The Scotsman newspaper explores fortean Gordon Rutter's cabinet of curiosities. The wunderkammer sounds, well, wonderful. Seen here is Rutter's latest acquisition, a cyclops pig taxidermy mount. From the article:
"I've been into this sort of thing all my life," says Rutter. "When I was a kid I'd go to the library and devour weird stuff. And now," he says with a wave of his hand, "I've got all this!"
"All this" comprises a collection of over 100 strange items. He has fossilised fingers, rings that belonged to (real) giants, a painted bowl made from a human skull, an ostrich egg mounted on an ostrich foot ("why not?"), plus a whole lot of other weird things. Rutter never goes out looking for things to buy, but when he sees something he knows immediately that it's the thing for him.
"I say to people if it makes you go 'yeargh', 'what's that?' or 'who would want that?', then the chances are I'd be interested."
A jackalope is a rabbit with antlers attached. A clear fake it was apparently first 'spotted' in Wyoming in 1829.A jackalope is a rabbit with antlers attached. A clear fake it was apparently first 'spotted' in Wyoming in 1829.
Rutter's "room full of curiosities" comprises genuine weird things and fake weird things. For him, the fakes are just as exciting as the real things.
"As soon as people started collecting weird and unusual things, the frauds started," says Rutter. "But the fakes are just as interesting to me. Reality is not the over-riding thing."
Link (via Cryptomundo, thanks Loren Coleman!)
