Museum Month: Madness And Badness At Psychiatric And Crime Museums

It’s no secret amongst my friends (and I suspect, most of my readers) that I’m obsessed with the more sordid aspects of humanity. Why? Hell if I know. As with most things, I blame my dad, the veterinarian. I’m pretty sure a childhood spent playing necropsy assistant has something to do with it.

My love of forensics is only the tip of the iceberg: psychiatry, taxidermy, eating weird shit and serial killers also make my list of fun things to read about or watch documentaries on when it’s time to relax. I know – I’m a total freak.

Obviously, I’m not alone (do a quick Google search of “forensic television shows” and you’ll see what I mean). There are also scads of museums and the like devoted to the seamier side of life, all across the U.S. My picks, after the jump.

P.S. If you find this reprehensible yet you’ve read this far, well, that makes you a bit of a voyeur, as well. Embrace it, and click away.Glore Psychiatric Museum
A part of the St. Joseph Museum located in St. Joseph, Missouri, the Glore was once housed in “State Lunatic Asylum No. 2.” Founded by George Glore in 1903, the museum is essentially a history of the treatment of mental illness (including keepsakes from patients that include “items ingested” and contemporary artwork). There are also interactive exhibits, replicas and documents. Expect to see everything from lobotomy instruments to treatments for patients “possessed” by witchcraft or demons.

Glore worked for the Missouri Department of Mental Health for nearly 41 years, and despite the thematic content, his museum contains what’s considered the largest and most well curated exhibition of mental health care in the U.S. According to its website, Glore’s goal was to “reduce the stigma associated with psychiatric treatment for patients, their families and their communities.”

The Glore Psychiatric Museum is located at 3408 Frederick Avenue, and is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays 1 to 5 p.m. – closed on major holidays.

The National Museum of Crime and Punishment
Washington, D.C.‘s “Crime Museum” opened in the Penn Quarter neighborhood in 2008, and boasts 28,000 square feet packed with artifacts, interactive exhibits, including an FBI shooting range and high-speed police chase simulator, and forensic techniques ranging from ballistics analysis to facial reconstruction. There are also historical exhibits focused on colonial crime, pirates, the Wild West, the Mafia and serial killers, and law enforcement uniforms, firearms and other equipment.

Other educational offerings include public forensic workshops, CSI summer camps for teens (it’s never too early to become the next Marg Helgenberger, kids) and rotating exhibits. Don’t forget your night vision goggles.

The Crime Museum is located at 575 7th Street NW, Washington D.C, and is open seven days a week. Hours vary by season. Click here for details. If you’re traveling by Metro, take the Green, Yellow or Red lines, and get off at the Gallery Place/Chinatown station.

[Photo credits: Michael Myers, Flickr user Chepe Leña; Crime Museum, Wikipedia Commons]

Halle Berry gets police escort at airport security line

Who knew that Halle Berry was big in Canada? Well, maybe it was her boyfriend, a Canadian model, who was able to inspire the local police to provide special treatment.

At a Montreal airport last week, Berry, her boyfriend (Gabriel Aubry) and their kid were led to the front of the security line … while other passengers were stuck there for more than an hour. Marieve Paradis, a Quebec journalist, saw the cop make way for Berry and her family, and detailed it on her blog Friday.

According to Police Inspector Jimmy Cacchione, the star-struck officer acted alone, and his actions weren’t supported by the department. He won’t be punished, Cacchione said, but the police unit working the airport will be putting tighter rules in place for the future.

[Photo by dan paluska via Flickr]

Crime and punishment museum where the good guys win

The National Museum of Crime and Punishment has nothing to do with the novel by the same name written by Fyodor Dostoevsky, but about one of the U.S.’s favorite past times, fighting criminals. In this museum that has just opened in Washington, D.C., according to this L.A. Times article by Sara Wire, it’s not the criminals that get the glory–Al Capone, move over, but the people who fight crime. No, no, no, not Batman or Superman or even Indiana Jones, but law enforcement officers and detectives–the good guys, the people who are sleuthing experts who save the day.

John Walsh, the man who hosts “America’s Most Wanted,” will broadcast the show from here once a month. Visitors to the museum will get a history lesson of crime and punishment in the United States from colonial times to present day. There are interactive features where folks get a true picture of what fighting crime is actually like–not the CSI version, but what really happens.

One of the messages throughout is that crime doesn’t pay. This is a museum to show off the good guys and down play the bad guys.

One of the exhibits that caught my attention is the car used for the movie Bonnie and Clyde. Even though Al Capone is not glorified here, a replica of his cell at Eastern State Penitentiary is. Both show the end of the life of crime, not the “fun” stuff of getting by with bank robberies that tend to get a movie audience to root for the get-a-way, at least for awhile.