Up Close & Peculiar

More than 100 years ago, the globetrotting Robert Ripley began collecting artifacts from his journeys around the world, which today form the heart of the greatest collection of oddities ever assembled. Up Close & Peculiar brings the curious history of these pieces to a personal level as our very own, Allyson Iovino, explores the strange relics that lie within our Warehouse walls! Become a part of the story as we share pieces for every history buff, pop culture junkie, and oddities collector alike.

Today: Criminal Minds 

Today we’re taking a deep dive into the minds of criminals. No, Literally. We’re gonna take a hard look at some skulls and brains. So, let’s go!

Starting with the show stopper: the half head. This once belonged to an 18th century criminal who ended up being publicly hung for his wrongdoings but his public scrutiny did not stop there! After his death, his head was removed and dissected in an attempt to find out if a criminal’s mind medically had noticeable differences. French medical students and doctors studied this brain for over 200 years!

We also have an have an x-ray of Hitler’s skull! Although this x-ray was taken for medical purposes while he was alive and not for research purposes like the French criminal, it’s kind of interesting to literally take a look inside the head of such an abhorrent human being.

There’s a million reasons why people do terrible things and unfortunately sometimes science can’t explain them. But in the meantime it is pretty interesting to take a look inside for yourself and wonder what was going through their heads.

Tell us what you think about these wild artifacts! We hope you enjoyed our criminal mind segment, straight from the Ripley’s Vault!

EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON!

Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!

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