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I Visited Bangkok’s ‘Museum of Death’ and It Was Even Stranger Than I Expected

A maze of preserved bodies, murder evidence, and medical oddities makes Siriraj one of Bangkok’s weirdest, most unforgettable stops.

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When you’ve been traveling around Southeast Asia long enough, temples start to blur together. I needed something different. So when I stumbled across mentions of a place nicknamed the “Museum of Death” while killing time in Bangkok in 2017, I was in.

I’m into macabre stuff. Always have been. Throw in anything related to biological sciences, and I’m obsessed. So, this felt like just the off-the-beaten-path outing I was looking for. 

The museum’s real name is the Siriraj Medical Museum, and it sits on the grounds of Bangkok’s oldest hospital, just off the Chao Phraya River. Most tourists never make it to this part of the city—it’s tucked near a cluster of hospitals, nowhere near the usual circuit. A river ferry........

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