The experts from Shane Confectionery demonstrated the art of making our own herbal cough drops and provided some information about the history of candy and medicine. Mushroom gurus from Mycopolitan told us about the awesomeness of mushrooms as attendees gobbled up their wares.

Ted Daeschler (pictured below) and Ned Gilmore hosted tours of the Academy’s Mineral Vault, rarely seen by the public!

Tanya Livshultz (pictured below) and Jordan Teisher provided fascinating tours of our Botany Collection.

We learned about the benefits of natural products, including hemp, and made hemp bracelets.

We talked about why skunks can smell, well, kinda funky, and we met live skunks Hamilton and Lavender.

To complement the great food and open bar by 12th St. Catering, we relaxed to the groovy live tunes of husband and wife duo Pilar and Eric Rivera.

And…drumroll, please! Our next Door 19 on October 24 will be a pre-Halloween exploration of death and tax…idermy!

At the Academy, we’re no strangers to the most bizarre science that life (and death) have to offer. At Door 19: Death and Taxidermy, explore our spookiest specimens and weirdest things in jars behind the scenes. Meet a couture taxidermist and a ghost hunting crew. Discover decomposition, practice preservation and geek out over gravestones. Come in costume or come as you are for a scarily fun evening featuring frightfully good food and an open bar.

• Toast to life and death at the open bar
• Scope out some eye of newt in our Herpetology Collection
• Explore some of our strangest stuff in our Exhibits Collection (open to the public for the first time in history!)
• Find out what it takes to compete as an award-winning taxidermist with Beth Beverly of Diamond Tooth Taxidermy
• Don’t get too spooked as the paranormal investigators from CCIPR show off their ghost hunting equipment and tell you their strange tales of otherworldly encounters
• Learn how you can rest in peace at the Woodlands Cemetery as a grave gardener
• Investigate specimen preservation and try your hand at mounting a few specimens yourself
• Ponder extinction in the special exhibit, Dinosaurs Around the World
• Embrace life out of the shadows in the Butterflies! exhibit
• Feast on fabulous fall favorites from our exclusive caterer, 12th Street Catering (vegetarian options available)
• And … did we mention the open bar?

June 14 – October 8 – $65 Public/$55 Members/$60 Drexel Alumni
October 9 – October 15 – $75 Public/$65 Members/$65 Drexel Alumni
October 16 – October 24 – $85 Public/$65 Members/$65 Drexel Alumni

Buy tickets to the October 24 Door 19 now!