The Power of Poison: Richmond’s Science Museum Gets Deliciously Deadly

There’s a particular kind of thrill that comes from learning the intricacies of something that could kill you. It’s the same thrill I chase for a living on Weird World Adventures, except this time I didn’t need a passport. I just needed to drive to the Science Museum of Virginia, right here in Richmond.

From October 4th of last year, the museum is hosting “The Power of Poison,” a touring exhibition that dives into the world of venom, toxins, and the strange folklore that’s grown up around them over centuries. As someone who studies mythology and folklore for a living, I couldn’t resist. This is exactly the kind of exhibit that lives at the intersection of my two favorite things: science that’s real and stories that probably shouldn’t be.

Where Fairy Tales Meet Forensics

The exhibition promises to plunge guests into a world where truth and fable intertwine through the toxic beauty of plants, animals, fairy tales, and beyond. That sentence alone told me this wasn’t going to be your standard glass-case-and-placard museum experience. The exhibit features historical flashbacks, interactive investigations, and surprising insights into how poison can harm as well as heal.

One detail that immediately caught my attention: a life-sized diorama inspired by the witches’ cauldron scene in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. There’s something delightful about a science museum leaning into literature this hard. Poison has always straddled that line between the medicinal and the mythical, and apparently the curators know it.

Cleopatra, Napoleon, and the Original True Crime

If you’ve ever fallen down a Wikipedia rabbit hole about historical deaths that don’t quite add up (I have, repeatedly, at 1am, much to Michael’s dismay), this exhibit has you covered. Guests can investigate the poisons behind some of history’s most fascinating and mysterious deaths, including new insights into the demise of Cleopatra and the unexplained danger lurking in Napoleon’s wallpaper.

Yes, his wallpaper. I won’t spoil it further, but let’s just say 19th century home décor apparently came with more risks than we give it credit for.

Snakes, Mushrooms, and Museum-Sanctioned Danger

The Science Museum is pairing the exhibition with hands-on programming, including a 3D mushroom build in the Art Lab, information on Virginia’s own venomous snakes, and tips for identifying poisonous plants. There’s also a segment on how the same defensive compounds plants produce to keep predators away eventually became some of the flavors we seek out on purpose, which is the kind of dosage-dependent irony that folklore has been trying to explain since long before anyone had a periodic table.

The Pedigree Behind the Poison

The exhibition was organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, which is about as reputable a pedigree as touring exhibits get. It’s included with general Science Museum admission, priced at $18.50 for adults, $15.50 for youth and seniors, and $11 for preschool-aged children, with free admission for members and kids under two. Teachers, military personnel, and EBT cardholders can access discounts through the Museums for All program. The exhibit will remain in Richmond through Sunday, April 19, 2026, so there’s no need to rush, though I’d argue that spooky season is exactly the right season to see it in.

Why This One’s Different

I’ve stood in a dormant volcano, so I don’t say this lightly: there’s something genuinely unsettling about an exhibit that makes poison feel intimate rather than distant. Most of us think of venom and toxins as things that happen elsewhere, to other people, in other centuries. This exhibit is betting that once you realize how close poison has always lived to us (in our wallpaper, our gardens, our fairy tales) it stops being a museum topic and starts being a mirror.

That’s the kind of weird I can’t resist. If you’re local to Richmond, or passing through before next April, it’s worth the detour. Just maybe don’t eat anything you can’t identify on the way out.