What’s the Creepiest Item in Our Collections? You Decide.

A plaster cast of Daniel Boone's skull dates to 1845 when Boone's remains were relocated from Missouri to Kentucky and buried in the Frankfort Cemetery.

Okay, we admit it.

Some of the objects in our collection are downright creepy.

Cursed chests, hair art, dueling pistols, ropes used in hangings, eerie dolls, clown masks, graveside images – the list goes on and on.

But, of course, creepy or not, all of these objects tell a unique story that help us better understand Kentucky’s identity.

Did I mention the hair art? 

In honor of Halloween, and knowing that Kentuckians love their Sweet Sixteen brackets, the Kentucky Historical Society is celebrating the spine-tingling items from our collection.

Our curators have chosen 16 of the creepiest, most dastardly, potentially cursed objects and are allowing you—our social media fans and visitors—to vote for the objects that might keep you up at night.

Like the aforementioned hair art.

Just like a Sweet Sixteen bracket, our “Creepy Kentucky” artifact competition will pare down these blood-curdling objects until it’s down to our own disturbing “Final Four.” On Halloween, KHS will announce the winner (or loser?) of this macabre competition.

Voting begins Oct. 3. Links to cast your votes are available via our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Or, you can vote on site at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History. We’ll have a bracket of the objects posted in our permanent exhibit, “A Kentucky Journey.”

Keep in mind that this is in honor of Halloween and it’s all for fun.

Except for the hair art. That’s not fun at all.

Please vote weekly and help us determine the the creepiest object in the KHS collection!