A Spooky Museum Artifact Quiz
Nothing is spookier than that unexpected, terrifying item you run across in a museum — just when you were least expecting it. Just in time for Halloween, test your knowledge on 15 of the creepiest artifacts from museums across the world — if you dare.
Many thanks to the museums who shared most of these artifacts via #CuratorBattle and #AskACuratorDay on Twitter!
1) This unnerving 17th century mask, on display at the National Museum of Scotland, is made from leather, fabric, hair, feathers, and false teeth. It was worn as a disguise by Alexander Peden — but why?
a. He was evading the authorities because he had killed a nobleman in a duel.
b. He was a hermit living in the forest who wanted to avoid idle curiosity-seekers.
c. He was having an affair with a woman on a neighboring estate and wanted to remain incognito.
d. He was an outlaw preacher in danger of arrest and execution.
The answer is (d). Alexander Peden was a “Covenanter,” one of a group of preachers who disagreed with King Charles II of Scotland imposing Episcopalian hierarchy on the church. Peden and fellow Covenanters would preach illegal open-air services, under potential penalty of death for both themselves and their parishioners. He was arrested, escaped, lived in a cave for some time…. It’s a pretty fascinating tale. The mask is on display in the National Museum of Scotland, and you can find out more about Peden’s story on their website.
2) This inexpertly taxidermied lion can be found on display where?
a. Wagner Free Institute of Science, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
b. Gripsholm Castle, Mariefred, Sweden
c. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, St. Augustine, Florida, United States
d. Natural History Museum, Berlin, Germany
The answer is (b). Construction started on Sweden’s Gripsholm Castle in 1537, and it became one of the official residences of King Gustav Vasa. According to legend, this lion, while alive, was a gift from the Bey of Algiers to King Fredrik I. The lion is named Leo, and you can read more about him on the castle’s website.
3) This lovely silvered bottle from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England, is reputed to contain something terrifying. What is it?
a. A witch
b. A hobgoblin
c. A ghost
d. A kelpie
The answer is (a). This bottle was obtained about 1915 from “an old lady” living in a village near Hove, Sussex, who said: “They do say there be a witch in it, and if you let him out there’ll be a peck o’ trouble.” It was collected by a woman named Margaret Murray, who seemed like a pretty interesting character in her own right — more on her here.
4) Canned “whole duck in natural juices / ready to be served,” is horrifying without additional context. Which museum holds this gem?
a. The Blaise Museum in Bristol, England
b. The Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas, United States
c. The Australian Museum in Sydney, Australia
d. The Flyways Waterfowl Experience in Baraboo, Wisconsin, United States
The answer is (a). The Blaise Museum is an 18th-century mansion focusing on the everyday life of people from Bristol. There’s not much to really say about the canned duck….
5.) This hand-created Victorian model, from the collections of the York Castle Museum in York, England, is less than a foot tall and uses crab claws to depict people. But what are the crab people doing?
a. Potash mining
b. Lead mining
c. Polyhalite mining
d. Gold mining
The answer is (d). The York Castle Museum focuses on local social history. They also have a similar model of crab people playing cards, which you can find on Twitter (thanks again to #CuratorBattle) here.
6) These scrimshaw dolls were carved by sailors from whalebone and feature human hair. What museum holds these dolls?
a. Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels, Maryland, United States
b. Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, Australia
c. Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
d. National Maritime Museum in Falmouth, Cornwall, England
The answer is (b). These two dolls have heads, feet, and hands made of whale bone or tooth, and wigs of human hair. Per the Australian National Maritime Museum, they date from the mid-1800s and are most likely English.
7) This mask with unnervingly piercing eyes was believed to originate from the Roman Empire, but was not found until 2011, well outside the borders of the Roman Empire at its height. Where was it found?
a. Skals, Denmark
b. Ouarzazate, Morocco
c. Gotland, Sweden
d. Rendsburg, Germany
The answer is (c). If Google Translate is to be trusted, this article cites Marie-Louise Hellquist, antiquarian for Gotland’s County Administrative Board, as saying “we have never seen anything like this before.” They believe it was a ceremonial mask, perhaps used in equestrian games, rather than a mask used in battle, and dates to between the first and fourth centuries. It is in the collections of Historiska Museet, the Swedish History Museum.
8) This 12th century scroll, a National Treasure of Japan in the collection of the Nara National Museum in Nara, Japan, depicts the divine insect Shinchū. What is Shinchū bloodily feasting upon?
a. Old people
b. Children
c. Demons
d. Zombies
The answer is (c). Shinchū, a deity who drives away the demons and spirits that cause plagues, comes from the collection of the Nara National Museum in Nara, Japan. He appears in a series of scrolls called Extermination of Evil (Hekija-e), which are a National Treasure. You can see all the scrolls on the Nara National Museum’s website here.
9) This patent drawing in the U.S. National Archives shows a “life-preserving coffin in doubtful cases of actual death.” Which of the following were features of this coffin?
a. A ring to go on the finger of the possibly-deceased to allow them to open the lid with a small finger movement
b. An air vent to ensure the possibly-deceased has access to oxygen
c. A plate to allow the possibly-deceased to open the lid with a small head movement
d. All of the above
The answer is (d). This patent drawing dates from November 1843. It was designed by Christian H. Eisenbrandt to allow “any one who may not really have departed this life” to escape from the coffin. Eisenbrandt’s patent application further stated, “It is intended to place the above described coffin, with its inmate, in a vault, with a key of the vault deposited inside of its entrance, until decomposition takes place, so that should the person not really be dead, life may be preserved.”
10) This is a cast of a carved turnip from the National Museum of Ireland — Country Life in Castlebar, Ireland, that would have been used to mark Samhain, the day after Hallowe’en. How did the museum acquire the original carved turnip from which this was cast?
a. It was donated in the 1940s by a woman who carved it from her memory of making such lanterns 40 years before.
b. It was discovered miraculously preserved in a bog in northern Ireland.
c. They bought it from a grocer in 1994 and the curator carved it to match traditional images of turnip lanterns.
d. It was found in collections in the late 1990s as plans to open the new “Country Life” branch of the National Museum of Ireland were underway.
The answer is (a). You can learn more about Samhain traditions on the museum’s website, or visit YouTube to watch a curator talk about this turnip — which she calls “pretty scary and awful.”
11) The dubious looking couple in this photo from The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, has taken a butterfly pinboard up a notch to include a variety of snakes, spiders, lizards, and terrifying insects. Where were these fauna collected?
a. Everglades, Florida, United States
b. Amazon rainforest, Brazil
c. Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia, United States
d. Congo Basin, Equatorial Guinea
The answer is (b). This photograph was taken in 1931 at Fordlandia, Henry Ford’s ill-fated attempt to start a rubber plantation in the Brazilian rainforest. The doughy Midwesterners he sent there came up with interesting ways to keep themselves busy. You can learn more about Fordlandia here and you can see more creepy artifacts from The Henry Ford’s collections here.
12) This “tin containing nail clippings, paper, and dead bees,” labeled “land minees and finger nails” was sent to a famous artist with a fan letter by Frederick P. Vigneron in 1977. Who was the artist?
a. Jean-Michel Basquiat
b. Yoko Ono
c. Andy Warhol
d. Judy Chicago
The answer is (c). This tin, now in the collections of the Warhol Museum, was sent to Andy Warhol, who included it in “Time Capsule 190.” You can find out more about Warhol’s Time Capsules on the museum’s website.
13) This strangely-shaped object from the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is a prototype protective suit made in the 1950s-1960s for an animal for use in investigating the effects of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. What was the animal?
a. Pig
b. Monkey
c. Cat
d. Dog
The answer is (a). In a 2020 tweet, the Canadian War Museum noted, “During the Cold War, defence researchers used animals to investigate how to protect military personnel from the effects of chemical weapons. A tailor at the defence research station in Suffield, AB made this prototype protective suit for a pig in the 1960s.” You can check out more pics of the suit on the museum’s website.
14) These terrifying monkeys from the collections of the Aurora History Museum in Aurora, Colorado, are advertising a movie. What movie are they advertising?
a. Planet of the Apes
b. Monkeys Go Home
c. Walt Disney’s The Monkey’s Uncle
d. Tarzan the Magnificent
The answer is (c). The movie starred former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello, as well as Tommy Kirk as the title character — uncle to a chimpanzee named Stanley. You can see the original version of the photo, showing the movie poster, on the Aurora History Museum’s website.
15) The Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, Germany, has not established full provenance for this mask, but believe it dates from the mid-1600s to the mid-1700s. What do they think it was its use?
a. By gravediggers, to avoid breathing in spirits of the dead
b. During the winter, for warmth
c. During metal smelting, to avoid inhaling toxic fumes
d. By doctors, to avoid illness
The answer is (d). Though it was believed this rare mask was worn by doctors to ward off the plague, recent investigations have cast some doubt on that story. You can learn more on the museum’s blog.
I hope you’ve enjoyed testing your spooky skills with these museum artifacts! Remember, even if you missed all the answers… If the memory of some of these artifacts keep you up tonight, you are still a Halloween winner.
