Ghoulish?  You could hardly do better than the Mutter Museum of the
College of Physicians of Philadelphia.  This started as a medical
museum in the mid-nineteenth century, and recently was rebuilt to be...
a nineteenth century medical museum.  Anyway, the museum is filled with
medical oddities, and the curator is particularly fond of siamese
twins--they have several sets of skeletons.  You name it, they've got
it; a sample bound foot from a Chinese woman, a world-famous collection
of placentas (tastefully mounted on black plaques), the Soap Lady
(weird physiological phenomenon by which a corpse turned to soap), the
excised tumors from President McKinley's oral cancer.  The list goes
on.  This is a legitimate medical museum, but with a sense of humor.
(Their Columbus sesquicentennial exhibit was on syphilis, drawing on
their phenomenal collection of life-like wax models).
 
And for people who like take-out, they now have a fantastic calendar
featuring duotone photos of some of their greatest hits.  This month
shows a spine with scoliosis, and last month was a set of three
dissected rats dangling in formalin.  For your copy send $14.95 for
each calendar plus $2 p/h for the first and $1 for each additional to:
 
Mutter Museum
College of Physicians of Philadelphia
19 S. 22nd St.
Philadelphia, PA  19103
Attn: Calendar order
 
Standard disclaimers apply, just a happy customer (and fellow medical
museum curator).  By the way, next year's calendar features a fetal siamese
twin skeleton on the front as well as <*BE STILL MY HEART*> color
photos for the first time.
 
Phillip R. Seitz
American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery