Our Visit to the International Museum of Cryptozoology

Over the weekend Helen convinced me to go to the International Museum of Cryptozoology.  This in fact is the world's only museum dedicated to same.  To prevent any of you from having to hit the dictionary, cryptozoology is the study of animals whose existence has not yet been proven.  It is almost universally regarded as a pseudoscience.  The cost was $7 per person--  she agreed to pay, if I agreed not to verbally browbeat any museum employees, or bring up the recent Bigfoot DNA paper.

The deal was made, and we set off. 

The entryway

This is the main entrance.

Main Room of the 2 room museum. Loren Coleman at left, bigfoot in distance

We were greeted by Loren Coleman, proprietor and main employee of the museum.  Mr. Coleman is the author of numerous books on various improbable animals, including but not limited to: the Yeti, Bigfoot, Mothman, the Dover Demon, and the Maine Mutant.  As far as I understood him, he well understands that at least some of these animals are either hoaxes or better explained by species we already know about.  I didn't get a picture with Loren while were there because he was often busy greeting a slow flow of new visitors at the door.  However, I did take a picture of his cryptozoology trading card:

Yeah, you can talk shit about him when you have a fuckin' trading card with YOUR face on it

Note the jury rigged cabinet filled with saber toothed tigers
(which are real,  you damn skeptics!!!)  (No, but really they are real.)

Cabinets like the one above were plentiful in the museum, little to no explanation of the contents and their connection to cryptozoology was not obvious.  In many cases the animals featured have already been proven to exist.  Some of the cases seemed to suggest that in the same way that we once thought some of these animals were fake, so too might Bigfoot eventually win his independence from doubters and enter the world of fact.  Again, to be fair to Mr. Coleman, he is not a fanatic-- he specifically said "skeptics and true believers are the worst kinds of people to have on an expedition, neither will be swayed by any kind of evidence."  He also said the most popular attraction was the bathroom.

I'm pretty sure he's wrong on that one:

I'll eat my regular-sized foot
if this isn't the most popular attraction

Yes, he does have a life size Bigfoot that resembles the Easter Island statues, at least in the nose and mouth.  Across from that were Bigfoot footprint castings from pretty much all the known hoaxes and more:

Feets!

Fish Photograph

Around here the Patterson-Gimlin film was playing on a loop, which was actually pretty cool.  If you're looking for something to read at lunch,  check out all the crap that people waste their time arguing about in this film.  That page also mentions Loren Coleman actively pursuing hoaxers, again to his credit.

Giant Beavers -- still alive?
Indiana Jones knows the truth.

The photograph and caption above are typical of the level of detail the museum was prepared to go into on most of their exhibits.  In the case of this photograph, it seems that Mr. Coleman also has no idea.

The next room was the hoax room.  This also had some real gems.

looks hoke...hoaxy

The day I learned jackalopes were fake
=
The day the music died

Fiji mermaid from P.T. Barnum freak show...  I'd hit it

I can't remember what this was, but it's eyeball is out,
and the Vietnam cap puts it right at the level of incongruity
that gets my blood going

I refuse to believe that  the Iron Giant is a hoax

.

In closing, I'd like to commend Mr. Coleman for his public service work.  No, I don't mean his work with youths at risk for suicide.  (This is serious, he has a master's in social work and is consulted on ways to handle violence in youth).  I mean his Maine cryptid sighting map:

Each pushpin represents a mystery cat, a sea beast, or other
highly dangerous yet reclusive animal

The bad news is,  the sightings for the various types are essentially randomly distributed across the state of Maine.  I don't know if cryptids routinely engage in people rape, but if they do, hide your kids and your wife.