Prompt #5: Cabinet of Curiosities
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October’s “13 Days of Dark & Weird” Challenge
our first all-weekend prompt:
A Cabinet of Curiosities usually refers to a room (rather than a cabinet) full of objects whose origins, purposes, or anatomy are not completely known, or simply rare and decidedly strange: Preserved carcasses, skulls of varying size, strange dolls, carved wooden figures, and what were likely, truly unicorn horns (narwhals are a hoax, people!)
But curiosities are fleeting in the information age — for sooner than you can think of a question, the internet has found you an answer. And there are few unexplained phenomena and artifacts in a scientific world.
Cabinets of curiosity, then, have mostly become cabinets of novel ignorance, but few can deny these collections maintain a morbid fascination with the past. A past which, as it ages, becomes easier to misunderstand.
Imagine a future so fast-paced it hasn’t the time to catalogue context for the leftovers of our lifetimes. What might people think of the objects we worshiped or held dear — the instigators and products of our addictions?
Tell us a story or three about curiosities lingering in the dark corners of your mind, or about curiosities one might find in your home after you’re gone — perhaps something buried at the bottom of a hand-me-down chest, or a safety deposit box willed to a distant family member.
I’d give you more suggestions, but I’d rather just hand you a key — the key to a cabinet door that couldn’t have possibly been there only moments ago…let us know what you find inside!
To see details on the Dark & Weird Challenge hosted by 13 Days… and The Mad River on Medium, check out the link below:
Be sure to follow both publications to receive all prompt updates and see challenge pieces in your feed starting October 19th!
Check out Prompts 1–4:
