Vampires, Ghosts, and Witches...

Last week I went to the Hallwyl Museum to see their exhibition about Skräck och Skrock (Fear and Superstition) during the turn of the 19th/20th century. The corridors leading me into the house were dark and filled with frightening sounds that turned this beautiful, palace-like, apartment into a house of horror! I've always been interested in old beliefs and the occult, so going through all the rooms, looking at all the cool stuff on display was very exiting! I took some pics of a few of the items, but since it was dark, and many items were placed behind reflecting glass, please excuse the quality of my photos.

The first thing that caught my eye was a Spirit phone/Necrophone, something it was rumored Thomas Alva Edison was trying to create to be able to communicate with the dead. No one knows if he actually created one, but this is a private collector's idea of what one of those might have looked like.

Ouija Board!

This is a reproduction of the first issue of Bram Stoker's Dracula...

A framed taxidermy bat had it's natural place beneath a painting of the original Dracula - Vlad Tepes.

Although I don't believe in killing friendly vampires, I still want one of these - a vampire hunter kit! This one is believed to be from the 1800s, and kits like these were often created by weapon smiths at the request of vampire fans.

They also served blood! I have no idea why it was behind glass though. By the time I had gotten this far through the exhibition I was really thirsty.

Electric shock devise from the early 1900s.

A witch's familiar. Yep, that's the remains of a cat...

Sculptures of Baphomet and Cthulhu.

A few stairs down in this Downton Abbey-like apartment, there was another exhibition with collections of different kinds. Behind a door was a tiny chamber, and inside I found vintage pornography! I guess that shows that you never know what you'll find behind closed doors. Not even in old, very fine homes... Haha!