New York City's new Morbid Anatomy Museum explores death rituals and all things macabre

NEW YORK – A new museum opening in New York City this weekend promises a fascinating journey into the dark side.

The Morbid Anatomy Museum opens Saturday in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

The ribbon-cutting will include a "spirit photo booth" and traditional mourning food from a cookbook titled "Death Warmed Over."

But creative director Joanna Ebenstein tells The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/TpwvYZ ) the museum's mission is serious. It grew out of Ebenstein's private collection of over 2,000 books on death rituals, the human body and esoterica.

The three-story museum is in a former nightclub. Highlights at the opening exhibition, "The Art of Mourning," include a brooch made from human teeth. There's also a 1850s shadowbox containing a Madonna surrounded by a memorial wreath made of locks of a deceased loved one.

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Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com