One place I would love to visit, that is as yet closed to the public, is New Scotland Yard’s Black Museum, now called the Crime Museum, which opened its doors as the Central Prisoners Property Store on April 25th, 1874. This shrine to all things despicable and unholy is used for training purposes within the Yard, showing officers the kinds of crimes encountered by London’s police force over the past couple of centuries, and demonstrating the evidence that convicted the killers. The Black Museum has letters written by Jack the Ripper to the police, taunting them to solve his crimes, as well as grisly crime scene photos of his work. The museum also contains the relocated kitchen of serial killer Dennis Nilsen, known as the British Jeffery Dahmer, where he dismembered and dissolved the bodies of his victims, 15 young men, between 1978 and 1983. A pot sits on the stove, both used to boil the flesh of his victims’ heads, hands and feet. Another exhibit is the gall stone from one of John Haigh‘s victims, the only remains left after the body was dissolved in his acid baths. They also have Victorian death masks on display from hanged criminals, made to show their so-called “deviant” features for future reference. There is talk of the Black Museum being opened up to the public to generate funds for the police force, but nothing has been decided yet. For now, we just have to look at the pictures below and use our imagination to feel the tingles down our spines…
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