History Main / TaxidermyTerror

* The Safari Room in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' is filled with various stuffed creatures, which nod kind of creepily when the Poltergust 3000 is used on them.

Not to be confused with TaxidermyIsCreepy, which is more about taxidermists themselves, rather than the products of their profession.

* Gru's home in ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'' is full of furniture made from stuffed animals. As the girls walk down the hall, they see a stuffed lion's head. In its mouth is a stuffed dog, with a stuffed cat in its mouth, which has a stuffed mouse in its mouth.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}} Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted]]'': [[BigBad Captain [=DuBois=]]], the head of France's Animal Control, has her walls decked out with all kinds of animals. All she's missing is a lion's head, which is why she specifically targets Alex.

* Ace Ventura has a truly epic FreakOut in ''[[Film/AceVentura: Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls]]'' when his new employer becomes a little sick of his antics and shows him his trophy room, as "one animal lover to another". When asked if there was something wrong, his response is "Of course not, this is a charming room of death!" Gets a CallBack later when the BigBad and his cronies are in said room and are looking around at the various stuffed animals/heads as numerous roars are heard, right around the time [[GaiasVengeance a stampede of various jungle animals comes crashing through the wall]]. With Ace riding in on an ostrich in the middle of it.

* Ace Ventura has a truly epic FreakOut in ''Film/AceVenturaWhenNatureCalls'' when his new employer becomes a little sick of his antics and shows him his trophy room, as "one animal lover to another". When asked if there was something wrong, his response is "Of course not, this is a charming room of death!" Gets a CallBack later when the BigBad and his cronies are in said room and are looking around at the various stuffed animals/heads as numerous roars are heard, right around the time [[GaiasVengeance a stampede of various jungle animals comes crashing through the wall]]. With Ace riding in on an ostrich in the middle of it.

* Creator/LaurelAndHardy: In ''Fra Diavolo'', it looks like our heroes will meet their end at the hands of the titular villain. At one point, Stan asks Ollie whether he'd like to be buried or stuffed, and an indignant Ollie reacts in horror at the idea of it.

* In ''Film/{{Roadhouse}}'', Tinker, the only survivor among the BigBad's {{Mooks}}, is so freaked out by the various stuffed animals surrounding him that he can't testify to the Sheriff about what happened in the climax.

* In the video for the Music/{{Genesis}} song "No Son of Mine," there's only one animal head, but it's still pretty freaky.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': The Snodgrass brothers' not only live behind a pet shop, but their father's a both former veterinarian ''and'' taxidermist, DependingOnTheWriter. Miss Brooks briefly (and squeamishly) forays into the business of taxidermy herself on the radio, in the episode "Taxidermists" - accompanied by Harriet Conklin, Walter Denotn and Stretch Snodgrass. However, where TaxidermyTerror really comes into play is in the episode [{ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Stuffed Gopher"]]. Stretch Snodgrass wrecks Mr. Conklin's office, Mr. Boynton's lab, and the school Cafeteria in his attempt to catch the rodent. Snodgrass then has the rodent stuffed and brings it to school in a large suitcase to show Miss Brooks, Walter and Mr. Conklin. All three are suitably, and [[HilarityEnsues comically]] repulsed.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': The Snodgrass brothers' not only live behind a pet shop, but their father's a both former veterinarian ''and'' taxidermist, DependingOnTheEpisode. Miss Brooks briefly (and squeamishly) forays into the business of taxidermy herself on the radio, in the episode "Taxidermists" - accompanied by Harriet Conklin, Walter Denotn and Stretch Snodgrass. However, where TaxidermyTerror really comes into play is in the episode [{ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Stuffed Gopher"]]. Stretch Snodgrass wrecks Mr. Conklin's office, Mr. Boynton's lab, and the school Cafeteria in his attempt to catch the rodent. Snodgrass then has the rodent stuffed and brings it to school in a large suitcase to show Miss Brooks, Walter and Mr. Conklin. All three are suitably, and [[HilarityEnsues comically]] repulsed.

->''"Fur, feathers, scales, every manner and type of dead skin surrounded me, each frozen in uncanny stillness as though they were trapped in a world where time had simply stopped. Everything except their eyes of course. Their eyes had never been alive and they all seemed to stare in my direction, so that to look too close at any of them was to gaze into that unseeing glass."''

These are typically encountered by a child or teenager exploring the house, creepy background music optional. Sometimes the character gets up in the middle of the night to find a bathroom and/or a drink of water, and encounters the stuffed monstrosity that way. Sometimes, the character walked right past it when the beast was brightly illuminated during the daytime, but now that it is night, and the house is dark, running into the animal freaks them the hell out. Bonus points if the person stumbles into it in the dark, shines their chosen source of light on it, screams and runs away. ''Double'' bonus points if, instead, a lightning strike outside the window lights up the room so it can be seen.

* In the film version of ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'', Bastian is scared by the taxidermied head of a wolf, which foreshadows the eventual appeareance of [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Gmork]].

* Alfred Hitchcock filled Norman Bates' house with taxidermed birds to add to the creepiness in the film version of ''Film/{{Psycho}}''. It also alludes to the final fate of Mrs. Bates.

* Ace Ventura has a truly epic FreakOut in ''Film/AceVenturaWhenNatureCalls'' when his new employer becomes a little sick of his antics and shows him his trophy room, as "one animal lover to another". When asked if there was something wrong, his response is "Of course not, this is a charming room of death!" Gets a CallBack later when the BigBad and his cronies are in said room, and are looking around at the various stuffed animals/heads as numerous roars are heard, right around the time [[GaiasVengeance a stampede of various jungle animals comes crashing through the wall]]. With Ace riding in on an ostrich in the middle of it.

* in ''Film/TheFrozenGround'' the serial killer Robert Hansen is first shown in his home, adorned with various pelts and mounts, which you can see in nearly every shot. Later in the movie it is reveled [[spoiler:that there are so many mounts because he has an addiction to hunting, and human beings are a harder kill.]]

* ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory''. Bastian sees the taxidermied heads of a fox, an eagle and an owl, and later in the land of Fantastica he meets three sages with the heads of said animals.
* In ''Literature/TheHotelNewHampshire'', the family dog dies and the protagonist's older brother decides to take it on as a taxidermy project. It comes out looking far more terrifying than it's supposed to, and keeps getting found in various unexpected and startling places. At one point it keeps the protagonist from getting laid by frightening the girl; at another, it literally scares his grandfather to death.

* Combined with RaisingTheSteaks in ''Literature/ThatIsAll'', where the ZombieApocalypse only effects taxidermied animals, but they can't do much because they're nailed down. A bearskin rug managed to wiggle its way out of a store and into the street, but it only succeeds in making someone cozy.

* Zig-zagged in ''Literature/TheHollowPlaces''. The protagonist Kara views the taxidermy animals of her uncle's Wonder Museum as her old friends, since she grew up around them. [[spoiler: When the EldritchAbomination starts possessing them, ''then'' they become creepy, particularly the giant river otter, but only the directly possessed ones. The ones that are just animated but are not being controlled fight ''for'' her.]]

* In the flash game ''Haunt The House'' two of the objects the player can possess to scare people is a stuffed bear and a moose head.

* ''WebAnimation/CampCamp'': The foyer of Cameron Campbell's mansion in Spooky Island has two taxidermized bears next to the door, scaring Nikki, Neil, and Japser, but not Max. A later episode shows how Campbell obtained them: by fighting and killing the bears with nothing but a knife.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDucktators'': Kind of. The heads of Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo are stuffed and hung on the wall, but here it is played as a victory upon evil. The actual terror has been turned into taxidermy.

* Ace Ventura has a truly epic FreakOut in ''Film/AceVenturaWhenNatureCalls'' when his new employer becomes a little sick of his antics and shows him his trophy room, as "one animal lover to another". When asked if there was something wrong, his response is "Of course not, this is a charming room of death!" Gets a CallBack later when the BigBad and his cronies are in said room, and are looking around at the various stuffed animals/heads as numerous roars are heard, right around the time [[GaiasVengeance a stampede of various jungle animals comes crashing through the wall]]. With [[CrazyAwesome Ace riding in on an ostrich]] in the middle of it.

* In '' Literature/WingsOfFire'', self-declared "queen" Burn has a deep fascination with the strange and macabre. That includes taxidermied specimens with strange traits and deformities, ranging from wild animals all the way up to humans and other dragons. Most other characters who see her collection are extremely creeped out by it.

* In '' Literature/WingsOfFire'', queen Scarlet has a bunch of stuffed humans and taxidermied reptiles.

Also rarely, the animal will occasionally come alive, due to some kind AppliedPhlebotinum, and when it does come alive, expect it to attack.

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'': Back when Knuckles the Echidna had his own solo series, one of his foes was a human named Hunter. The first time they meet, Hunter showed off his collection of stuffed Mobians that he had hunted down. Since this series focuses on anthropomorphic animals, Knuckles reacts the way most people would when seeing [[HumanHeadOnTheWall a wall full of stuffed human heads.]]

** The castle of the Baron Von Ubervald also has a trophy room displaying mounted heads, as befitting a family of werewolves that love to hunt. Vimes notices several empty spots when he comes to visit, as though some longstanding trophies had been hastily removed prior. Its strongly implied these were human heads, the losers of The Game the Baron often plays with locals.