Weird London

Though I have shared most of my excursions with students, there are trips I took by myself or with my awesome colleague, Danielle Galien, a Criminal Justice instructor who came with me (thank the gods.) One of these was the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art and (Un)Natural History. which I discovered thanks to Atlas Obscura. Danielle and I took a trip into a not-so-great area of London for this, and it was well worth it. I've never been to a curiosity shop, but there are a number of them in London, and its always been interesting to me. Not for the faint of heart though, and probably not one to visit with students, although I hope they check it out at some point on their own. It was hard deciding which photos to share, I can tell you that. The Victorian hair sculptures aren't here, nor are the early depictions of monks having sex with nuns - but I hope you enjoy what's here. After, Danielle and I hit the bar to try some absinthe, which I haven't drunk since I lived in Ohio, and Danielle had never tried at all. It's worth the experience, but not recommended for daily consumption. In terms of taste, think in terms of black licorice mixed with dust.

At the door, we were assured there were no prostitutes to be found here, which is good I suppose. Whoever put this collection together was a particular fan of shadow box displays featuring stuffed rodents, as in the Moltar you see here...

Also to be found were remains of monstrous creatures, very realistically constructed, such as the lagoon creature head you see here, and a mermaid or two, and the leg bone of an Irish giant found in a lake somewhere...

The museum featured a lot of collected poo in jars, which Danielle admitted attracted her to the site. (Forensic investigators, right?) This is a jar of Kylie Minogue's poo supposedly, and there was poo from all manner of semi-famous people, and a jar of Russell Crowe's pee as well. Russell Brand also donated a jar of his pubes, which was nice of him.

These are frogs.

Teacher's note: If your students are mature enough, I think there is potential here for all manner of creative writing prompts. One might ask students to choose one of these artifacts and describe it, or to describe the environment. Another would ask them to write a scene in which the main character works at, owns, or founded this strange place. A third might choose one of these articles and attempt to tell the story behind it using only scene and detail. Finally, I would love to see students invent their own curiosity shop or curiosity cabinet and fill it with objects they imagine themselves in the spirit of a place like this.