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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/Shivers1995 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_1sign_5232.jpg]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:350:Please refrain from defacing the sign in the future.]]-]

->''"Everything you see in here is either haunted, cursed, or has been used in some kind of ritualistic practice."''
-->-- '''Ed Warren''', ''Film/TheConjuring''

Welcome to Professor Tropington's Museum of the Strange and Unusual. Within these halls, you will find exhibits dedicated to the [[WeirdScience mysteries of the world]]. For example, you will find the [[AlienTropes UFO displays]] up the stairs, next to the planetarium. To see the [[IndexOfFictionalCreatures cryptid exhibits]], take the hall to your left. To visit the PsychicPowers exhibit, well, you should know where that is. [[MishmashMuseum And yes, we prize the eclectic range of our collection over any benefits that might be gained from consistent themes.]]

May I point out at this moment that the [[MadScientistLaboratory laboratories]] are strictly off-limits to unauthorized personnel. In addition, emergency exits are in place should anything happen. [[BlatantLies We also guarantee that none of the exhibits will come to life, drive you insane, or open a portal to another dimension.]]
After you leave, you may want to visit the BazaarOfTheBizarre, the ArtifactCollectionAgency (or the one-man CollectorOfTheStrange), or the SuperheroTrophyShelf.
Now, feel free to peruse our fine museum, but beware... You never know what may happen.

If you were looking for the MuseumOfBoredom, you'll find them just across the commons. Ours has much better exhibits, though, if I may say so myself...
----
!! In this exhibit you may find:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
%%* ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2017'': The Last Wednesday Society is a cross between this trope and a cafe. See Real Life below for the actual establishment this is an homage to.
* In ''Manga/XXXHolic'', in the movie, there was the house of the collector... [[spoiler: he collected collectors. To specify, each room of his gigantic house was full of a different collection (birdcages, coins, etc), the soul of whose original collector is supernaturally trapped alongside said collection.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
%%* The British Museum in ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen''.
* In Dell (yes, Dell) Comic's ''Superheroes'' published in 1967, a group of teens visited the Dell Hall of Heroes where they discovered an unguarded exhibit of android superheroes. At that exact moment, an evil ex-Dell employee experimented on an evil robot elsewhere in the city, creating a power surge that zapped the teen's minds into the superhero androids. (Dell was not known for superhero books, hence the title and loony-even-for-Silver-Age plot.)
* In ''ComicBook/{{Dollicious}}'', Pumpkin, the horror geek, runs a small museum of odd and scary objects, just outside of her farm.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Lotsa Dough's museum collection is almost entirely made up of a jaw-dropping number of taxidermied reptiles, though she's also got a suit of armor, and life-sized mannequins of a Neanderthal and T-Rex.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'': In the sequel, the New York Museum of Natural History has a new wing for various additions, including HYDRA gear from WWII, a model of the ''Valkyrie'', models of the Chitauri, a Leviathan, various Iron suits, Doombots (less distinctive than their comics counterparts), and a literal RoguesGallery. There's also an invitation only wing about magic and magical creatures, which features dragon skeletons, vampire skeletons and models, magical artefacts, and a mannequin with a set of metal wings suspiciously like Warren's.
%%* The Museum of the Weird (the original iteration of which is covered under 'Theme Parks') makes a sweeping return in ''Fanfic/TheMansionverse'', where it was the life's work of CollectorOfTheStrange Phillidore Gastley.
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
%%* In ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', the mice raided one of these to build the Giant Mouse of Minsk.
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
* ''Film/TheConjuring'' depicts the Warrens' public collection of cursed items, including the infamous [[PerversePuppet Annabelle]], just as in real life.
* Most of ''Film/CryOfTheWerewolf'' is set in the [=LaTour=] Museum, a former mansion converted into a Museum of the Strange & Unusual "restored and maintained by the Society of Psychic Research New Orleans" (per the sign on the front door). Inside are exhibits about Vampires, Voodoo, and Werewolves- including former resident Marie [=LaTour=], who murdered her husband in her private drawing room. Unfortunately for the museum curator, Dr. Charles Morris, his digging around the building is considered unwanted attention by Marie's daughter Celeste, who sneaks into the museum, turns into a Werewolf, [[PlotTriggeringDeath and then murders him in a hidden room, kicking off the main plot]].
* Discussed in a GallowsHumor manner in ''Film/TheFly1986''. As Seth Brundle's SlowTransformation into a HalfHumanHybrid nears its apotheosis, it's revealed he's decided to keep his molted-away body parts (ears, teeth, etc.) as "relics of a bygone era". Upon an unexpected visit from his lover, he tells her "My teeth have begun falling out. The medicine cabinet is now the Brundle Museum of Natural History -- you wanna see what else is in it?"
* The Library in ''Film/TheLibrarian''. Within this building, you have Excalibur, the Shroud of Turin, Poseidon's Trident, Pan's flute, and multiple other legendary artifacts.
* ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum''. At night, an Egyptian artifact brings all the exhibits to life.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/BlackLegion'', the Hall of Titans aboard ''Vengeful Spirit'' houses a variety of trophies and curiosities collected by Abaddon during his pilgrimage through the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Eye]]. He even gives Khayon and Lheor a tour of it.
* In ''Literature/BookOfBantorra'', despite its name, the Library of Bantorra is better described as a museum since the "books" it deals with are not ordinary paper books written in any alphabet; they are stone tablets spontaneously appearing when someone dies recording the memories of their whole life, that anyone can experience simply touching the tablet. The librarians' job requires having combat training and some kind of super power since monsters prowl the vaults, too. In fact, the only thing that shares with a regular library is that the Library has a Customer Service that borrows the books to the general public (well, most of them).
* The central location of ''Curiosity House'' is Dumfrey's Dime Museum, a museum full of bizarre items like skeletons and masks. Many of them are fake, but the freak show is very real.
%%* Creator/SarahMonette's short story "Draco Campestris" takes place in one of these.
%%* Monette must really like this trope, since her Kyle Murchison Booth short stories, collectively labelled ''Literature/TheNecromanticMysteriesOfKyleMurchisonBooth'', also feature one of these as a major setting.
%%* ''Tales from the Wyrd Museum'', a fantasy novel trilogy, was set in one.
%%* The theme of the various-authors anthology ''The Thackery T Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities''.
* Perhaps the TropeMaker is Creator/NathanielHawthorne's short story ''A Virtuoso's Collection'', where the titular collection is shown to be filled with books, animals, and artifacts from mythology, religion, and folklore... with the kicker being that the collection's proprietor is the WanderingJew.
* ''Literature/AWalkingTourOfTheShambles'', by Creator/NeilGaiman and Creator/GeneWolfe, includes a brief description of the House of Clocks, of which perhaps all that need be said is that its (actual) website is [[http://preserveusfromthehouseofclocks.com/ preserveusfromthehouseofclocks.com]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BlackMirror'': In the Season 4 finale "[[Recap/BlackMirrorBlackMuseum Black Museum]]", a tourist decides to burn time at the eponymous Black Museum -- a collection of dangerous technology associated with high-profile crimes, some of which have actually been featured in previous episodes.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Henry Van Statten's personal museum in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek Dalek]]" contains pieces of alien artifacts and, in some cases, pieces of actual aliens. Van Statten is smart enough to try to reverse-engineer and patent any devices he finds, or even some things that ''shouldn't'' be patentable, like a Time Lord's dual cardio-vascular system.
* ''Series/NightGallery'': The FramingDevice involves paintings in a museum that represent the various stories in the show.
%%* ''Series/{{Oddities}}''. Very unusual and pretty strange.
%%* ''Spellman's Magical Museum of the Circus'' in ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Magazines]]
* ''Magazine/ForteanTimes'' is pretty much the printed-word version of this trope. But it's visited and reported on quite a few real-life locations around the world.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer: "Karn Evil 9: First Impression Parts 1 and 2" depicts modern life as a funhouse museum of the strange and grotesque.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/{{WCW}}: In 1997, {{Heel}} manager [[Wrestling/JamesMitchell James Vandenberg]][[note]][[Wrestling/{{SMW}} Daryl Van Horne]][=/=][[Wrestling/{{ECW}} the Sinister Minister]][=/=][[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling Father James Mitchell]][[/note]], the manager for [[Wrestling/{{Kanyon}} Mortis (Kanyon)]] and [[Wrestling/BryanClarke Wrath (Bryan Clarke)]], was supposedly the curator of the Museum of Medical Abnormalities in [[UsefulNotes/{{Taiwan}} Taipei]] and a collector of [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment "rare oddities"]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'': The Cromer Palace of Curios in the audio drama ''Hornets' Nest: The Dead Shoes'', which comprises a [[MishMashMuseum mish-mash]] of stuffed animals, mummified human remains and {{Creepy Doll}}s. [[spoiler: All of which are possessed by the hornets, as is the curator.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/ElderSign'': Navigating the unnamed museum may result in insanity, death, the End of the World, or all three.
* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': Beleth, the Demon Princess of Nightmares, keeps a museum of the nightmares of murderers. Its halls are stocked with minor, functionally mindless dream-figures spirited out of the night terrors of mortals who stained their hands with blood, endlessly repeating scenes of horror, fear and alienation while the souls of their dreamers cower in chains next to them. Demons of Nightmares often visit this place as a source of inspiration, and view having one of their creations accepted in its halls as a great honor.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'': The Onu-Metru Archives, home to many dangerous living "exhibits". During the Visorak Horde arc, as the entire island experienced a destructive earthquake [[CitywideEvacuation during the middle of a massive evacuation]], the Archives were breached and [[EscapedAnimalRampage allowed all said "exhibits" to rampage]], tearing what remained of the city apart.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theme Parks]]
* ''Ride/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyMissionBreakout'': The Collector's warehouse. Among the exhibits are Cosmo the Spacedog, [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron an Ultron drone]], the Yeti from the Matterhorn, [[Ride/TheTwilightZoneTowerOfTerror a bellhop's cap from the Hollywood Tower Hotel]], [[Ride/JourneyIntoImagination Figment]], and, of course, the Guardians themselves. In [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 the film itself]], his collection included what may have been [[ComicBook/Warlock1967 Adam Warlock]]'s cocoon and [[spoiler:''Howard the Duck'']].
* ''Ride/TheHauntedMansion'': The Museum of the Weird, a collection of strange and often occult items that would have served as a companion attraction ot the main ride, is one of the more infamous examples of WhatCouldHaveBeen for the Ride/DisneyThemeParks and would eventually emerge in comic book form as ''[[ComicBook/DisneyKingdoms Seekers of the Weird]]'' (though the comic retconned the Museum to be more of a SecretGovernmentWarehouse run by a secret society, which is not ''meant'' to be visited — [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks a concept that had very mixed reception]]). Some of the basic premise would also be used by Hong Kong Disneyland's ''Mystic Manor''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/CarnEvil'': The Freak Show has the "Museum of the Slightly Curious", a small alcove full of oddities. Some of these include a "Thing in a Bottle", a mummy sarcophagus, an Ancient Mystery Skull of Time, and even the World's Biggest Shoe.
* ''VideoGame/DisneysHideAndSneak'':Level 2 is set at a museum that is overrun with UFO enemies, including a giant dinosaur skeleton that comes to life in Minnie's scenario when activating its trick. Fortunately, it meant no harm and safely places her back down on the ground floor.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'': The ''Tribunal'' expansion adds the Museum of Artifacts in Mournhold. Naturally, you can [[CollectionSidequest help fill it with items]] and [[MontyHaul be payed handsomely]] for your trouble.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'': The ''Shivering Isles'' expansion has the Museum of Oddities within the eponymous Shivering Isles. Exhibits include [[SoulJar a tomato-shaped soul gem]], [[TheNudifier a ring that strips the wearer]] and a coin with two heads, among other things. You can also help it by recovering a stolen item in one quest.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'': Calixto's House of Curiosities in Windhelm is a retired adventurer's collection of semi-valuable herbs and alchemy reagents, with a handful of interesting artifacts.
** Numerous {{Game Mod}}s for each game add these for the PlayerCharacter, crossing over with SuperHeroTrophyShelf. One can store and display virtually anything you want, from books to legendary artifacts and everything in between.
* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'': Sierra Petrovita's house is a museum of all things Nuka-Cola.
* ''VideoGame/TheHalloweenHack'': The Death Museum features models of Paula, Jeff, Poo, and Dr. Andonuts' wife. Most creepily, it has a pedestal perfectly fit for Varik. Then upon reading the label on the blank pedestal, it proceeds to get confused about Varik. A mental image of Dr. Andonuts in said museum claims he is proud of killing the Chosen Four.
* ''VideoGame/{{Ib}}'' follows the experiences of a nine-year-old girl named Ib who visits an art gallery with her parents. While looking around, she finds herself stuck in a strange, surreal world where the art has come to life.
* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfTheAncients'': The Tarmalon Museum has a treasure room, a rare tree with near-miraculous fruit that enables {{Healing Potion}}s, portals to towns and several nasty dungeons, functional weaponry, even a Pegasus under glass...oh, and that [[ArtifactOfDoom Compendium of Magic]] that the museum's personnel believed was just [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions harmless]] [[EvilIsNotAToy local superstition]].
* ''VideoGame/TheMuseumOfAnythingGoes'', an early CD-ROM multimedia... thing, is a collection of whatever the creators felt like throwing in, mostly slide shows and videos.
* ''VideoGame/{{Obsidian}}'' has an art gallery in the third dream realm, with pictures that reflect on it and the previous two realms, and what the nanobot-controlling AI, Ceres, learned from them. At the end of it is an art studio, with a puzzle in which you're supposed to make a blank canvas for Ceres to apply that knowledge.
* ''VideoGame/{{Rama}}'': One of the locations on the cylindrical alien ship is a museum containing holographic exhibits on staple items of human civilization, and that of the two alien species living on the ship. It also contains puzzles meant to teach visitors both human and [[AlternativeNumberSystem alien numerals.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'': The British Museum of the Occult. A department of the British Museum that's barred to everyone except Secret Worlders, it's been cloistered away in Eldwick, London's supernatural district; every single wing of the museum examines a different aspect of the Secret World, from the undead to the Filth. However, the place needs benefactors, which is where the players come in: through Mnemonic Pedestals and ability points, you get to create the exhibits from your memories of the creatures you've encountered so far.
%%* ''VideoGame/Shivers1995'': The first game takes place entirely in one, and is the trope namer.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': Arcanum Space Station is a space station in ''very'' remote space, heavy security with mostly droids. It's also a first-rate collection of Sith artifacts and history the Empire has deemed TooAwesomeToUse or [[EvenEvilHasStandards so vile even they want to lock it away]].
* ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'' has the World of Curiosities, a dilapidated and macabre museum filled with the preserved corpses of both animals and humans.
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Webcomics]]
%%* ''Webcomic/RepositoryOfDangerousThings'' was pretty much this.
%%* ''Webcomic/{{Subnormality}}'': [[http://www.viruscomix.com/page533.html Museum of the Theoretical]].
%%* ''Webcomic/TheWotch'': The Museum of Magical History in several [[http://thewotch.com/index.php?epDate=2009-04-20 filler comics]].
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'', in an {{Expy}} of [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls the Mystery Shack]], has one in the form of the Curiosity Hut, which contains wax statues of horrific creatures the owner ran into across Amphibia, run by a CorruptedCharacterCopy frog persona of Grunkle Stan named the Curator a.k.a. Mr. Ponds. [[spoiler:[[LivingMuseumExhibit Turns out the wax statues are alive.]]]]
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': The Mystery Shack. It's explicitly stated to be a tourist trap (where the real mystery is why people keep coming) run by [[TheBarnum Dipper and Mabel's Great-Uncle Stan]], but it's been hinted in more than one episode that there's some secret about the building itself. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:the Shack used to belong to Stan's twin brother Stanford, which he used for his paranormal investigations; some of the exhibits are what remains of Stanford's inventions and specimens - the rest being fakes cooked up by Stan in the years since then.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
%%* The [[http://www.ripleys.com/ Ripley's Believe It or Not!]] Odditoriums.
%%* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Jurassic_Technology Museum of Jurassic Technology]] in Los Angeles, California.
* In London, [[http://thelasttuesdaysociety.org/ the Last Tuesday Society]] operates the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art, and Natural History. They also have a branch in Falmouth.
* The Mutter Museum of Medical Anomalies in Philadelphia. Has, among other things: an entire wall-length and height display of human skulls, a woman whose body turned into soap after she died, all sorts of floating things in jars, and the largest human intestine ever.
%%* Creator/DaveBarry's office was one.
%%* What's left of Music/MichaelJackson's estate could be considered this.
* [[http://www.roguetaxidermy.com/index.php The Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists]]
* The Kunstkamera in [[UsefulNotes/TheCityFormerlyKnownAs St. Petersburg]], founded by UsefulNotes/PeterTheGreat.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde_Curiosity_Shop Ye Olde Curiosity Shop]] on the UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} waterfront is half oddball souvenir shop, half this. Look for the old-school peep show (1920s, postcards), the scrimshaw carvings, and the [[DeadGuyOnDisplay two well-preserved mummified humans]] under glass in the back.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_and_Lorraine_Warren Ed and Lorraine Warren]] ran a little museum out of their home of supposedly cursed and haunted items they acquired during their cases. The museum is depicted in ''Film/TheConjuring''.
* [[http://www.marshsfreemuseum.com Marsh's Free Museum]] in Long Beach, Washington, home of Jake the Alligator Man, some self-playing musical contraptions, and other things.
* The [[http://www.smm.org/visit/collections Museum of Questionable Medical Devices]] has quack medical devices, and now is part of the [[http://www.smm.org Science Museum of Minnesota]].
* [[https://www.thehouseontherock.com/HOTR_AttractionMain.htm House on the Rock]] is insanity unleashed. Rooms dedicated to organs, carousel animals, dollhouses, and a giant octopus attacking a ship. It's rather like a museum that operates on RuleOfCool and doesn't care about authenticity.
* Confusion Hill in the small town of Piercy, California. Its biggest attraction is "The Gravity Hill", an optical illusion attraction. It's also the main inspiration for the aforementioned Mystery Shack.
[[/folder]]
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