I’m p sure I’ve met him when I was at Temple? Definitely remember getting his emails lol.

Omg no way!!!! Yes I’m so down!!!

Believe it or not, no!!! Still on my list and I grew up in Bucks!!! Been to Moravian tile works and the mansion tho.

And not a single mentioned of the New England Vampire Panic? You don’t fool me….

All in all, a fun and spooky experience but the reality is that it’s an attraction, or at best an art installation, but it does not hold up to my standards as a museum. Worth a visit, but don’t ignore your bs meter.

Lastly, there were quite a few objects that I just knew the dude bought off Amazon. Like…just skip it, my guy??? Or create a digital exhibit??? If you want to have a museum, run a damn museum!

Like I felt very anxious around the European stuff, a majority of the museum, but when faced with the armor of a possessed Tokugawa samurai and a Korean jinn hunting kit, I was like oh sick!

Anyway, there’s a cultural/emotional history lesson in this!!! Maybe another thread one day.

Because no matter what, a physiological response to the collection says something about what your culture imbued the objects with, and how it conditioned you how to feel about them.

Which brings me to the emotional weight of the place: whether you’re superstitious, or just disturbed by the ideas of violence invoked by viewing a collection like this, pretty much any emotional response is valid, and can teach us something about occult/paranormal history.

Instead of passing every single thing off as authentic, why not include a placard about the novelties? Spark some curiosity about the weight that objects hold in our psyche? I don’t think it would ruin the experience to admit that not all of your collection is certifiable occult objects!

With a little research, I learned that kits like the ones on display were popular novelties through the first half of the 20th century. Today, replicas of “authentic” vampire hunting kits sell all over Etsy as decor.

I kinda tried to turn off my skeptical historian brain while I was there (impossible), but it was pretty hard to ignore items that didn’t make chronological or ethnological sense.

The whole first room was filled with “vampire hunting kits” without any info about authenticity.

Info cards can make or break an exhibit. So not only could we not tell the provenance or authenticity of most of the collection, descriptions help your audience really think about the collection.

Like, I couldn’t help but laugh at a statue of Pazuzu where it said “Do not glorify the statue. I fear I have pushed certain boundaries by including it.”

I didn’t laugh in front of Pazuzu tho. Can’t risk it.

Very few items had information cards attached, and the ones that did often included personal commentary.

So first thing’s first, this was very obviously not professionally curated. The owner calls himself a curator, and that’s fine, but this “museum” lacked the elements that make a museum educational.

When does he report 👀

He’s so cute and smilely I’m verklempt!!!!!

The last room is all Catholic stuff, mostly St. Michael, and the palpable relief I felt to be there? I, a Jew, was like oh thank God for Catholicism. Do you know how dire the situation has to be for ME to be grateful for CATHOLICISM?!

Like I usually take a zillion pictures at museums but I only took like six here. Diabolical energy at this place.