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Ripley's Museum has a serial killer's preserved head [1]

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Date: 2026-01-29  

If you're curious about the morbid genre of things found in museums, the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum has the preserved head of a killer from 1931. Peter Kürten committed a series of horrible crimes in Düsseldorf and was beheaded and dissected as a result. His actual head is now on display with information about his life on a sign underneath.

From Ripley's Believe It or Not:

"The severed and preserved head of Peter Kürten, Germany's notorious Vampire of Düsseldorf," remains one of the most unsettling curiosities in the Ripley's Believe It or Not! collection. Executed by guillotine in 1931 for a series of brutal murders and sexual assaults, Kürten's crimes shocked Europe and established him as one of history's most depraved serial killers. His morbid moniker came from his claim that he drank the blood of some of his victims, a detail that further solidified his place in the annals of infamy.

Why did scientists decide to dissect Kürten's head? Well, similar to the anonymous Parisian criminal in our Criminal Minds video, scientists wanted to study Kürten to see if they could find anything physically out of the ordinary about the way his brain was structured, in comparison to someone who wasn't a serial killer. Their studies came up empty.

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2026/01/29/ripleys-museum-has-a-serial-killers-preserved-head.html

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