Eerie Exhibits: Five Macabre Museum Tales by Victoria Williamson

I have to say, the book title is extremely apt. I'll certainly be looking at museum exhibits a little differently from now on! 

A boy is haunted by the screaming butterflies from his childhood. A little girl just wants her father's attention, but what will she find in the Egyptian section of the museum? A museum guard can't get the new painting out of his mind. A bear out for revenge. A shell whispers dark ideas.

My favourite was the second story. Poor Amy just wanted some cake on her birthday and she's had to be so much more mature than her 7 years. Who can blame her for getting distracted by the spooky sarcophagus? I liked how the story ended too, slightly mysterious but still very satisfying.

Have you ever had a spooky experience in a museum? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear about them.

Book Summary

Five unnerving tales of the weird and uncanny from award-winning author Victoria Williamson.

A room full of screaming butterflies.

An unsettling smile on the face of a carved sarcophagus.

A painting that draws its viewer into the disturbing past.

A stuffed bear that growls in the dead of night.

And a shell that whispers more sinister sounds than the sigh of the sea…

Dare you cross the threshold of the old Museum and view its eerie exhibits?

Author Bio

Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author from Glasgow, Scotland, who has worked as an educator in a number of different countries, including as an English teacher in China, a secondary school science teacher in Cameroon, a teacher trainer in Malawi, and an

additional support needs teacher in the UK. Her many visits to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and

Museum from a young age inspired this set of short stories for adults based on the real and imaginary exhibits that captured her interest over the years, and led to her current studies of history and archaeology.

Victoria works part time writing books for the education company Twinkl and spends the rest of her time writing novels for children and adults, and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops. When not writing or talking about books, she’s often to be found up to her knees in mud on an archaeological dig or tangled up in a ball of wool playing with a crochet hook.

I've chosen a Cairo Cocktail to go with my favourite of the stories. Shake the following with ice - 40ml vodka, 20ml blue curacao, 20ml almond syrup, 20ml lemon juice. Pour into a tall glass with ice and top with orange juice. I'll admit I was a bit dubious about the colour when I saw it was mixing blue curacao with orange juice but if you pour the juice slowly you can get a lovely marbled effect.