human remains, and other horrifying objects, this is the place to go.

4. Madame Tussauds
     London, England


This is probably the most famous entry on the list. Madame Tussauds in London is best known for its enormous collection of wax figures – mostly of famous people. But the museum had a more grisly start. Madame Tussaud herself started the collection during the French revolution. She would run up to the guillotine after people had been executed and make wax imprints of their severed heads. The most famous is probably that of the last King of France. These heads are all on display at the museum along with a horrifying collection of monstrous historical displays in the chamber of horrors. When you see the life-sized reproduction of one of Jack the Ripper’s victims, you will never be quite the same again. Oh – and to make matters worse, the chamber of horrors now employs actors to jump out and terrify visitors.

3. Fragonard Museum (Le Musée Fragonard)
    Paris, France

Imfoetus Honoré Fragonard was a professor of anatomy – at least he was until he got canned for showing the symptoms of insanity! Twenty years later he began the work that would be his life’s crowning achievement. In 1794 he began gathering dead bodies for what would become his museum of anatomy. His museum was designed to house a gigantic collection of corpses that he personally stripped of their skin and embalmed with a secret recipe – a recipe that remains a mystery to this day. The collection contains the preserved flayed bodies of animals, children, and executed criminals as well as a collection of skulls from asylums for the mentally disturbed. This museum in Paris is so horrifying that entry is available by appointment only.

2. Mutter Museum
    Philadelphia, PA

The Mutter Museum is best known for its large collection of skulls and anatomical specimens including a wax model of a woman with a human horn growing out of her forehead, the tallest skeleton on display in North America, a 5 foot-long human colon (pictured above) that contained over 40 pounds of poop, and the petrified body of the mysterious Soap Lady whose entire corpse was turned into soap after she died. The museum also houses a malignant tumor removed from President Grover Cleveland’s hard palate, the conjoined liver from the famous Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker, and a growth removed from President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth. It may not terrify you – but I guarantee that it will end up haunting your dreams.

1. The Purgatory Museum 
     Rome, Italy

According to Catholic doctrine, a person who dies with only slight sins on their soul goes to purgatory to be cleansed by fire before floating off to heaven. At the Church of the Sacred Heart in the Prati district of Rome, there is a small museum tucked away behind a side altar. It is the Purgatory museum. This truly scary place has exhibits which document cases of souls in purgatory coming back to earth to haunt the living. Some of the items on display are a table with scorch marks and lines carved out of it by an otherworldly hand, as well as burnt fingerprints on clothing and bedlinen. But perhaps the scariest item of all is a book with an entire human handprint scorched deeply into the pages – the handprint of a long dead monk suffering in the fires for some unknown sin.

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Tips For A Beach Ready Body in time for that Vacation

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So here you are daydreaming about your much awaited winter or summer vacation or even spring break. You're imagining all the great fun you'll be having. But you stop mid-dream as your visions get squashed with an image of you wearing an over-sized shirt with hefty shorts to match or perhaps disguise and hide those awful body bumps that you wish you did not have.

 Many people dream about having a beach body. Getting ready for a vacation or a summer getaway can be even more enjoyable when you look good in a bikini. Even more so, having a smile of pride on your face when you look back at your beach pictures is priceless.

Whether you are far from getting beach body ready or very close to it, the process is pretty similar and simple. Fortunately, there are practical and uncomplicated ways and means that you can do to get your body ready just in time for that summer vacation and a fairy has nothing to do with them. All you need is the right will power and a big dose of determination and you are on your way.

 Get Inspired

The first step is to get yourself Inspired. To get amazing results, you need to put in remarkable efforts. In order to put in the effort that you need to produce the results you want, you need to get an inspiration or a motivation. This inspiration can be a picture of celebrity that you want to emulate, a leaner picture of you, looking great naked, fitting into a smaller bikini size (and looking good in it), winning a prize, etc. Whatever your inspiration may be, it needs to be so powerfully inspiring that it will carry you through tempting foods, cravings, hunger, and the many other challenges in getting to your goal.

 Coach yourself into working out, to have exercise be a part of your daily routine. It is all in the mind, they say. More than thinking of the activity as a means to an end, you should consider your regular workout as essential as eating your daily meals or even brushing your teeth. That like these examples, you get to have unpleasant consequences should you fail to do any of these routines. It really is not that hard actually and unlike what most think, it should not take a big slice of your time. Consider this, some people get to spend thirty minutes or even an hour a day blow drying their hair but cannot find the time to have a ten minute walk. Once you have convinced yourself, your determination will be more fueled than before and working out would just be a breeze.

 Set Your Goals

Set Specific Goals. If you don’t know where you want to go, how do you plan how to get there? This is a very important step if you want to get that beach body look. To get started on your goals, write down the things that you’d want to change. To do this, start with the physical issues that you want to addresss such as reducing your overall weight, losing inches of off your waist and thighs, getting more muslce definition in your arms, etc.

Once you figured out your physical goals, write down the steps that you will take to achieve them. These steps can be eating more nutritious meals, avoiding processed foods and fast foods restaurants, preparing healthier snacks, exercising 3 times a week, reducing the amount of calories that you eat at each meal, couting your calories to make sure you stay on track, and many more.

Be Consistent and Stick to your Plan

You will be doing yourself a big favor if you stick to the plan that you have set out to do. The accumulation of your “on track efforts” can give you the incredible results that you need to realize your goals. Even more so, you will see results faster! The more consistent you are with your plan, the faster you will get to the finish line to taking fabulous beach pictures. This secret works especially well if your time is limited.

If for some reason you were consistent to your plan and you still have some time left before your vacation time, you would be at a better position to stay close to your beach body look than to give in to set backs and get out of shape again. For instance, many celebrities don’t stay in the best shape all year. But, what they do is they go about 5 pounds away or so from their best camera-ready look until they need to look great for the camera again. So, you may be able to back off from your plan for a little bit and then stick to the rules again as the date gets closer.

Set the Date

Basically, if you have a vacation or big event that you’re preparing for, it would be a good idea to specify that date, mark it in your calendar, and make permanent plans to go during that time. This simple action will create a real need in your mind to stay on track especially if that date is only a few months away. Another helpful idea to stay focused on getting ready for this big event is to print pictures of your vacation place and post it right by your marked calendar date.

So, there you have it, now you know how to get the beach body look. I may have simplified the secrets a little bit but really the process is not as complicated as a lot of people think. If you have the calorie deficit, keep moving, get the support, and stick to the plan, you will be closer to your goal faster than you ever imagined.


If time is really your greatest enemy, you should choose exercises that you can do anywhere. You need not be dressed fully in your fitness clothes or have to be at the gym to tone that body. You may be surprised that there are ways for you to shed those pounds without too much effort at home, at work or anywhere convenient. One example is to do a couple of squats in the shower while waiting for your conditioner to set in or do some hip twisting while you are brushing your teeth. Opt to take the stairs instead of the elevator as much as you can. That is as good as an exercise as any. Doing housework is also great exercise. You get to stretch and work your hands while cleaning those filthy windows. Be creative.

A good diet should accompany your exercise regimen. This is key. It is advisable that you eat a number of small meals during the day instead of going for three heavy ones. This not only keeps your metabolism going but it can also control your cravings for a big meal with calorie filled dessert after. Watch what you eat. Stick to healthy foods like fruits, vegetables and fiber-rich recipes and snacks. And do not forget to drink lots and lots of water.

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Trip To Iqaluit In Nunavut, A Canadian Arctic City

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Travel report to the Canadian Arctic city of Iqaluit.

In 2004, I completed two Inuit art buying trips to Iqaluit (formerly Frobisher Bay), the capital of Nunavut, Canada's newest territory. For both trips, I flew out of Ottawa on Canadian North airlines. The other airline that services Nunavut is First Air.  Only the last half of the jets was allocated for passengers as the entire first
half was for cargo. Being so remote, Canadian Arctic Inuit communities pretty well have to have everything shipped up there by plane or by boat during the summers since there are no roads connecting to the rest of Canada or even between each Nunavut community.  The Arctic landscape from the air was desolate, hilly and barren.  As the plane got closer to Iqaluit, the airport's small terminal building stood out with its bright yellow color.  The airport itself is within walking distance to the rest of the town.  There are taxis that charge a flat rate of $5 per trip anywhere in Iqaluit.  Interestingly enough, these taxis also pick up and drop off other passengers along the way so shared rides with others are common here.  There are several hotels in Iqaluit and rooms are generally clean, comfortable but quite basic.  Accommodations and dining up north in Nunavut are both expensive.  All food items with the exception of local Inuit fare must be flown up from the Canadian south.  A carton of milk will cost about $10 in Iqaluit.  Most Inuit locals cannot afford to buy overpriced fruits, vegetables and meat from the south. Many local families still rely on Inuit hunters who bring caribou, seal and whale to the table.



There is only one high rise building in Iqaluit and it is used mainly for local Nunavut government offices. All other buildings are low rise, including the hospital.  The vast majority of the residential housing is similar to cabins that are raised off the ground because of the harsh Canadian Arctic winters.  Many look a bit run down with junk and disposed items piled outside.  With the fact that there are no lawns or trees possible this far north, the neighborhoods are certainly not the prettiest sights around.  But one Inuit art carver told me that his government subsidized rent is only $36 per month.  There are some small clusters of nice homes on the outskirts of town.   Some houses have husky dogs tied up outside and many have snowmobiles.  In fact, the roads, most of them unpaved, are shared by cars, trucks, snowmobiles, all terrain vehicles and people.  During the summers, Iqaluit can get quite dusty with all the vehicles turning up the dirt on the roads.  As a result, Iqaluit did look a bit nicer during my first trip which was during the winter when the city was in white snow rather than brown dirt.  There is new construction going on since with the creation of the Nunavut territory, Iqaluit is growing as more Inuit from other Arctic communities are migrating to the city.

One thing that was very noticeable in Iqaluit was the large numbers of children everywhere.  Nunavut has a very young population with 56% under the age of 25.  I saw many Inuit mothers wearing traditional Inuit parkas with large hoods in the back where their babies are carried.  The Inuit youth is one of the Canadian Arctic's untapped resources and its future.  They have access to satellite television and dress just like their counterparts in the south.  However, at present only about 25% of high school students graduate so a big challenge for the Nunavut government is to encourage the Inuit kids to stay in school.  During my second trip, there was darkness for only a few hours each day so it was very strange to be walking around town at 10 pm in the evening with daylight still present.  Even at this hour, there were still quite a few young Inuit children playing outside.  The locals, Inuit and non-Inuit alike were very friendly.  I got the impression of a tight community perhaps because of the isolation of the Canadian Arctic.  However, the local Inuit were also very open to visitors and willing to share a bit of their lives.  During the daytime, I went up to a few Inuit art carvers who were working outside their houses.  Each turned off their power saws when I approached them and seemed happy to talk to me.  I met most of them later during the evenings when they showed me their finished works of Inuit art.


I had the opportunity to walk about 30 minutes to the outskirts of town past the airport one day.  I climbed up a hilltop with a satellite dish facility overlooking an expansive valley.  There was nobody else around and it was incredible how silent the area was.  It was like a vacuum where I could hear only my own breathing.  It was a very peaceful and even spiritual moment there. While sitting on this Arctic hilltop, I was suddenly startled at one point by a noise and it turned out to be the flapping wings of a large raven flying by.  There are tours offered by local outfitters to see the northern wildlife and experience some of the Arctic tundra further out.  I hope to take one of these tours on a future visit.  A trip to Nunavut is not cheap since everything, including flights are so expensive. However, I will definitely return not only for more Inuit art, but also to experience more of the local Inuit culture and the Arctic land.

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Best Destinations for Cheap Romantic Vacation Getaway

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Who says money can’t buy happiness? You are obviously right but maybe it fits if you add, ‘but it can take you to the best places where to find it’. You see the best destinations and spots for a romantic vacation getaway always have to be paid. The most are far away so you still need to spend a lot of money for the fare and some other miscellaneous stuff.

But then, it doesn’t have to be expensive to say that you will be very happy with the travel or getaway. There are also some cheap romantic vacation getaway that you can really enjoy time with your family and friends at. Some of these places are as follows:

- South Padre Island, TX – During spring break, South Padre Island is at its peak days. During these times, it will cost you a lot but not if you order an affordable holiday right after or any month that is not in the peak months. The Gulf Coast resort will be the best choice for you during these days.

South Padre Island, Texas

- Amelia Island, FL – If you are looking for a nice and quiet plus cheap romantic vacation getaway, Amelia Island is just the right pick for you. At best, you can avail of their weekend deal that already includes not only a four-poster romantic bed but scooter rental too. For just as small as $159, the Florida House Inn weekend deal will make your getaway perfect. If you add another $89, you will enjoy champagne in a romantic dinner as well as a sentimental carriage ride.

Amelia Island, Florida

- Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. For 60F and more under the sun, Myrtle Beach is the right place to have your cheap romantic vacation getaway. For as low as $75 a night, you can find the best beach.

Myrtle Beach

- Palm Springs, California. Known for its hiking, mid-century modern architecture, natural beauty, and sparkling pools, Palm Springs has the perfect blend of outdoor activities and casual relaxation. You know you've arrived at this beautiful Southern California desert city when the mountains look so close that you feel as if you can reach out and touch them. Here you can lounge by the pool or go stargazing practically year-round.

At the Base of the San Jacinto Mountains and just walking distance from Palm Springs, your expectations will be fully satisfied from the luxury and charm of Marquis Villas Resorts. Elegant with oversized accommodations, the Marquis Villas is located right in the heart of the fashionable town of Palm Springs. 

Palm Springs

- Auberge Lac-à-l’Eau-Claire in Quebec, Canada. If you want something more exotic and adventurous, the deep forest package in Quebec, Canada is a great choice. For only $289, you can enjoy a package good for 2 nights with buffet breakfasts and dinners. You also get to enjoy a dogsled ride and as much outdoor activities as you want.

Auberge Lac-à-l’Eau-Claire

- Romantic Cabins, homes, cottages, and log cabins rental in Tennessee's Smokey Mountains, Shenandoah VA and other scenic spots. You can also opt to enjoy quality time in quiet surroundings of any place you want to be at when you rent a cabin or cottage for two from vacation home rentals. This cheap romantic vacation getaway has no minimum stay required so you can enjoy to the fullest.

- Caribbean and Mexico cruise. $199 can take you and your loved one on a 3, 4, up to 5 nights Caribbean and Mexico cruises.

From these many choices, you can surely find the best destination for your planned cheap romantic vacation getaway!

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Enjoying A Thai Dance During Dinner

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Thai Dance during an evening dinner at the Dara Samui Beach Resort & Spa Villa in Koh Samui, Thailand.

This beautiful resort is situated on a stretch of beach in Koh Samui and is within easy reach of Central Festival Samui, Phetch Buncha Thai Boxing Stadium, and Chaweng Thai Boxing Stadium. Also nearby are Samui Crocodile Farm and Thai International Hospital.

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