The Soul Asylum

301 E. Broadway
Alton, IL 62002
618-468-1051

Admission is $5. Free parking on the street.

https://www.curiositymuseumalton.com/  

Reopened in March 2022

The museum is located in the old Mineral Springs Hotel. Built in 1914 it is one of the oldest buildings in Alton. Alton claims to be the most haunted town in America and this hotel the town's most haunted building, thus it is a perfect location for this collection. (Hotel photo from museum website.)

To get to the museum you enter through the hotel mall entrance...

and into an amazing lobby!

And down on the left is the entrance to the museum. 

The museum collection covers 1500 square feet all in one room, the original hotel ballroom. 

Upon entering you are greeted by the relaxing gentleman above and this cat mounted 51-years ago! This is one of several items that people have just donated.  

The museum has an interesting history and as you can tell by several posted signs the museum covers a number of areas of interest. 

The museum actually originally was The Historic Museum of Torture Devices, founded by a local woman who visited many torture museums in Europe and decided to bring the idea to the USA.  The museum has changed names and ownership twice since opening but it remains a home for torture devices. 

A 16th Century pillory was used to humiliate people.

Photos are encouraged at the pillory and the guillotine. I had no volunteers below!

THE RACK! 

The 13th Century Cucking (Defecation Chair) or Ducking Stool was used often with disorderly women. 

The 17th century Drunkards Cloak was used to punish miscreants. 

Though not an actual device this was one of a few models of torture - a woman being burned at the stake! 

The museum has cases full of various torture devices such as this 8th century Roman Scourge or Flagrum used to inflict severe corporal punishment of self-mortification. 

This 16th Century Brank or Scold's Bridle had a spike that pressed hard on the tongue preventing talking and causing great pain.  It was often used by husbands to silence wives. 

This 13th Century Breast Ripper was used on women accused of heresy or adultery or on unwed mothers as recently as the 19th century. Yes, the breast would be ripped off the chest.

This 10th century Scarpine was used to dislocate, fracture, burn, or otherwise harm feet and legs. 

This 16th Century Scavenger's Daughter was used to compress the body, forcing the blood from the nose to the ears. 

This 15th Century Chasity Belt was to protect women from rape but also to dissuade women and potential sexual partners from sexual temptations. 

This 12th Century Spiked Vice or Knee Splitter was used to inflict permanent and agonizing damage to the knees, legs, arms, shoulders, elbows and hands.  The device was legendary for extracting confessions during the Inquisition. 

This area of the museum needed no explanation!

These smaller items of torture have been used for centuries including in the USA during the time of slavery.  

Sometime in the last 5 years the museum became known as the Curiosity Museum. And indeed there are many curious items on display in the museum such as this interesting lamp.

This is a valuable Gothic Revival North Wind Vampire Parlor Chair used to ward off evil spirits - circa 1890. 

If the chair didn't work you could use this Victorian Era Vampire Killing Kit. 

Among the displays are a mummified head, a mummified cat, a mummified six-finger hand, and a shrunken head!  

And of course, a Fiji Mermaid! 

There is a display of curious medical items including this headpiece worn by a plague doctor over several centuries in Europe. 

This rectal dilating kit from about 1928 is hopefully not still in use! 

And then there were items used by African diaspora faith traditions. 

There is an entire section dedicated to people born physically different such as "Prince Randian" originally from Guyana.  Despite being born with no arms nor legs, he lived to age 63, having worked as a carnival and circus attraction for over 45 years (mostly in the United States) and having married and fathered 5 children. 

There is a section on brothels which includes this license for Tea Cup Sallie Sampson from Kansas. 

These tokens were used in the brothels as well as the candles that burned for 7 minutes indicating when the customer's time was up. 

How about some insects, spiders and snakes!

Post mortem photography was popular in the 19th century.

And I guess this museum would not be complete without a display case dedicated to serial killers. 

Last year the museum was bought by a third owner, Dave Nunnally, who reorganized the museum and added some of his own collection, reopening in March 2022 under the name Soul Asylum.   

There is a section about Alton history which was added by Dave. The Piasi Bird is a major part of Alton history and one remains painted on the bluff outside town. 

Dave told us all about Alton's mummy! 

Dave also added several of his extensive collections to the museum including this collection of German medals by Karl Goetz (1875-1950). Goetz used satire as a propaganda tool. Yes, that is Uncle Sam steering that boat. 

Of course this museum displays his Ouija boards! 

One comment about the museum - almost every item had a detailed card explaining the item on display such as below. 

And what is a museum without a store!

The store offers many books and some unusual items. 

And of course you can buy a brothel token! 

The museum is on a busy street with several shops we visited and several restaurants. 

We ate at The Brown Bag Bistro across the street. It opened in 2018 and serves American-style food. 

It has a great menu and specials. 

Loaded Baked Potato Soup and Pasta Salad. 

A special - an amazing burger - the Peachy Pattie -  that not only had mozzarella cheese and caramelized onions on it, it also had caramelized peaches and French's Crispy Fried Onions and their balsamic aioli all on a pretzel bun.  

An excellent salad and a veggie sandwich with slaw. 

More specials of the day! 

Comments: Needless to say this is the most unusual museum that we have visited to date!  The collections were very different and unusual. Obviously they covered areas that normally are not included in most museums. This, in itself, made the museum interesting. 

Although the building and room showed wear and tear from all its years, the museum was clean and somewhat well organized.  Most items were in glass cases (making it difficult to take photos without glare) with some larger ones on the floor. 

The fact that each item included a fairly detailed description was a positive for learning about every display.  However, it did mean that one does a lot of reading if they stop and read everything.  We spent about 1 hour there but did not read every description.

The new owner, Dave, was very involved and took time to explain several items to us as well as his interest in the museum.  He has many more items in storage that presumably will some day be on display.  Dave appears to have a strong interest in keeping the museum going.  He co-owns it with his wife but he appears to be the driving force. 

We paid $5 to enter but normally the fee is $8.

The museum doesn't open until noon so we had an early lunch before visiting the museum.  The Brown Bag Bistro was great.  The staff was very helpful, the specials very tempting, and the food excellent.