Cryptomundo
for Bigfoot, Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents and More

Huffington Post’s Travis Korte has published a list of the “Ten ‘Cabinets of Curiosities’ and Unique Collections from around the World.” On their list is the International Cryptozoology Museum of Portland, Maine.

Here is their list, and what they have to say about the ICM:

1. Teyler’s Museum in Haarlem, Netherlands;
2. Proteus Gowanus, the Observatory, the Morbid Anatomy Library and the Reanimation Library in Brooklyn, New York;
3. International Friendship Exhibition, north of Pyongyang, North Korea;
4. Alchemy Museum, Kutna Hora, Czech Republic;
5. Maison d’Ailleurs (“House of Elsewhere”), Yverdon-les-Bains, north of Lausanne, Switzerland;
6. Elsewhere Collaborative in Greenboro, North Carolina;
7. House of Automata, near Inverness, Scotland;
8. International Cryptozoology Museum, Portland, Maine;
9. Art Yard, Centrailia, Washington State; and
10. Museum of Jurassic Technology, Los Angeles, California.

8. International Cryptozoology Museum
One thread that seems to run through most of these cabinets of curiosities is the presence of a relentlessly devoted curator. Loren Coleman, one of the first ten inductees to the Bigfoot Hall Of Fame, has nothing to prove to us skeptics. In his museum in Portland, Maine, he displays manufactured cryptids, like the “mermaid” P.T. Barnum made out of a monkey torso and a fish tail, along with real specimens like the skull of a saber-toothed tiger. The collection would be incomplete without humor, and visitors are fortunate that Coleman isn’t above showing off his plastic chupacabra masks. ~ Huffington Post, 16 October 2010.

If you would like to vote our museum as #1 at Huffington Post, click your #1 pick at their no. 8 picture, here.

This new honor now joins those received this year, including being named by MSNBC and Concierge.com 1 of 7 of the “Weirdest Museums in the World” in 2010, Yankee Magazine Editor’s 2010 Choice Awards for “Best Quirky Museum,” and the Portland Phoenix’s “Best of 2010” reader’s awards for “Best Museum of Portland” and “Best Local Author.”

Patrons’ and supporters’ donations are greatly appreciated, and keep us an alive and ever-growing museum.

Thank you!!

Come join our First Anniversary celebration on October 31, 2010, from Noon to 5 pm, and dress up as your favorite cryptid for a free book and other treats.

Teeshirts and books will be on sale. Loren Coleman will be happy to autograph your personal, previously owned copies of his books. Some of his books will be for sale in the Green Hand Books and through the ICM book sales table up front!!

Happy Halloween!