Wax Museums: Do You Think They're Scary?

Wax Museums show famous people and help them live on forever. The craftsmanship of the figures within these museums is timeless. When we step into a museum, we are sometimes taken back in time or up close and personal with some of our favorite people. One of the most famous wax museums is Madame Tussaud's in London, known for its amazing wax figures. Over the years, many other locations of the most famous wax museum have appeared all over the globe. Wax museums are designed to provide an educational and entertaining experience that combines fun and enjoyment. They serve a purpose to showcase and immortalize people from history and people we currently see in today's society. However, a quick observation of one of your favorite celebrities or perhaps an infamous killer in wax makes you think it's so real that it's as if the person is standing there before you. This isn't a bad thing, but if it's someone evil, such as an infamous killer, it gives you the creeps, and for a brief moment, you get the sensation that the wax figure is so life-like that it may come to life!

One of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, called, The New Exhibit," tells of a curator of a wax museum who is in control of the Murderer's Row section of the museum. Here we see wax figures of infamous killers, and the most well-known of them is Jack the Ripper. The museum closes, and the man decides to keep the figures down in his basement, where he keeps them cool. He also swears that they are starting to come to life. The reason I reference this episode of the Twilight Zone is that it's a perfect example of our fears as human beings of wax figures looking so lifelike that you'd swear on your life that they breathe life and are real. Also, it's not until we encounter an evil figure made of wax that we get chills and forget that it is wax, but our minds wander as we try and try to remember that they are only made of wax, nothing more.

Martin Basalm as Martin Lombard Senescu in the Twilight Zone Episode, "The New Exhibit"

The resemblance of some of these figures is sometimes eerie and creepy. One thing that people tend to do is associate figures, dummies, dolls, and mannequins in the horror culture by bringing them to life and giving them real-life characteristics. This is why some of us(including myself as I'm afraid of ventriloquist dummies) are scared of all these things especially wax figures because we know they aren't real but because we've seen so many horror films that depicting them coming to life that sometimes we just assume they will come to life and let our imaginations get the best of us. Some dolls are just creepy looking, mannequins aren't always the best things to be near while you're alone in a mall, dummies are always being brought to life in cinema and literature, and wax figures just look so darn life-like that you'd be a fool not to get scared or have the thought cross your mind.

Imagine you're in a museum and you're the only one. You walk around looking at the figures and taking it all in, the history, the detail in each figure's face, the feeling as though you're among real people. Suddenly, you look around your shoulder and turn around. You look back at the figures where they stand or are in the same position they've always been and will continue to be in. Then you get that odd feeling in your stomach, that feeling you can't shake. Your mind starts thinking strange thoughts, and your heart's beating a mile a minute, and before you know it, your thoughts and heartbeats have been coated in shock, hysteria, and fear. You feel as though the figures will come to life at any minute and harm you, or even worse, kill you! Surely, you've experienced this or at least thought about it? If you have, then the next time you decide to go to a wax museum, you'd better hope other people are there, otherwise you'll remember this article and all I've said, and you'll be looking over your shoulder thinking that maybe just maybe you're not alone after all.

Wax Museums: Do You Think They're Scary?

I'm intrigued by the idea of whether or not wax museums are scary or not because my sixth novel takes place in a wax factory and deals with the principles of working with wax. I wonder, since wax figures and museums are scary, wouldn't factories of wax be just as scary, knowing they use the same materials and elements? The Wax Factory could be as scary as a museum, but I'll leave that for you to decide.

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