Is there anything stranger than human curiosity? The desire to discover and learn can drive us to build some of the weirdest and most wonderful collections of… well, anything. So, to fulfil your own appetite for adventure, here's a list of the world's strangest museums.
No, this isn't actually a small square in the backstreets of 1950s Tokyo, it's the Shin-Yokohama Rāmen Museum! With a rather liberal interpretation of 'museum', the building is home to several branches of famous ramen restaurants from Kyushu to Hokkaido.
Where else, but Minnesota? It turns out the title of 'World's Largest Twine Ball' is a touchy subject. But Darwin, Minnesota, is the site of the The World's Largest Twine Ball Museum, featuring… the world's largest twine ball made by a single person.
Some stories end in happiness, others end at the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, Croatia. This unique collection draws together the objects left behind when the romance ends: pairs of shoes, unopened bottles of wine, even lint from an ex-boyfriend's belly button.
We can only hope that your underwear doesn't end up here…
Click and drag to explore.
Satisfy your morbid curiosity here in Amsterdam. For most of history, people have beheaded and bludgeoned each other in the name of justice. Trivial crimes from witchcraft to regicide were met with brutal, bodily punishment. And here you can experience it all!
Welcome to the International Clown Hall of Fame & Research Centre in Baraboo, Wisconsin. It might not look it, but it's a serious organisation, and home to all sorts of clowning memorabilia. So stop clowning around.
Scully, did you ever hear the one about the International UFO Museum in Roswell, New Mexico? The museum focuses on the famous 1947 close encounter in the nearby desert, but also features an extensive library and exhibits all focused on the history of UFO encounters.
Take me to your curator...
Over on the east coast, the cryptozoology museum in Portland, Maine collects rare, one-of-a-kind zoological specimens as well as reports of cryptid sightings and folk stories of strange creatures.
In Gatlinburg, Tennessee, the Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers holds more than 20,000 examples of these essential items of tableware. The collection was started in 1985 by archaeologist Andrea Ludden, as a record of the wealth of creativity to be found in these simple objects.
At Leeds Castle near Maidstone, Kent, there's an utterly singular museum dedicated to dog collars. The collection was originally donated in 1977 by Mr John & Mrs Gertrude Hunt, since then, more examples, dating from the 16th-19th century, have been collared by the museum.
What is it about the English that encourages them to become such avid, eccentric collectors? In Southport, in the back of a DIY shop, you can visit the nation's foremost museum of gardening equipment.
You're only a few short steps away from entering the fascinating, high-adrenaline world of lawnmower racing, or perhaps you're keen on lawnmowers of the rich and famous? And visit the world of tomorrow; the first solar-powered robot mower!