For years, the most popular exhibits at the Behringer-Crawford Museum in Covington, Kentucky, were its two-headed calf and shrunken head. In 1991, however, the two were removed and put in closet somewhere. Not much thought was given to them until recently, when the museum began logging the questions that its visitors had asked of its staff. What the museum found was not what it had expected. The most frequently asked question was "Where is the two-headed calf?" The second was, "Where is the shrunken head?"

Chastened, the Behringer-Crawford Museum has brought back the freak and the head -- as well as a miniature English terrier (stuffed and officially extinct), a hairball taken from the stomach of a cow, and a set of little animal figurines made of entrails -- as centerpieces of its "Hey Mummy, Who Shrunk that Head?" exhibit [which ran through April 1, 2007.]

Taking the same approach as a 2004 exhibit at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, the Behringer-Crawford Museum appealed to other museums in the area to loan them their closeted freaks. "Dozens" were asked, according to assistant director Chris Meiman, and nine responded -- including Boonshoft with a pair of mummified hands; the Indiana Medical History Museum, with a "tonsil guillotine;" and the Loveland (Ohio) History Museum, with a human arm made from the tree that fell on the human and forced the arm to be amputated.

[Jan 2008 Update: This exhibit has closed, and the Behringer-Crawford Museum has since remodeled and expanded. While the other freaky items had to be returned to their respective keepers, the two-headed calf and shrunken head are on permanent display.] [01/28/2007]