7 People with Bizarre Collections That Will Blow Your Mind

People have all sorts of weird hobbies and collections. Stamps aren’t as popular as they used to be and somewhere along the line, people found out that cool rocks aren’t as “cool” as we used to think they are. Now it seems like a challenge to have the strangest collection.
Here are some of my personal favorites.

1. The Penis Collection

Reykjavik, Iceland is the home of the Icelandic Penis Museum, which was started in 1997 by a local history teacher. Sigurdur Hjartarson has a collection of 143 penises from 41 different Icelandic mammals, ranging from hamsters to sperm whales. The entire collection is lit by a series of lamps made of ram’s testicles. While this is quite the collection, he is waiting on one more specimen to finally complete it: A human penis. This is either a must-see collection, or one you want to stay as far away from as possible. That is up to you.

2. Celebrity Hair Collection

John Reznikoff has the most expansive collection of celebrity hair known to man, including locks from historical figures such as Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, and Albert Einstein. For many, this is as close as we will ever be able to get to these figures, and it is as bizarre as it is fascinating. Who would have thought that hair would become so important in modern society? Most of these locks come with documents regarding authenticity and dates of when the hair was taken, be it during the person’s life or posthumously. Definitely something to visit if you’re a major history nerd.

3. Burnt Food

This is a collection for anyone who can manage to burn water (or in this case, hot apple cider.) Deborah Henson-Conant is the founder of and primary contributor to the Burnt Food Museum, which has been featured on Food Network, NPR, and Inside Edition. It is open only for private events and groups of up to 9 people (at a cost of $3,500) and you will receive a 90-minute tour from Deborah herself, who will tell you a little bit about the history of each item. If you need a place to feel better about your Spaghetti a la Smoke, this is the place for you.

4. Belly Button Lint

Belly button lint happens, but if you’re librarian Graham Barker, it also happens to be the reason you’re in the Guinness Book of Records. Barker has been recognized as holding the world’s largest belly button lint collection for a total of 22.1 grams of the fluffy stuff. He “harvests” it every day (and has been for 26 years) and places it in jars, which have been dated. Why? Well because it noticed it one day and asked himself how much naval lint one person can produce. I imagine his collection is still going strong, but it’s something that I don’t particularly want to see myself.

5. Sex Dolls

Of all of the odd, uncomfortable things to collect, I’d have to say that sex dolls (or “love dolls” if you want to dance around their purpose) are at the top of that list. But that’s exactly what Bob Gibbons and his wife Lizzie do. The 60-year-old collector dresses them, brushes their hair and treats them no differently than he would any other real, living human being. His collection boasts 240 plastic girlfriends, which he keeps around the house, on the porch, in his bedroom, etc., though he insists that he never used any of them for… their intended purpose. I don’t know if I believe that, but to each their own.

6. Air Sickness Bags

Niek Vermeulen, from Wormerveer, in the Netherlands has collected the world’s largest number of air sickness bags, snagged from 1,142 flights in 160 countries over a 40 year collecting career. This equates to approximately 6,016 different barf bags! And to think, this all stemmed from a bet with a friend regarding who could collect the largest number of any one item, setting a world record. It’s safe to say, he wins.

7. Genital Casts

I have many, many, MANY questions about this, but apparently there is at least one person in the world who actually collects plaster-cast molds of… well… other people’s junk. Cynthia Albritton (aka Cynthia Plaster Caster follow the link at your own peril; it’s definitely NSFW) has been collecting molds of celebrity genitalia since, you guessed it, the 60s. She’s been obliged by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, and even KISS wrote a song about her, even though none of them were cast. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is even in negotiations with Albritton to include her collection in their museum. I have never been more disturbed by a collection in my life.

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