There are hundreds of things to do around Bangkok, from visiting all the popular tourist landmarks like the royal palaces and golden temples, to traversing through the lively street markets; the choices are endless. There are countless cultural stops and museums to visit, one of which notably stands out for its unusual exhibits.
Centrally located near several upscale districts and hotels, such as the AVANI Riverside Bangkok Hotel, which overlooks the Chao Phraya River is the Siriraj Hospital the home of Bangkok’s most ominous museum. The Bangkok Forensic Museum features a selection of creepy displays and information for those interested in the more morbid side of life, or this case, death. The exhibits are split into six venues, but the most popular ones are the pathology and forensic museums and the anatomic museum.
Inside the Pathology and Forensic Museums, the first room you enter displays babies and fetuses which are affected by various genetic disorders, each one perfectly preserved in formaldehyde. At first, the display comes across as extremely disturbing, but the museums have a very modern and clinical atmosphere which soon eases the unsettled visitor.
The following room is dedicated to the origin of parasites and their affects on human organs.
There’s not much that captures one’s attention here apart from a collection of tape worms and a 35kg testicle affected by elephantiasis. Moving into the Forensic Medicine Museum, things become a lot more grim. The forensic room displays the mangled bodies of accident victims, murderers and its most famous display, the dried preserved body of a lunatic who was believed to have eaten the livers of kids’ in the 1950s.
The Anatomical Museum is located in the next building, on the third floor. As you enter the anatomical display, you are greeted by row upon row of old glass cabinets, full of skeletons and dissected bodies. Formaldehyde-filled jars containing body parts line shelves along the walls. The museums, while morbid at first, are not as scary as one would expect, a tour of the museums make for a pleasant, if not, interesting couple of hours in the city.
Caleb Falcon is a travel writer who specializes in writing content based on the many exciting world adventures that await intrepid travellers.
