Having narrowly avoided watching A Night at the Museum last night, I pondered the nature of museums in general, each of which becomes a fascinating piece of folklore in and of itself leading me to the notion that maybe someone should do something on The Folklore of British Museums. I'm sure The Pitt-Rivers could fill several volumes in itself, likewise the erstwhile Hancock Museum in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (presently being reinvented as The Great North Museum, swallowing many fine smaller museums in the process) which contained the unwrapped 2,500-year-old mummy of Irt-Irw, who is said to set off intruder alarms and has inspired various ghost hunts. During a school visit in my youth a friend once ran out in terror claiming her lips moved when he was looking at her; one of the hardest kids in the school too - didn't sleep for a week! Of the smaller Newcastle museums swallowed by the GNM is the Museum of Antiquities which has been part of the university for as long as I can remember. A favourite exhibit was the reconstruction of the Temple of Mithras on the Roman Wall; a lurid scene which lit up upon receipt of 20p, playing a soundtrack solemnly intoned by a Roman legionnaire with various sounds of howling winds & festive carousing in the background. I was in there once with a friend from college who had a dizzy spell in the darkened space and the next day told me her dreams had been filled with vivid Mithraic rituals; others have claimed similar experiences. Friends of mine had strange experiences at the Temple of Antenociticus and were moved to visit his head which resided in the museum from which they were summarily ejected by the custodian for honouring him with flutes, drums and floral tributes.   

One hopes that the Oriental Museum in Durham will always be there, though one exhibit was removed from public view owing to it being considered rather too obscene for public view. This is a mid-18th century Ch'ing Dynasty porcelain depicting two lovers delightedly copulating in the Taoist Hovering Butterfly position. It is said that two young Christian students paying a visit on a blissful summer day were so inspired by the piece that they made their way to nearby Houghall Woods where they consummated what had hitherto being a shyly platonic friendship in the Hovering Butterfly position. One wonders how many other couples have been similarly inspired... Anyone with a copy of Tao Magic - The Secret Language of Diagrams & Calligraphy by Laszlo Legeza (Thames & Hudson 1975) can find it illustrated on page 84 (plate 57) - otherwise click HERE.