A NEW MUSEUM in Dublin promises something “different” for locals and tourists alike.

The Museum of Curiosities on Pembroke Street, which opened at the end of May, houses an array of strange and scary items spanning centuries.

“There are some very niche Facebook groups out there,” says Paul Mangan, who founded the museum.

“I’ve been collecting strange stuff all my life.”

The strange stuff includes a mummified cat, 19th century torture devices, clowns, and lots of creepy dolls.

A mummified cat

Mangan has also received some donations from the public. Among them is a kangaroo foot bottle opener that someone found in a flat they were renting and, for some reason, did not want to keep.

A kangaroo foot bottle opener

This isn’t Mangan’s first foray into the weird and whacky. He was a performer in a travelling freakshow, which was described as a “nightmarish cabaret steeped in the surreal”.

It was on his travels that he picked up unique pieces, storing them at his mother’s house in his native Glasnevin until he found the two-storey space near Fitzwilliam Square.

“I was looking for a place for a long time … it was kind of a semi-dilapidated space.

“A lot of work has been done on it in the last four to five months to get it to a visitable standard.”

The dark museum has three main rooms. Downstairs houses copious amounts of taxidermy in one room, while the other primarily displays Victorian pieces.

A preserved hand of a hanged man

Upstairs, cabinets store an array of questionable medical devices of the past, as well as a clown collection and – you guessed it – more creepy dolls.

The museum, Mangan says, is for “people who are looking to do something different in Dublin”.

“We’ve had goths, families … The people we’ve had in have been from every walk of life.” 

Mangan’s day job as a social media manager and web developer meant he was well-equipt to build a brand, and his life-long passion means he has “20 years worth of weird stuff” to show the public.

The museum is open Wednesday to Sunday 11am-7pm and tickets are €15 for adults and €13 for children.