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Located up a six-story walkup in a private apartment on the Lower East Side, the Troll Museum is undeniably one of the most interesting and unusual sights in New York City – a reputation it has held for nearly fifteen years. On December 4th, the New York Adventure Club gained access to the troll-laden apartment for a special tour led by museum founder and curator Reverend Jen. Here are 10 things to know about the Troll Museum we learned on our visit:
While an inventory check has never been conducted at the Troll Museum, a friend of Reverend Jen once offered to help count each and every troll as a token of her appreciation for the collection. Unfortunately, after three days of painstakingly counting trolls of different sizes and hair color, the friend stopped at 400 to avoid “permanent insanity.”
The origin of the troll dates back to 1959, when Danish fisherman and woodcutter Thomas Dam couldn’t afford to purchase a Christmas gift for his daughter – instead, he decided to carve her a quirky wooden doll from his imagination. When other children in the town of Gjøl saw this troll doll, they immediately wanted one and pleaded him to make more. This popularity encouraged Dam to create a business around his trolls, which became one of the world’s biggest toy fads in the 1960s.
In 2010, the Troll Museum was the site of a massive steam pipe explosion that damaged a large portion of the collection, including art pieces and the trolls themselves. Scars of this disaster can still be seen around the museum, which include warped paintings, washed out letters, and even a blinded troll. Other damaging incidents have been attributed to the earthquake of 2011, pyromaniac friends with blowtorches, and Reverend Jen’s troll-munching Chihuahua named Rev. Jen Jr.
In between their hundreds of concerts and band break-ups, the Backstreet Boys have remained the Troll Museum Board of Directors ever since they were appointed to the position by Reverend Jen back in the early 2000’s. Even though they have never personally visited the museum, nor thanked Rev Jen for the honorary title, their leadership through hit tracks and iconic band pictures has been enough to lead the museum through the toughest of times.
While not the largest troll collection on the planet, Reverend Jen prides her museum as the world’s most diverse. Whether it’s a troll produced on the black market, mutant trolls, or another wearing a “World’s Best Babysitter” sweater while holding a baby troll head, this museum is chock-full of surprises.
To battle against the pretentious suggested donation of institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Troll Museum decided long ago to set their suggested donation at $3,000. However, to keep up with the MET’s rising donation requests, along with yearly inflation, the Troll Museum is now asking for a mere $3,001
Foxie, a 39-year-old laboratory research chimpanzee who had her four babies taken away in the lab, understandably had trouble interacting with humans when she retired to the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest in 2008. While the sanctuary staff initially saw no improvement with Foxie after offering her toys and companions, that all changed when she stumbled upon troll dolls, which she has adopted as her own infant chimps.
Reverend Jen plans to send Roxie her very first troll doll named Ariana, which she got at nine years old. She hopes that Ariana will help heal Roxie’s wounds from years of laboratory testing and anguish of having her babies taken away. To see how Roxie reacts to Ariana, be sure to check back in every couple weeks with the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest blog, which gives daily updates on all of their chimpanzees.
Described by Reverend Jen as “the troll Mona Lisa,” this two-headed troll from the 1960s is notably rare for being polycephalic, for having hand-painted features, and having a hand-stitched cowboy outfit, though the gun from the holster has been missing since the Great Steam Pipe Explosion of 2010.
Legend has it that when a couple gave their child this troll as a present, he immediately stabbed it in the neck and refused to have anything to do with it. The spooked parents hastily put it up for sale on Amazon, which is when Reverend Jen made the purchase. However, since its arrival, the troll has been blamed for paranormal activity in the apartment including flickering lights, strange sounds, and possibly even the Great Steam Pipe Explosion itself.
When a friend of Reverend Jen’s asked if he could sleep in the Troll Museum for a couple of days, she never expected those few days to turn into weeks, months, and years – two years to be exact. Though he finally moved out, she keeps a bed in the museum to never forget his overextended stay in her apartment.
At the end of our tour, Reverend Jen mentioned that she is considering offering the Troll Museum bed on Airbnb – who wouldn’t want to spend a night in one of the most unique apartments in New York City?
Next, discover more off-the-radar museums in NYC and see more photos from our previous visit to the Troll Museum. Corey William Schneider is the founder of New York Adventure Club – a community driven club that curates unique tours and events with a focus in history and storytelling.
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