50 Interesting, Weird, And Disturbing Finds Shared On This Online Twitter Museum (New Pics)
It’s not every day that you see a Victorian mug made to keep mustaches safe from tea or a velvet hat covered in the teeth of dental patients from the 1800s. But perhaps if you took more visits to The Museum of Curiosities on Twitter, run by the Monsieur Pompier’s Travelling Freakshow musical group, you might find yourself learning about strange things such as these on a daily basis!
Below, you’ll find some of our favorite posts from this bizarre page dedicated to sharing all things weird, as well as an interview with Monsieur Pompier himself. From old paintings with interesting subjects to weird contraptions that aren’t common nowadays, we’re sure you’ll find something that piques your interest on this list. So enjoy visiting this virtual museum, and keep reading to find out how you might be able to visit it in person some day soon too!
More info: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Album | MonsieurPompier.com | Donate
This post may include affiliate links.
Only 6 dwarves pictured, the 7th is on the key, which is in this historical picture key-64914e...402c71.jpg
The Museum of Curiosities, or Monsieur Pompier's Museum of Curiosities, has been fascinating viewers on Twitter since January 2012. The page has amassed an impressive 46.2k followers through sharing over 5,000 photos and videos and by captivating audiences from all over the globe. According to the virtual museum’s website, “It all started in a tiny corner of the internet around ten years ago when a strange man named Paul began posting interesting and unusual items from the past on Twitter and Instagram.”
“Over the following decade, the popularity of these accounts grew to such a degree that the idea of turning this online prescience into reality became something increasingly hard to ignore,” the museum’s creators continued. “And so, in 2023, it was announced that Monsieur Pompier would launch Ireland’s first ever Museum of Curiosities the following year and (as of February 2023) is currently finalizing the collection, raising funds and looking for a home for this world of wonders.”
That’s right, pandas. Come 2024, you’ll be able to visit Ireland and take an IRL look at some of the world’s quirkiest and most fascinating objects and images. You can actually donate to the campaign right here if you’re interested in helping it become a reality! And if you’d like to learn more about Monsieur Pompier's Museum of Curiosities, or the musical group behind it all, lucky for us, Bored Panda was able to get in touch with them about 8 months ago when we first featured their Twitter account.
Paul, aka Monsieur Pompier himself, previously shared that some of his initial inspiration for the account and museum project came from one of his favorite websites on the internet, 'The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things' curated by Dr. Chelsea Nichols and Viktor Wynd's 'Museum Of Curiosities' in London, as well as various other museums both real and fictional who operate in the same strange world. “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,” he explained.
I want to be a nice old man with a walking cane with a distinguished cat with glasses on it. I will be super friendly and vaguely reminiscent of someone in Mary Poppins, and I will give children rainbow lollipops and wear cute suspenders and button down shirts with cat patterns.
We were fortunate enough to get in touch with Paul again for this article, and he gave us some updates on what he's been doing since we last spoke. "I’ve spent the last eight months collecting weird and wonderful curiosities for my museum which I hope to launch at some point in 2024," he told Bored Panda. "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!). I’m currently seeking donations to help make the museum a reality here and you can donate whatever you like - be that money or your own curiosities which you’d like to see featured in the museum!"
"Meanwhile, I’ve continued performing all over Ireland and Europe with my Travelling Freakshow project, which for those who don’t know (i.e., most of the universe!), is a strange mix of dark cabaret, performance art and eccentric psychedelic songs penned by yours truly under my pseudonym Monsieur Pompier," Paul continued.
That's awesome. We just don't have cool architecture or history like this in the states.
Paul previously described the musical group as a "very eccentric rock group and sometimes cabaret act" that's been touring around Europe since 2018 with “a rotating cast of characters including The Ear Fairy, Guts The Cat, The Crabbit, as well as newcomers such as Betty Bogweed and Sister Whispers."
"On stage, I attempt to sing my ridiculous songs whilst the 'freaks' interact with me or the audience as they interpret and act out the story of their individual songs," he explained. There's no question that their music is worth checking out!
Hey sir, do you have a moment to hear about our Lord and Saviour?
The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea, in a beautiful pea green boat. With plenty of money and plenty of honey, all wrapped up in a five pound note.
This is so cute and realistic. My cat gives me the same look. (Both the owl's look, and the cat's)
didn't realize at 1st but the owls get drawn lighter and cover the whole background
Louis Wain was an english painter diagnosed with schizphrenia known for having a somewhat feverish obsession with cats. they were almost always the subjects of his paintings, and as you can tell by this image, as his illness progress his art style slowly became more and more surreal and detailed. he died in a mental hospital in 1939, aged 78. Louis_wain...a622a6.png
Tiddles really didn't want to go to Hogwarts but he couldn't find the unsubscribe button.
I bet my cat has nightmares about crows which are rising babies in our yard each year.
I have a print of The Seesaw in my toilet,love Louis Wain pictures.
Why do you have a seesaw in your toilet?
Load More Replies...Paul also explained how he decides what kind of content to feature on his account. "I take inspiration from real life curiosity museums like the Viktor Wynd Museum in London, or the wonderful Prehistoria Museum in Toronto, which I had the pleasure of visiting last year," he explained. "Another real gem that I discovered on my travels was the Design Panopticon in Berlin which focuses on bizarre household and industrial objects rather than traditional 'curiosities.'"
"Personally, I’m most interested in curiosities which have a peculiar social history attached to them," Paul added. "Dr Chelsea Nichols of the Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things catalogues items like this, ranging from magic potatoes to explosive rats."
As far as why we should all be fascinated by these curiosities, Paul says, "They give us a brief insight into worlds forgotten and worlds never understood to begin with. History, especially pre-twentieth century history, is overwhelmingly concerned with documenting the lives of the rich and prestigious. The likes of the Victorian shoe doll (primitive dolls made from old shoes and scraps of fabric), give us a snapshot of what life was like for poorer people and how they found creative ways to make little moments of magic in very difficult times."
"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," Paul added. "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 excited news either!
But wouldn't you know what a lion looks like when a guy straight drops a dead lion on your counter and asks you to stuff it?
That looks heavy, props to the person carrying it around, especially with that thin cord probably digging into their shoulders. I'm also surprised the books didn't slip off the shelves when in motion, but I guess the walking librarian must have been very skilled.
Have you seen something new that you found fascinating on this list, pandas? We would love to hear in the comments below what you find most interesting, as well as what you would include in your own personal museum of curiosities. Keep upvoting your favorite pics, and then if you’re interested in even more captivating images that have been shared by The Museum of Curiosities on Twitter, you can find Bored Panda’s last article on the same topic right here!
that's not true lol the door was used to pass through trays of food, not people
What do you mean with horrifying and grotesque? I think is cute
Title should have been 'Interesting, Wierd and Nightmare Inducing.....'
Who made you miserable today? We're sorry that you want the article your way.
Load More Replies...Title should have been 'Interesting, Wierd and Nightmare Inducing.....'
Who made you miserable today? We're sorry that you want the article your way.
Load More Replies...