# Museum visitor destroys priceless clock **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 3, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421 "2016-06-03T20:18:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/1 "2016-06-03T20:18:59Z")
The link below shows CCTV footage from the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia (Pennsylvania). The museum hosts an awesome collection of one-of-a-kind clocks of all types, many of them priceless. The video shows a museum visitor completely disregarding museum rules: He begins touching and fiddling with the mechanism of a clock hanging on the wall, until the (possibly) inevitable happens: He ends up dislodging the clock from its hook, the clock falls to the ground and smashes into pieces. There is not enough facepalm in the world for this… :smack:^∞ [Link to the YouTube video with the CCTV footage in question.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVhSjdDYjgA) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/2 "2016-06-03T20:31:23Z")
This is why every civilized nation should always keep the Death Penalty on the books! ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/3 "2016-06-03T20:39:41Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > [Link to the YouTube video with the CCTV footage in question.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVhSjdDYjgA) I’ll bet, when that clock fell off the wall, time stood still for him. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/4 "2016-06-03T21:20:48Z")
The Git and the Pendulum ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/5 "2016-06-03T21:23:23Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > I’ll bet, when that clock fell off the wall, time stood still for him. I’ll bet he made a face when the clock hit the ground. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/6 "2016-06-03T21:27:01Z")
So, who gives him a time-out? ETA: **gigi** _two thumbs up_ ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/7 "2016-06-03T21:28:33Z")
It’s the museum’s own fault for not putting the clock behind a barricade. They were just _asking_ for trouble… > [@](#): > > Shayna, they bought their tickets; they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash! [/sarcasm] Serious comment: I didn’t see the video, but anyone who touches a museum exhibit is an idiot. The exception is of course if the exhibit explicitly directs hands-on interaction. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/8 "2016-06-03T21:28:38Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > This is why every civilized nation should always keep the Death Penalty on the books! Or a corporal punishment that would leave him with one big hand and one little hand. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/9 "2016-06-03T21:29:39Z")
He needed someone to keep him away. You know, a clockblocker. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/10 "2016-06-03T21:30:25Z")
Fortunately the clock isn’t really destroyed. The museum has said the damage is repairable. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/11 "2016-06-03T21:33:54Z")
Unfortunately, his stupidity **isn’t**. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/12 "2016-06-03T21:35:10Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > He needed someone to keep him away. You know, a clockblocker. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/13 "2016-06-03T21:36:01Z")
Is this museum a part of a petting zoo? Why would a museum leave something “priceless”, not to mention fragile, out where everybody could touch it? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/14 "2016-06-03T21:41:39Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Is this museum a part of a petting zoo? Why would a museum leave something “priceless”, not to mention fragile, out where everybody could touch it? In sad news, they had to shoot the clock lest it injure the museum patron. There is a documentary in the works, _ **They Shoot Horloges, Don’t They?** _ ☹ ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/15 "2016-06-04T01:12:36Z")
I guess this is evidence that time really doesn’t fly. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/16 "2016-06-04T01:47:08Z")
Indeed, a capital crime! > [@Dialog at the (original) Mad Tea Party:](#): > > ‘Well, I’d hardly finished the first verse,’ said the Hatter, ‘when the Queen jumped up and bawled out, “He’s murdering the time! Off with his head!”’ > > ‘How dreadfully savage!’ exclaimed Alice. > > ‘And ever since that,’ the Hatter went on in a mournful tone, ‘he won’t do a thing I ask! It’s always six o’clock now.’ ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/17 "2016-06-04T01:51:36Z")
There was that other news article lately, about the kid (in China, I think) who demolished a multi-thousand-dollar Lego statue that had been on display for all of an hour. The article mentioned that the Lego artist spent _three days_ building it! It seemed such an awful shame. Three irrecoverable days of the guy’s life wasted! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/18 "2016-06-04T01:55:46Z")
Look like the antique store scam. Hang some worthless piece of junk clock loosely on the wall and wait for some sucker to break it. What made that clock priceless? Didn’t look special to me. It’s a clock, I’ve had plenty of clocks, but now I have a cell phone, computer, and cable TV box to tell me the time, making all clocks worthless. It’s a scam. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/19 "2016-06-04T01:56:56Z")
Then you’ve got this sculpture: [Rolling Through The Bay](http://www.google.com/search?q=rolling+through+the+bay&sa=G&hl=en&gbv=1&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0ahUKEwjYroutoY3NAhVD62MKHUwnDuEQsAQIIQ) built with 100,000 toothpicks by one man over 35 years. Somehow they cart this thing around from place to place, displaying it at County Fairs and the like. I saw it at the Sonoma County Fair a few years ago. It’s not behind a glass case either. There’s a cordon around it, but that’s all. I cringe at the sight of that thing out there in the same space as the Teeming Millions. And trucking it around from place to place must be a real nail-biting feat too! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421/20 "2016-06-04T02:13:36Z")
I’ve been to a museum with a couple other people, one of whom casually leaned on a pile of (thick, non-cordoning) rope that happened to be an art exhibit, and was quickly told otherwise. I don’t recall rope around it, nor labelling from my perspective, but it seems to me that if there’s a rope on a platform in an art museum, you don’t touch it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-visitor-destroys-priceless-clock/756421.md?page=2)