This Online Group Posts Ridiculously Interesting Finds, Here Are 94 Of The Best Ones (New Pics)


While nothing beats stepping foot in a real museum and taking in its atmosphere, fascinating artifacts, and history, it’s not always possible to escape from our busy lives and dedicate an afternoon to calmly strolling around an exhibition. A great solution for this is an online museum where you can get your cultural fix without leaving your coach.

It's even better if it’s full of peculiar finds—the ones that pique our interest so much that it becomes hard to look away. Monsieur Pompier's Museum of Curiosities is a place of this kind, sharing treasures that are as fascinating as they’re quirky and uncanny. Scroll away to find the magnificent display of this online museum, and let us know what you think in the comments below!


#1 Perfume Bottle Consisting Of Eight Glass Bottles As Orange Segments, Set In Painted Ceramic Holder. (Ca. 1925)


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#2 19th Century Walking Stick, Topped With A Cat Wearing Goggles


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#3 Obstetric Phantom, 18th Century. The Wood And Leather Model Was Used To Teach Medical Students, And Possibly Midwives, About Childbirth. It Came From The Hospital Del Ceppo In Pistoia, Near Florence, Founded In 1277


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Since the first feature on Bored Panda in 2022, The Museum of Curiosities has grown a lot—almost three and a half times its size. At the time of writing, it has 52.9K followers on Instagram and 58.9K on X. 


The guy behind this project, Paul, has kindly spoken with us twice before and told us that the inspiration for it came from similar websites on the internet, like The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things curated by Dr. Chelsea Nichols, which we have covered before too, and actual museums like The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities in London.


“I'm a magpie for anything oddball and unusual, especially from the past so I'm always on the lookout for stories about things like old medical devices, bad taxidermy, the occult, bad inventions, weird unsolved mysteries, and so on,” shared Paul. 


#4 This Is Bertha Boronda.⁠ ⁠ Bertha Was Sentenced To 5 Years In Prison For “Mayhem” In 1908.⁠ ⁠ Bertha Cut Off Her Husband’s Penis With A Straight Razor And Fled The Scene By Bicycle


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#5 Vintage Disguise Kit By Fao Schwarz


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#6 Fly Me To The Moon


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When we last spoke to Paul around a year ago, he was slowly but surely making his way toward taking this online museum into the physical realm. "I’m still quite a way off, but little by little I see the rooms filling up with all manner of oddities, making me look like something of a hoarder (which I think is a good sign that I’m getting closer to having enough stuff to launch the museum!)”


#7 This Was Once The Oldest House In Hamburg Germany. It Was Built In 1504 And Was Demolished In 1910


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#8 The Pillar-Biter, 1509-1517 Seen On The Lower Part Of The Choir Screen Of St. Bavo Church In Haarlem, The Netherlands


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#9 Cat At A Vet Clinic In Paris, 1953


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Currently, the Instagram page says that Monsieur Pompier's Museum of Curiosities is coming to Dublin in 2025. We really hope this project will go beyond the internet and soon welcome visitors to their physical location. And if you do too, Paul is seeking donations to help make this all a reality. “You can donate whatever you like - be that money or your own curiosities which you’d like to see featured in the museum!"


#10 ?️


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#11 Liar


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#12 Virgin Of The Seven Sorrows - Southern Italy, 18th Century. Musée Du Cœur


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Starting a museum is truly no easy task. And if you ever wondered how it’s done, Mark Walhimer, museum planner since 1992, lists in his article ten steps to creating one. The first thing he recommends doing is putting the vision on paper (which can be physical or digital). “Write a one-page description of the museum. What type of museum are you creating? science center? Art museum? local history?” Try imagining what you’re going to display, what you already have, and what story you’re going to tell with it.


#13 Trip To Mars!


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#14 Gnome Found In A Coffin In Sweden Back In 1866


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#15 Phoney People


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Then he advises aspiring owners to find out what the community the museum is going to be in wants. “Ask, “What type of museum do you want?” Do not show drawings of the proposed museum, do not describe the museum you are planning. Listen.”After getting a general idea of what they expect, try visiting other museums, precisely 20, to see how they operate. “Keep notes and take lots of pictures. What is their yearly attendance? What is their ticket price? Notice the smallest details, what does the floor staff wear? Do they have a museum store?”


#16 Woohoo!


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#17 Battle Rabbit, Netherlands, Ca 1650


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#18 Horse Costume Taken From Jean Cocteau’s Le Testament D'orphée (Testament Of Orpheus), Designed By Janine Janet, 1960


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There’s no surprise here, but starting a museum is very expensive. Therefore, Mark recommends really crunching the numbers and finding connections in the real estate industry. After that, it’s a good idea to name the organization and purchase the domain for the words that describe it.


#19 Baby Duck


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#20 Frog Automaton, Made In Switzerland In 1820 / Gold, Enamel, Diamond, Ruby - The Metropolitan Museum Of Art


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#21 Self-Defense Glove For Ladies (London, 1850)


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The final steps include raising money and sharing the news. ”The best fundraising tools I know for starting a museum: a preview facility, an icon, and a museum preview booklet (including architectural illustrations and exhibition illustrations),” Mark shares. “As you start the design process, walk potential donors through the preview facility (with the museum preview booklet in hand) and discuss with them potential icons of the facility, and your exhibition plans, and involve the donors with the building architecture and exhibition design.”


#22 Cat Walking Stick


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#23 It's Mushroom Monday!⁠


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#24 Medieval Pilgrim Badge Displaying Three Phalli Bearing A Crowned Vulva In A Procession (1375-1450), Found In Brugge


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Even though a physical museum takes more work than we could ever imagine, let’s all hope that The Museum of Curiosities will succeed in crossing over to the physical realm, and all the fans will get to see the fascinating finds Paul has curated through the years.


#25 17th Century Poison Cabinet Disguised As A Book


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#26 False Prophets, England, 14th Century


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#27 "The Bat" From A German Fashion Magazine C.1951.the Mask Was Created By The French Make Up Artist Fernand Aubry


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In his last interview with us, he signed off by saying, “I would like to thank everyone who has been following my social media accounts over the years on Twitter and Instagram, as well as you cool cats at Bored Panda, for taking an interest in my project," he wholeheartedly thanked. "Let’s hope the next interview is to announce the opening of my REAL LIFE museum of curiosities!" We can't wait to announce that exciting news either!"


#28 Roman Gold Good-Luck Ring, With Phallus In Relief, Dating To The 1st Century Ce


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#29 Corner Piano


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#30 Ann Lockley Taking Tea With A Baby Hawk And A Lobster. Ann Lived On The Island Of Skokholm, Where Her Family Were The Only Inhabitants And Animals Were Pals. This Photo Was Taken For A 1938 National Geographic Story ‘We Live Alone And Like It — On An Island’


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#31 Heya


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#32 Three Glass Eyes In Their Storage Box Blown Glass Prosthesis. French Made, C.1900s


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#33 Adieu, Petite Famille!⁠


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#34 Soviet Smoking Toys, 1970s


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#35 The Bee's Knees


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#36 Clown Shower


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#37 Vintage Clown Decor


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#38 Hidden Staircase In A 19th Century Victorian Home Leading To A Secret Room


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#39 1920s Blow-Drying


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#40 1940s Lauren Bacall Surrealist Fashion Photo⁠


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#41 Vintage Freckle Removal


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#42 Beauty Treatments At Helena Rubinstein’s Salon, 1940s


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#43 The Purported Skull Of Mary Magdalene, Displayed In Its Golden Reliquary In The Basilica Of Saint-Maximin-La-Sainte-Baume, Southern France


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#44 Dentists Waiting Room


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#45 Pontchartrain Beach, New Orleans — 1962


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#46 Dr Wansbrough's Celebrated Nipple Shields, Late 19th C⁠


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#47 Cabbage Man


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#48 Toot-Toot!


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#49 The Exorcism Of A Small Child - Folk Art Sculpture


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#50 Cat Piano


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#51 Just Another Manic Moonday


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#52 Cats Nightmare (1890) Louis Wain


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#53 Dali Walking His Anteater


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#54 Tutankhamun Wore Socks With His Sandals


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#55 Cat-Mew Machine.⁠ ⁠ Inventors Are Always Looking To Build A Better Mousetrap, And In 1963, This Was The Latest Iteration


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#56 Daddy Saddle


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#57 Good Afternoon


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#58 Bear With Me


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#59 Norton's "Smile And Cry" Baby Face Soap, 1930-39


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#60 This Russian Family Portrait Was Taken Back In 1886. The Father Had An Obsession With Pool, And Dressed His Children Like Billiard Balls


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#61 Rainbow-Coloured Beasts From The 15th-Century


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#62 Happy Caturday!⁠


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#63 Welcome To The Hat-O-Mat!


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#64 Everything Is Fine


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#65 Ophthalmologist Signs In Taiwan, 1962


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#66 Howdy


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#67 Victorian Era Radiator With Bread Warmer


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#68 Woman In The 1930s Going Through An Attitude Adjustment Program


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#69 Brown Velvet Hat That Belonged To A Street Dentist In London In The 1820s-50s. It Is Covered With 88 Decayed Teeth Of His Former Patients


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#70 Luna Park, Melbourne


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#71 This Device Was Designed To Help With The Application Of Make-Up, Invented By Max Factor, 1930


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#72 The Tooth Worm As Hell’s Demon’, The 18th-Century Depiction Of The Tooth Worm Believed By Many In The Past To Bore Holes In Teeth And Cause Toothaches


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#73 Daily Mirror, England, January 22, 1909


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#74 Late-1800s Brothel Candles. Wen The Candle Burned Out The Session Was Over


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#75 In Yorkshire Villages "Witch Cakes" Were Baked Every Year In April, And Hung Behind A Door To Repel Witches


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#76 The Le Passe-Muraille (Passer-Through-Walls ) Sculpture In The Paris Catacombs


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#77 Lobster Ladies


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#78 'natural Creeping Baby Doll' Created By George Pemberton Clarke, 1871


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#79 Robert Blondel “The Twelve Dangers Of Hell” (1480)


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#80 Cover Art By David Mattingly From 1983 For “The Land Of Laughs” By Jonathan Carroll


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#81 Brains Just 25 Cent! ?


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#82 Postcard Of A Peanut Vendor Wearing A Suit Made Of Peanuts Circa 1890


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#83 Doll-Beetle Hybrid Cabinet By Laurent Gauthier


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#84 Macabre Coin-Operated Automaton Of A Mortuary, Made Around 1900 In Blackpool


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#85 Michelle The Choking Doll, 1930s. Used To Demonstrate Techniques For Removing Objects From Children's Throats


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#86 Chopines Are Platform Shoes That Were Worn By Women In The 15th, 16th And 17th Century. Made With A Very Tall Wooden Platform, These Shoes Protected The Dress From Mud And Street Dust. They Became Very Popular In Venice And Were Worn By Noble Women And Courtesans


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#87 "Winkie" Blinking Eyeball Novelty Ring From 1962


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#88 The House Of Nonsense


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#89 Mr And Mrs Aardvark


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#90 70s Wool Nose Warmer


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#91 Museum In Japan That Showcases Various Naturally Formed Rocks With Faces On Them


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#92 1920s Makeup Compact In The Shape Of A Gun⁠


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#93 Hello


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#94 Early Cola Bottle


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