There have always been folks who collected weird things. Of course, the idea of what is a "weird" thing to collect is completely subjective. To me, it's odd that lots of people collect modern super hero comic books, since they take up a ton of room and are printed in such enormous quantities that few ever seem to appreciate in value. But collectors of anything are a strange and dedicated breed, and trying to understand the appeal of many collectibles might be futile for a person looking in from the outside.
But there are some things that people collect which might seem unsavory to a majority of folks, not taken with the same collector bug. Things like:
5. Funeral antiques
Anyone who has watched gothsploitation shows like "Oddities" knows that people collect antique funerary objects. I guess how weird this seems depends on what types of people you associate with. If you hang out with spooky gothic people or metal heads, then seeing a real casket in someone's living room might be pretty typical. In any case, there are lots of people out there that track down old equipment that would've been used in mortuaries or funeral homes.
There are hearse clubs, for owner-enthusiasts of funeral cars. I myself own an old hearse, and have had neighbors call the cops on me for daring to park it in my own driveway. Fortunately, there's no law on the books preventing a person from parking a hearse in their driveway, so the cop that got sent out just admired the old car and talked about auto restoration with me before taking off. It was then that I realized my place was probably the local "spooky house" that people were warned to avoid. Oh well, it kept solicitors away too.
Other collectors seek out things like Victorian mourning objects - lockets containing the hair of the deceased, or postmortem photos, for instance. Way back in the 19th century when photography was a new technology, it was also expensive. Most families had few, if any, photos, and when someone died they might have them dressed up and photographed as a memorial piece. That's about as morbid as can be, but it makes sense that people 150 years ago might choose to have a deceased loved one immortalized in such a way. And yeah, there are quite a few modern people that collect those types of photos. They might also drink blood. I don't know, I'll have to ask the next time I run into my friend Sarah.
