点评:This is not a conventional museum with large open galleries and everything arranged neatly into one theme. It is far closer to an enormous Victorian-style cabinet of curiosities spread across four floors. The collection moves from human and animal skulls to taxidermy, preserved specimens, old dolls, alleged haunted objects, true-crime memorabilia, film-related items, occult material, historical oddities and things that are simply wonderfully strange.
That unpredictability was one of the things I enjoyed most. You can walk from a room full of allegedly haunted dolls into a display of skulls, then find yourself looking at film memorabilia, a funeral carriage, a giant taxidermied lion or some completely unexpected object in the next corner. Some items are serious historical curiosities, some are macabre, some are theatrical and some are admittedly a little kitschy — but that is part of the personality of the place.
The atmosphere and design impressed me enormously. A great deal of thought and work has clearly gone into the lighting, sound, displays and use of the building itself. The narrow spaces, cellar areas, themed rooms and graveyard courtyard all add to the experience. One particular passage leading towards a very convincing figure from The Nun, complete with sudden lighting and sound, genuinely caught me off guard.
I visited on a Saturday and there were around ten people going through the museum while I was there. That does not sound like many, but some of the rooms are quite small, so even four or five people can make it difficult to stop and read everything properly. I would probably return on a weekday next time, simply because I would like more time to examine the collection without feeling that I was blocking somebody behind me.
I spent well over an hour inside and still felt that I had been fairly brief. Anyone claiming to have seen the whole place properly in ten or twenty minutes must have done little more than walk through and glance around. There are many information panels, stories and individual objects that reward closer attention.
My only real recommendation would be to add a little more background to some of the allegedly haunted or paranormal items where that information exists. I would love to know more about the individual object itself: where it came from, approximately when, how it reached the museum, who reported the alleged phenomena, or whether the story came from a previous owner or an investigation. It would not need to be a long academic explanation — just a little more provenance and context would make some already fascinating displays even stronger.
The staff were friendly and welcoming, and visitors are allowed to take photographs and record freely, which I appreciated.
At £9, I thought the admission price was excellent value. I have paid more to visit larger and more conventional museums that were perfectly good but left me with no desire to return. This one is different. I already know I would visit again because I left thinking about things I had missed and wanting more time to explore.
I have read some rather strange complaints about the museum being “too macabre,” “too creepy,” “too occult,” or supposedly having “nothing to see.” Of course it will not appeal to everyone, but criticising a museum of paranormal curiosities and macabre objects for being macabre and unsettling seems rather odd. Likewise, saying there is nothing there after rushing through in twenty minutes says more about the way the museum was visited than about the amount on display.
An unusual, atmospheric and clearly very personal collection into which an enormous amount of work has gone. Highly recommended, and I will definitely return
翻译:这并不是一座拥有宽敞开放展厅、且所有展品都围绕同一主题整齐排列的传统博物馆。它更像是一个分布在四层楼里的巨型维多利亚风格“奇物柜”。馆内藏品种类繁多:从人类与动物的头骨,到标本剥制物、保存完好的动植物标本、古老的玩偶、据说是闹鬼的物品、真实犯罪事件的纪念品、与电影相关的物件、神秘学资料,还有种种历史上出现的奇闻异事,以及那些简直奇妙到不可思议的稀奇玩意儿。那种不可预测性正是我最喜欢的地方。你可以从一个摆满据说闹鬼的玩偶的房间,走进一个陈列着骷髅头的展区;接着在下一个角落里,又会看到电影纪念品、灵车、一只巨大的剥制狮子标本,或是一些完全出乎意料的物品。有些展品是极具历史价值的奇物,有些则颇为阴森诡异;有些富有戏剧性,有些确实带点俗气——但这正是这座地方独有的特色所在。这里的氛围与设计给我留下了极其深刻的印象。显然,在照明、音效、展示效果以及建筑本身的运用上都倾注了大量心思与努力。狭窄的通道、地下室区域、主题房间以及墓园庭院都进一步提升了整体体验。其中有一条通道通向《修女》中的一个极为逼真的角色形象,伴随着突发的灯光与音效,着实让我措手不及。我是在一个周六去的,当时博物馆里大概有十个人。这个数字听起来不算多,但有些展厅相当狭小,所以即便只有四五个人,也会让人难以停下来仔细浏览每件展品。下次我可能会选一个工作日再去,因为那样我就能有更多时间来欣赏藏品,而不用担心自己挡住了后面人的去路。我在里面呆了一个多小时,却仍觉得时间挺短的。那些声称在十分钟或二十分钟内就把整个地方都参观遍的人,恐怕也只是匆匆走一圈、随便看看而已。这里有许多信息牌、故事介绍以及各种展品,都值得仔细品味。
我唯一真正的建议就是:对于那些据称带有灵异色彩或与超自然现象相关的物品,如果能补充一些相关背景信息就更好了。我很想进一步了解这件物品本身:它来自哪里、大概是什么时候出现的、如何进入博物馆的、是谁报告了所谓的异常现象,又或者这个故事是来自前任拥有者还是经过调查所得。其实并不需要冗长的学术解释——只要提供更多一点关于其出处和背景的信息,就能让这些本就引人入胜的展品更加出色。
工作人员亲切友善,欢迎游客的到来;游客也可以自由拍照和录音。这一点我很欣赏。
只要9英镑,我觉得这个门票价格物超所值。我曾花更多钱去参观一些规模更大、更为传统的博物馆,那些博物馆也相当不错,但参观完之后我却毫无再去的念头。这家博物馆则不一样。我已然确定自己会再次光临,因为离开时我还在想着那些未能看到的内容,也希望能有更多时间去探索。
我也读到了一些颇为奇怪的抱怨,说这家博物馆“太阴森”、“太诡异”、“充满神秘色彩”,甚至有人说“没什么可看的”。“当然,它不会吸引所有人,但因为一个收藏着超自然奇物与恐怖物品的博物馆‘过于恐怖、令人不安’就去批评它,似乎有些荒谬。同样,仅仅花二十分钟匆匆参观后就声称‘里面没什么可看的’,这种说法更多反映的是参观方式的问题,而非展品的数量。”
这是一个风格独特、氛围独特且显然饱含个人情感的收藏馆,背后倾注了大量心血。强烈推荐!我一定会再来的。