A Museum That Houses Over 10,000 Items And Was Made To Leave Guests With A Sense Of Wonder, Hope And Curiosity
What's the best way to lure Big Foot into a trap? According to one of the world's leading cryptozoologists Loren Coleman, it's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Having traveled in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, taking part in expeditions and research since the 1960s, Coleman founded the world's only cryptozoology museum in 2003.
With over 10,000 artifacts, pieces of evidence, replicas and pop culture items, the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine is a way for people to not only learn about animals that aren't part of zoology yet, but leave with a sense of wonder, hope and curiosity. Surrounded by breweries and live music venues, the museum attracts visitors from all over the world.
The well traveled cryptozoologist has been investigating – both in the library and out on expeditions – for over 40 years. In that time Coleman has published countless articles, over 40 books and appeared on “Unsolved Mysteries” and other popular reality-based programs. Having become very well-known for his work in cryptozoology and for his television appearances, Coleman began to receive foot casts and other evidence and he needed a place to preserve it when he noticed many pieces of evidence were being thrown away.
Coleman's interest in cryptozoology started while growing up in Illinois. Always interested in nature and animals, Coleman saw a movie about the Yeti and immediately went up to his teachers in school the next week to ask why he hadn't heard about it in class or in library books.
“I was given three answers: They don't exist, leave me alone, get back to your books. It stimulated me to really pursue a much deeper look as to why the Yeti was being excluded from main stream biology and zoology,” recalled Coleman. From then on out, he never stopped researching not only the Yeti but other mysterious creatures.
Back in the 1960s, Big Foot and other mystery animals were seen as science fiction. The research was seen as “fringe science.” But Coleman was becoming more and more credible as the years continued, even being admitted to Southern Illinois University-Carbondale's Ph.D. programs, doing doctoral coursework in social anthropology at Brandies University and in sociology at the University of New Hampshire's Family Research Laboratory after graduating from SIUC with a degree in anthropology, minoring in zoology and doing archaeology work in the summer.
Because of cryptozoologists like Coleman and others, people seemed to start taking cryptozoology a bit more seriously. Once seen as “carnival sideshow material,” people began to realize that some scientists truly meant business about cryptozoology.
“I never use the word 'believe' or 'belief.' That's faith-based. As a scientist, I accept or deny the evidence,” Coleman stated. “Cryptozoology, by definition, are animals that may or may not exist after research. We have animals in the museum – like the giant squid, giant panda, mountain gorilla and komodo dragon – that were once part of cryptozoology. Many zoologists want you to forget that these were once not considered physical animals and seen as make believe. There's no way I would still be involved in this 57 years later if I didn't think there was something to all of these reports.”
According to Coleman, 80 percent of Big Foot reports, for example, are misidentifications and mistakes. Only one percent are hoaxes. That leaves, said Coleman, fifteen to nineteen percent of reports as “unknowns.” It's those that keep Coleman going, who calls himself “skeptically open minded and open-mindedly skeptical.”
So what kind of evidence is there? What makes cryptozoologists and others feel there may be a chance that Big Foot is out hiding amongst the trees, that Moth Man is soaring through the night sky, that Nessie is circling the bottom of Lake Loch Ness?
The International Cryptozoology Museum is home to many of these pieces of evidence, which include hair samples, fecal material and foot casts from the 1960s to present day. There's pieces of wood from an enclosure in Ohio where a black panther attacked and left teeth marks (Coleman was part of the group that investigated black panther reports in the Eastern United States) and a piece of a screen window that the swamp monster – known as the Fouke Monster – put its hands through.
There's samples of indigenous artwork going back 6,000 years and relics they used to imitate the Yeti. There's also modern artifacts, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figurines (based on the kappa, a mysterious creature spotted in Japan) and other pop culture items that shape how people view cryptozoology.
“The Yeti is seen in the United States as a white creature, based upon the brainwashing that occurred in Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,” noted Coleman. “If you talk to native people, he's a really brown-blackish hairy creature, not too different from Big Foot.”
It leaves one to wonder: If there's so much evidence, why hasn't modern technology been able to discover some of these creatures, some of which are quite large in stature? It seems hard to believe that Big Foot would be able to allude all attempts at being captured or filmed.
“Technology is the enemy,” said Coleman. “You have so many people actually connected to screens and the internet and looking down at their cell phones and smart phones... It's become such an urbanized technological culture that these creatures that live on edge of civilization in rural areas are still able to hide.”
Despite all of the fake claims and bogus Youtube videos, Coleman is still certain that many of these creatures are out there. There's even a mystery unfolding right in his own backyard: One town over from Portland, there's been reports of a giant snake, over 10 feet long. Two police officers claimed to have seen it eating a beaver. Of course, Coleman and his Assistant Director Jeff Meuse went right over to check it out, holding a mini-expedition.
“We went up and down the bank of the river, searched in the river. We interviewed people along the river. We looked for slide marks, evidence of killed animals. One person said the snake came into the backyard on the other side of the river. I've been back four times. That's what you do,” said Coleman. But it's not the thrill of the hunt that's kept him going. It's the aftermath of the mystery.
The town is now hosting a Wessie Festival (the name of the giant mystery snake). As opposed to living in fear, the town came together and looked at the positives of the ordeal. And it's not the only town that has done this. Coleman just returned from a Moth Man Festival mid-September. The carnival was held in West Virginia, in the town where the Moth Man was first sighted 50 years ago. The festival started out with only 200 people when it first was formed 15 years ago. Now over 10,000 people attend the event.
“These festivals start out very small, celebrating local, unknown animal,” said Coleman, “and grow into very big events.”
It's similar to the International Cryptozoology Museum. Once thought of as “strange” and possibly taboo, the museum is now a place of pilgrimage for many, including science fiction afficionados, animal lovers, mystery buffs, curious travelers and even skeptics. Many people come in skeptical, said Coleman, but they leave feeling open-minded. The museum takes cryptozoology seriously. It's not a joke. It's not for ridicule. Packed with hundreds of years of serious research, the International Cryptozoology Museum is more than just a few Big Foot fecal matter samples. It's where people go to find out more about the world they live in and discover what may be taking place right outside their door.
Photo's by: Scott Beale
Olivia Richman
A graduate of East Connecticut State University in Journalism, Olivia has written for Stonebridge Press & Antiques Marketplace among others. She enjoys writing, running and video games.
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