✈Worldwide Wednesdays: Weird but Unique Museums - Part 2

Ok, so we all know there are many great museums all over the world such as The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia; The Vatican Museum in Rome, Vatican City, Italy; The National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington DC and so on and so on, just to name a few. But I have NEVER heard of these museums! There were so many that I will have to do them in parts! Let's get on with Part-2!


Leila's Hair Museum

Leila's Hair Museum is a museum in Independence, Missouri that has many different displays of hair art dating back to the 1800s. Hair art are items or paintings which contain hair of various famous people or hair from people of historical significance.

One of the most famous and first hair museum in the United States is Leila Cohoon’s hair museum. Leila Cohoon is a 77 year old cosmetologist teacher. Leila was also a friend of Ronald Reagan and Oliver North; she is a member of the Missouri board of Cosmetology.

Description of Hair Museums Hair art
Leila’s museum has 159 wreaths and over 2,000 pieces of jewelry with hair embellished in it dating before the 1900s. Some of her collection she brought from the library or online but in order for her to purchase on line the seller has to have an authentic proof for the hair art they are selling. The museum is open to the public for Five dollars on Monday through Saturday from 8:30am to 4:30pm.
Leila has so many different kind of hair art in her museum. She has framed art on the wall that is over a hundred years old. For example one was an assemble from the hair from every member of the chapter of the League of Women Voters and two were made from the sisters whose heads were shorn when they entered a convent.
That was one of Leila’s first collections in 1956. Leila also has paintings with hair of babies who have passed. Leila even has hair art with famous people hair. She has hair art made from Elvis Presley and is a framed plaque. She also has hair from Washington, Lincoln, Daniel Webster, Aaron Burr, and singer Jenny Lind.
Leila even has locks of hair from the first U.S commanders in chief.


The International UFO Museum and Research Center — Roswell, N.M
For those who “want to believe,” there is no better place to visit than the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, N.M.
In July 1947, something happened northwest of Roswell during a severe thunderstorm. Was it a flying saucer? Was it a weather balloon? What happened?

The answer is nothing for many years until leading UFO researcher Stanton Friedman came across the story in the early 1980s and began the search for information and witnesses.
Once it became public, the event known as The Roswell Incident, the crash of an alleged flying saucer, the recovery of debris and bodies and the ensuing cover up by the military was of such magnitude and so shrouded in mystery, that 60 years later there are still more questions than answers. Books have been written and TV documentaries have been filmed. Witnesses have come forward. Skeptics have issued rebuttals to the Incident and the debate continues.

In early 1990, the idea of a home for information on the Roswell Incident and other UFO phenomena was fostered by Haut. He got together with another Roswell participant Glenn Dennis and the two sought a home for the UFO Museum. This brought them to Roswell Realtor Max Littell who helped find the first location for the business.

Incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization in 1991 and open to visitor in fall of 1992, the founders never realized just how hungry the world was for information on the subject of their museum. The mission was and continues to be the education of the general public to all aspects of the UFO phenomena. People from around the world travel to Roswell to see what the Museum has to offer and to simply “be in Roswell where it happened.” The exhibits include information on Roswell, crop circles, sightings, Area 51, ancient astronauts and abductions. The exhibits are designed to not try to convince anyone to believe one way or another. Visitors are simply encouraged to ask questions. Many visitors come numerous times and some even spend days if not weeks doing research in the library.
There will be a new multi million dollar, state of the art UFO Museum & Research Center which will sit on a city block of land located 8 blocks north of the present museum. Across the street is McDonalds only UFO themed restaurant in the world. The new larger museum will offer new displays, a futuristic building plus lots of motor home and tour bus parking. (Click on photo left, for additional info.)


The Atomic Testing Museum

The Atomic Testing Museum museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, documents the history of nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in the desert north of Las Vegas. The museum opened in March 2005. It is located in Paradise, Nevada, a southern suburb of Las Vegas that is frequented by large numbers of tourists.

The museum covers the period from the first test at NTS on January 27, 1951 to the present. Among its exhibits covering American nuclear history is a "Ground Zero Theater" which simulates the experience of observing an atmospheric nuclear test. Other exhibits include Geiger counters, radio badges and radiation testing devices, Native American artifacts from around the test area, pop culture memorabilia related to the atomic age, equipment used in testing the devices. Other displays focus on important figures at the facility, videos and interactive exhibits about radiation.

The museum is operated by the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, in association with the Smithsonian Institution. Some support comes from the purchase of commemorative Nevada Test Site license plates issued by the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.

Resource: Wikipedia