Sublimely awesome

I first came across this ad on the lovely blog Narrylikes.com. The ad is for Dutch children's charity Kinderpostzegels, and directed by Christian Borstlap. The characters are simply illustrated, yet so expressive.

things to learn from Matt Edgar on Vimeo.

Not your average tourist destinations

I couldn't decide which strange object to post about, so here's a double feature of strange places instead!

The Capuchin Monastery in Brno, Czech Republic allows visitors to see its catacombs, where the mummified bodies of monks, abbots and various people rest. I think it's safe to say that the catacomb is the most visited part of the monastery! Bodies were laid in the catacombs until 1787, when Emperor Joseph II forbade bodies to be buried in the catacomb.

The bodies in the catacomb were accidentally mummified - the ventilation holes in the tunnels keep the air constantly dry, which mummified the bodies hundreds of years ago. Baron von Trenck is a famous figure in Brno, and so rests in a glass-topped coffin in a separate room.

I felt a little squeamish when I saw this picture, so I've put in a link instead of posting a picture of the catacombs!


I now end off the 'strange objects/strange places' series with a place where dead people are part of the decor.

This place, also in the Czech Republic, is the Sedlec Ossuary, Sedlec, near Kutna Hora. Bones decorate nearly every wall of the small Roman Catholic chapel, and a delicate bone chandelier hangs from the ceiling.The ossuary lies beneath the Cemetary Church of All Saints. The bones of approximately 40 000 to 70 000 people are contained in the ossuary. From what I've gathered, one man arranged the bones decorativley - his name was František Rint. The woodcarver was paid by the prominent Schwarzenberg family to arrange the bones in 1870.

I think I would visit all the weird places I've posted about. The places are definitely very creepy, yet somehow fascinating.

Photo source: http://0.tqn.com/d/goeasteurope/1/0/i/5/-/-/SedlicOssuary4.JPG. See more photos here

The toys that parents weren't buying for Christmas...

These toys aren't as strange as some of the other objects I've posted about, but then again dolls can look just as creepy as Fiji Mermaids...

These mixed-up toys were created by Las Vegas artist NAY. They remind me of the mixed-up toys in Toy Story, like the baby doll head on the spider body and the fishing rod thing with Barbie legs.

NAY thinks that all toys should look as strange as the ones he creates:

Photo credits: http://www.l-page.net/auction/2007_06_17_archive.html

Mütter Museum

Do not visit the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, USA, if you are squeamish. Do not visit the Mütter Museum if you have recently had a meal.


The Mütter Museum is part of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The displays consist of all things medical and gross - things like the conjoined liver of Siamese twins, anatomical deformities and medical tools. 



I have a sort of phobia of depictions of eye injuries. I'm not sure I could bring myself to look at the wax models of faces with eye injuries. Ugh!

The Museum

Photo credit: Melissa Dixon

'Evidence' of Fairies

 Please note the use of inverted commas!

Artist Takeshi Yamada creates rogue taxidermy pieces - his creatures look real, but never existed in live form.

Yamada has also created pieces which look like genuine fossils. Two of these fossil pieces are his 'fossilized fairies'. They look very real!

Photo credits: Sideshow World

The Island of the Dolls

Last year I came across  a video and article about this place called the Island of the Dolls, La  Isla de la Munecas in Spanish. The island is known as one of Mexico's strangest tourist destinations. Everywhere you look, there are dolls. Dolls hanging in trees, on walls and sitting on chairs.

The island is stands between Xochimilco and Mexico City, in  Teshuilo Lake. The ghost of a little girl who drowned in the Xochimilco canal near the island is said to haunt the Island of the Dolls. The tale of the island goes that Don Julian Santana, the man who lived on the island, found the body of the drowned girl in the canal. He believed that her spirit haunted him, and so he collected dolls to hang in the trees to appease her spirit. The dolls on the island were found floating in the canal and in rubbish dumps. Santana also traded produce he grew on the island for dolls. People said that the spirits of the dolls were responsible when Santana died in 2001 - he drowned in the same canal as the little girl all those years ago.

Go here and here for more creepy doll pictures!

Photo sources:
 1, 2 , 3, 4 and 5

Fiji Mermaids

Yesterday I was reading Antler magazine. In the sidebar, there are pictures of the past issues. Volume #2 was titled Wunderkammer, and it was about curious objects and places.

So, for the next few posts I will be writing about curious objects and places. The magazine mentioned Fiji mermaids. They were believed to be real when they first appeared in public. They were actually skilled taxidermy jobs, and made up of the torso of a monkey and the tail of a fish. Some were made to look more human-like.

Here are some pictures so you may satisfy your curiosity immediately!

This Fiji Mermaid doesn't look quite as scary as the others (I think...). The head and body are  man made and the fins are real.

 Photo credits:
http://www.eso-garden.com/index.php?/weblog/the_mermaids_of_juan_cabana/
http://bakka-deliviano.blogspot.com/2009/02/jenglot.html
http://www.roguetaxidermy.com/gallery_images/528_78712.jpg