“For those with a taste for the peculiar”

May 24, 2020 9:09 AM

The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things is the blog of curator and art historian, Dr. Chelsea Nichols. The collection includes such treasures as sexy weasels in Renaissance art, how to scare children in the 1920s, and hidden mothers in Victorian portraits. There are also occasional guest posts, on topics including Ivan Bilibin’s Illustrations of Russian folklore by Claire Atwater, Robert Liston, a surgeon and a showman by Mike Crump, and a make-your-own-bat-colony activity sheet by Alice Fennessy.
posted by Kattullus (14 comments total)

Those “how to scare children” photographs are très creepy.
posted by Monochrome at 9:17 AM on May 24, 2020 [5 favorites]

People not wanting tor live with a terror that will never leave them may not want to look at the post labelled "Monkey automaton with a severed cat head". For, hopefully, obvious reasons.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:23 AM on May 24, 2020 [8 favorites]

That first one is a weasel, sure. But that second one is obviously a chihuahua.
posted by Splunge at 9:55 AM on May 24, 2020 [4 favorites]

For some reason, I now have “rock me sexy weasel” going through my head to the tune of “Rock Me Amadeus.”
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:59 AM on May 24, 2020 [4 favorites]

But that second one is obviously a chihuahua.

The second one is the pelt in her left hand, not the dog.
posted by lemonade at 10:06 AM on May 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

Also, this is an amazing and fantastic site, thanks for posting!
posted by lemonade at 10:08 AM on May 24, 2020 [2 favorites]

That first one is a weasel, sure.

I don't know whether Leonardo thought of it as a weasel or wanted the viewer to think of it as a weasel, but it's clearly an albino ferret. It's much too large to be an ermine and doesn't really look like one. It is the right size for a ferret and it looks exactly like a ferret (with extra muscles.)
posted by Redstart at 10:20 AM on May 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: It's much too large to be an ermine and doesn't really look like one.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:33 AM on May 24, 2020 [8 favorites]

From this bookby way of the excellent Dr Mutter’s Marvels, the Robert Liston anecdote that wins the prize is the amputation that killed the patient (sepsis), an assistant (also sepsis after being cut during the operation), and a spectator (dead from fright after having his coattail severed being too close to the action). It was the first operation in the history of medicine with a 300% mortality rate.
posted by dr_dank at 10:43 AM on May 24, 2020 [9 favorites]

The Abandoned suitcases of asylum patients is heartbreaking, not just seeing all of the photos they brought with them but it's likely these patients didn't leave alive.
posted by waving at 11:09 AM on May 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: even here, people don't read the articles.
posted by Pinback at 4:19 PM on May 24, 2020 [3 favorites]

The "Jeweled marten’s head or flea-fur, adorned with gold, rubies, garnets and pearls (circa 1550)" makes me sad. An animal's skin for such a tacky plaything of wealth.
posted by away for regrooving at 10:28 PM on May 24, 2020 [3 favorites]

Thank you! this is a wonderful site. I especially like the sexy weasels (who wouldn't?)
posted by Fuchsoid at 11:07 PM on May 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

If you like this I also recommend the now mostly defunct but still content rich oddment emporium.
posted by hearthpig at 3:58 PM on May 26, 2020 [1 favorite]