Niche Museums

The star attraction is a tape worm just under nine metres in length, but you’ll also see examples of over 300 species of parasites, including an infected dolphin stomach.

In the tiny Belgian village of Berlotte lies a carrot museum that is actually just a rotating display unit in an ex-electricity tower. The unit is controlled by the user turning a wheel to view the carrot exhibits. There’s more carrot-related paraphernelia in the vicinity including a carrot clock, light, weather vane and a carrot light. The “museum” is maintained by a carrot club that admits only men, because only men can grow carrots, obviously.

Watch the museum's reality show "Take a Photo" Professor Tommi Cahill hops over to The Bunny Museum with her photography class from the Redlands University, Redlands, California. "The Winner is..." High school film students across the United States compete each year in the Sweet 16 Film Contest sponsored by Student Television Network (STN).

This one’s purely online and features food that has “Gone Horribly Wrong”. Novelty items like a “Blackhole M&M” (gravitational pull has stretched it out of all recognition), a “Peanut Zombie Pirate” complete with eye patch and scowl and “The Saddest of Sad Potatoes” all the way from Slovenia.

Discover the fascinating history of the lawnmower in an apparently internationally known museum in Southport, Merseyside. The lawnmower dates back from 1830 when a cloth cutting piece of machinery was ingeniously used by a man called Beard Budding to cut grass. The museum has many Victorian and Edwardian examples of the lawnmower, “The water cooled ‘Egg’ Boiler Lawnmower” and some of the most expensive lawnmowers in the world. Not sure about the photograph of Nora the Tour Guide, though.

Thousands of pairs of glasses are on display at this Shanghai museum, including some dating back to the Song dynasty in the 10th century. There are exhibits on eye health, plus a giant eye, an eyeglasses workshop from the 1970s and a 1.4 meter pair made of turtle shell.

The Museo Del Objeto (MODO) examines the design and packaging of everyday objects. Whether that be water bottles, religious knick-nacks, 1980s trainers, skateboards or more. The collection upon which the museum was founded was that of Bruno Newman who found that visitors to his home enjoyed looking at five old French toiletry containers he’d bought. So he thought he’d expand. These days, many of the 30,000 exhibits have come from collectors who have donated part of their collections.

AKA the Museum of Torture. No, that’s in Amsterdam. This one’s in Malacca, Malaysia and counts among its exhibits coils designed to lengthen the neck and shoes to bind the feet: basically tools used for body modification in the name of some sort of culturally-defined beauty that in the grand scheme of things means absolutely nothing (sorry – I’ll get off my soapbox now).

This Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany museum is, according to the museum’s website, the only one on the subject of law in Europe and should actually be yet another Museum of Torture. Execution equipment, a wheel for killing the convicted by crushing their bones, a torture chair specifically for bakers who sold bread that wasn’t big enough, a mask of shame and a chastity belt are among the gruesome items on display.

Thailand is one of the largest producers of condoms (who knew?) And this Ministry of Health sponsored museum in Nonthaburi, Thailand, was set up to encourage a more positive attitude to these small rubber items. The building is actually within the Ministry itself and is quite hard to find as it’s hidden away at the back beside a sewage treatment plant.

If you’ve seen those chicken calendars, you’ll know that chickens are, as well as a food source, very beautiful creatures. They’ve been well represented in art and this museum in Seoul explores its role in Western as well as Eastern art and sculpture. Seoul Museum of Chicken Art .

This is the only cryptozoology museum in the world and it’s situated in Portland, Maine. This particular branch of zoology, as you’ll know, focuses on animals not proven to exist (yet), and the museum has a look at the work of explorers in this field and the popular culture and stories surrounding it. Expect to see things like hair samples of abominable snowmen and the fecal matter of a yeti. There have of course been fakes in this field of study and these aren’t ignored – see the FeeJee Mermaid above.

The world’s first graphite pencil is believed to have come from Cumbria. 500 years ago a storm uprooted some trees, uncovering black graphite: shepherds then began marking their sheep with this handy substance. The family-friendly Pencil Museum in Keswick, Cumbria sits in the first pencil factory in the world and is a home to the world’s longest colour pencil. Discover the history of the pencil and find out how lead gets in there. And it features in my favourite film of the year, “Sightseers”.