The Online Home of the
Museum of Questionable Medical Devices
Founded and curated by Bob McCoy, the museum grew into the world’s largest collection of medical quackery — more than 250 devices dreamed up to cure the human body without the bother of science or common sense. In 2002 the collection was donated to the Science Museum of Minnesota, where it’s on display today in the Weighing the Evidence exhibit. This site lives on as a tribute to the museum — and to Bob.
A Few Devices You’ll See
A taste of the collection — click any device to learn its story.
Phrenology Machine
Soap that sudses off pounds, weight-reduction glasses, the “magic” of radio waves… quackery is alive and well on the banks of the mighty Mississippi. See the full device collection →
Well — you’re close. Proprietor Bob McCoy was a veritable encyclopedia of the world’s most inane and useless information about how to cure and/or comprehend whatever may ail or puzzle you. That’s Bob getting a “phrenology” reading on a psycograph — a machine that measures the bumps on your head to rate you on 35 character traits, from intelligence and spirituality to suavity and chastity.
Dubbed “The Quackery Hall of Fame” by the Copley Wire Service, the museum was the world’s largest display of what the human mind has devised to cure itself without the benefit of either scientific method or common sense — drawing on major collections from the American Medical Association, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the St. Louis Science Center, the Bakken Library, and the National Council Against Health Fraud. The famed collection was donated to the Science Museum of Minnesota in 2002, and today lives on in their Weighing the Evidence exhibit.
Explore the Collection
Six ways into the wonderful world of quackery.
Video Vault
Bob McCoy’s television appearances — Letterman, Conan, the Today Show & more.
Great American Quacks
The stories behind history’s boldest medical hucksters.
Device Collection
The gadgets themselves — browse the online cabinet of curiosities.
Ephemera
Vintage ads, pamphlets and packaging from the golden age of quackery.
Quack Links
Further reading across the web on health fraud and fakery.
Gift Shop
Buy Bob McCoy’s book Quack! and more.
Robert W. McCoy
1927 – 2010 · Founder & Curator
World-renowned expert on medical quackery and health fraud, Bob lived a life dedicated to exposing nonsense and pseudo-science while advocating rational living and humanist ideals. He passed away on May 23, 2010, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Read Bob’s obituary and news story in the Star Tribune, or read and listen to the Voice of America feature on his retirement.
Please help us keep his principles alive. Buy his book, Quack! →
Minnesota Monthly — Best of the Twin Cities, 2013
FOX News
View photos of our former Riverplace and St. Anthony Main locations. The St. Anthony Main location closed in January 2002; the collection is now on display in St. Paul at the Science Museum of Minnesota’s Weighing the Evidence exhibit.