Something Scary

What are YOU afraid of? Something Scary, is a family friendly, somewhat wacky exploration of fears and phobias. 

Visitors exploring their terrors and trepidations in the Something Scary galleries will encounter the eerie “wall of shadows” and other chilling experiences, including a torture chamber filled with menacing weapons and skeletons and an interactive Ouija board station offering opportunities to commune with otherworldly spirits.

Something Scary features fascinating and fearsome objects from the Museum’s eclectic collection, from a witch’s broom to a pit of snakes and even real owl and tarantula specimens. A dark and gloomy seventeenth-century oil painting depicts a somber Dutch family, attired all in black, whose eyes seem to peer out at museum-goers in the gallery. Daggers and pikes from the past hint at a history of violence while spooky antique china dolls with glass eyes stare balefully at visitors, evoking an atmosphere of foreboding. Objects from the Museum’s fine art collection that enhance the dark atmosphere of the exhibition include an etching by James A.M. Whistler depicting an eerie night scene; a drawing and two woodcuts by Kaethe Kollwitz; and several lithographs by John James Audubon, including depictions of a rat and a wolverine.

Items from a mad scientist’s laboratory and an assortment of truly unusual animal specimens are among the frightful vignettes to be explored. Visitors will be able to vote for their own particular fears, whether blood, heights, public speaking, ghosts and ghouls, the number 13, or things that “go bump in the night.”

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website