Explore the Unusual: Take a Tour of the World's Most Bizarre Museum
The Mütter Museum
This surely is a strange and bizarre museum. It feels unique to see such a place housing so many different oddities and weird items to this extent. Usually, oddities museums and other museums of the weird tend to only have a few good pieces, but this location has so many that it is easy to get lost in the curiosities for hours. There are employees of the facility that can help you learn about all of the weird and wonderful macabre pieces, and share a weird fun fact or two along your journey. So if you have a weird question to ask let it fly. Some of the curiosities and oddities include Einstein’s brain, the soap lady, and a liver from a woman that wore a corset too tight for too long.
Some of the bizarre museum items we will visit in this virtual tour of the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia are:
A 7-and-a-half-foot-long human colon
Some lung that was infected with tuberculosis
A plaster cast of a woman with a 49-pound ovarian tumor
Albert Einsteins brain
The soap lady
The horned lady
Harry Eastlack’s skeleton
This bizarre museum is located in Philadelphia and is one of the world’s most fascinating places to visit in the world. It is found inside the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. It’s home to an incredible amount of medical specimens, human remains, and medical instruments. With its unique collection, it provides an unusual glimpse into the world of medicine and the history of scientific discoveries. In 1863 Dr. Thomas Mütter donated his entire collection of medical specimens and instruments to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. This kickstarted what would one day become the bizarre museum. It was originally supposed to be a teaching resource for medical students, but over time it has also turned into a way to inform the public about medical sciences.
As for today, the incredibly bizarre museum is open to anyone and everyone that would like to visit and learn about the weirdest things to happen in medical history. Let’s take a look at some of the interesting and fascinating finds in this scientifically bizarre museum.
Inside this Bizarre Museum
A 7-and-a-half-foot-long human colon
For this next one, hopefully, you ARE reading this article while you are taking the browns to the Superbowl…
dropping the kids off at the pool…
taking a load off…
putting a biscuit in the basket…
coiling some rope…
growing a tail…
releasing the Kraken…
It’s ok, it’s natural and we all do it. Well… most of us anyways.
Nicknamed the MEGA COLON, I definitely don’t think the picture in this article is doing it much justice. You will have to see this one in person because it is over 7 feet long! The man that this colon came from only went to the restroom around once every month. The colon weighs around 40 pounds! The man passed away on the toilet at the age of 29 years old.
He started showing symptoms at just over 1 year old. That is actually really sad to think about such a young child having these kinds of issues. The nerves around the large intestine don’t function properly. Nowadays there is surgery that can fix this issue, but back when this poor man had these issues he had to live with them for years and years until his untimely passing.
Here is a PSA:
If you are only pooping once a month, please seek help immediately. You are in great danger.
Lung that was infected with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis Lung
This piece of lung comes from one with tuberculosis. This illness is incredibly serious and in this picture we can see why.
As a medical science student and professional I have had to receive the TB shot and learn information about the illness itself. Knowing this, I can tell you firsthand that reading about it on paper does NOT do it justice the way seeing a picture of it can do. Seeing this scares me straight and makes it very clear to me why we need to get this shot and be very careful with what we do in the medical field. That piece of lung looks like dry-aged beef, and I would appreciate it if my lungs did not ever look like that. I like breathing.
49-pound ovarian tumor
There isn’t too much to say about this other than it is a scary thought that one could grow a 50-pound tumor in their body.
If you want your own piece of weird to have check this out on amazon. You can apparently literally buy a raccoon heart on amazon… Jeff Bezos is wild.
Albert Einsteins brain
I’m sure you are aware of who Albert Einstein was. Well, this museum of weird has his brain! They say that the average male brain weighs around 3 pounds and that Alberts was only around 2.7 pounds. Not only this, but he apparently didn’t show many signs of aging in his brain.
This is so interesting to me. One of the greatest minds of our species had a statistically lower-than-average brain weight. Common sense would say that he should have a bigger and heavier brain, but maybe it isn’t the size that matters. It’s how you use it… or at least that’s the story I’ll stick to.
The Soap Lady
This woman was buried in Philly. When she was in her grave the caretakers of the site spread lye on the ground to alleviate some of the smells from the bodies. What they didn’t know was that the lye that they were spreading across the ground would make its way through the dirt and find the woman in her grave. The lye had a chemical interaction with the body fat on the woman and mummified her in her own adipose tissue.
The Horned Lady
The Horned Lady
The horn grew on the womans head until she was 80 years old and went to a length of 10 inches.
This horn is entirely made from skin! I couldn’t tell you why, but she let it grow until she was 80 years old. It grew and grew until it reached around 10 inches in length.
This easily had to have gotten in her way during daily tasks. I can’t imagine it was easy to see or possibly even hold her head up at times. Could you imagine going through life every day with a giant 10-inch long horn coming out of your forehead? The looks that you would get in traffic…
Harry Eastlack’s skeleton
Yes, this is the real skeleton of Harry Eastlack on the left pictured above. He actually lived in Philly and was born in the early 1930s. He was diagnosed with FOP also known as fibrodysplasia ossificans progressive. In this disease, the muscles turn into BONE! A recent addition by the name of Carol (shown on the right side of the image) also was diagnosed with FOP. This disease is considered to be incredibly rare, and there are under 1,000 diagnosed individuals in the world.
There are other skeletons at this museum as well including a 7 and a half foot tall man and the skeleton of a little person.
The museum also has medical instruments from throughout history like an amputation saw from the 1700s and other surgical tools and syringes that were actually used. There are many interactive displays as well. There is an anatomy theater and a body works exhibit that both help you learn all about medical and anatomy knowledge while you are here. Knowledge is power, and any vacation with learning is a good one in my book.
There are special events throughout the year including lectures, workshops, and other medical and scientific get-togethers. They really need to put an oddities expo at this location. It would be the perfect spot.
This is absolutely one of the world’s museums of the weird. Full of curiosities and oddities, this museum holds more crazy items than we even have time to go over here in this article. If you are ever in the area we suggest you visit the interesting and the weird in Philidelphia.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my article!