Category Archives: Museums

Flashback Friday: The Mutter Museum- A Musem of Medical Oddities

FlashbackFriDuring my travels I don’t usually like to visit too many museums, however there are some that I try to seek out. For this week’s Flashback Friday I will share a post about a certain type of museum that I will go out of my way to visit-museums that display oddities!

I’ve been to a bunch of these type of museums and would like to share a post about one of them today.

Here is the post:

  • The Mutter Museum: A Museum of Medical Oddities- Philadelphia, PA

This post was first published on December 1, 2011.

a group of skeletons in a glass case

Travel Channel- World’s Wackiest Museums

a logo of a travel company
The Travel Channel has a fun slide show featuring a list of the World’s Wackiest Museums.
I am not a huge museum fan but do enjoy visiting odd, quirky and not so typical museums.
Here is Travel Channel’s List of World’s Wackiest Museums:
  1. Burlingame Pez Museum- San Francisco, CA
  2. Southern Food & Beverage Museum- New Orleans, LA
  3. The International UFO Museum & Research Center- Roswell, NM
  4. Museum of Sex- NYC
  5. Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum- Japan
  6. Museum of Bad Art- Boston, MA
  7. Giant Shoe Museum- Seattle, WA
  8. Sulabh International Museum of Toilets- New Delhi
  9. The Collection of Questionable Medical Devices- In the Science Museum of Minnestota
  10. The Fan Museum- London
  11. National Mustard Museum- Middleton, WI
  12. Kansas Barbed Wire Museum- La Crosse, KS
  13. Chicken Art Museum- Seoul, South Korea
I’ve only visited one museum from the list- The Museum of Sex, kind of odd but I wouldn’t call it one of the world’s wackiest. I’d like to check out some of the other museums like the Pez Museum, Ramen Museum (which I wrote about: Odd Museums: Museums Dedicated to Ramen Noodles) and the Museum of Bad Art.
The Kansas Barbed Wire Museum sounds like the most ridiculous museum  listed.
There is one museum that I’ve visited that I think deserves a spot on this list- The Friet Museum in Belgium. The museum is all about french fries. Check out my post  Not Your Usual Museum: Friet Museum.
Check out the Travel Channel slide show which has info about each museum listed HERE

    The Mutter Museum: A Museum of Medical Oddities-Philadelphia, PA

    a group of skeletons in a glass case
    When I first saw the Mutter Museum featured on a television show, I knew that it was a museum that I had to visit. I finally got to go this past summer and was not disappointed…
    a sign on a gate
    Photography is not permitted in the museum but I couldn’t resist taking some photos with my phone. The quality is not the best but I am still glad that I can show some of what the museum has to offer.
    a scary mask on a stand
    Dried Head

    The Mutter Museum is located at the College of Physicians.
    Dr. Thomas Dent Mutter donated the collection in 1858. It was originally used for medical research and education. The museum has lots of medical oddities, antique medical equipment and other interesting specimens.

    a room with glass shelves and a man standing in front of it
    Skull Collection

    The museum’s main floor has beautiful wood cabinets full of medical tools, wax molds, skeletons and an extensive skull collection. It was very busy when I visited so it took some time to get close to read the info in the cabinets.

    a statue of a boy and girl
    Chang & Eng

    The museum has a plaster cast of famous siamese twins Chang & Eng. Below the plaster cast (very hard to see in my picture) is a jar with their attached liver in it.

    a rock on a glass case
    Soap Lady

    One exhibit that I had to go back to visit a few times was of the Soap Lady. The lady died in the 19th century of yellow fever. She was buried in soil with some chemicals that turned her body into a soapy substance also called grave wax.

    Here are a couple of other interesting photos that I took during my visit.

    a face in a glass case
    a group of human body parts

    If you want to visit the Mutter Museum, find out more here.