Meet The (Non-) Local Wildlife
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 18th, 2010
Meet the (non-) local wildlife
Not every museum greets its guests with an eight-foot-tall Bigfoot replica. Guarding the entry of the bizarrely offbeat exhibit, Bigfoot is just one of the dozens of “cryptids” showcased at the International Cryptozoology Museum. (For the uninitiated, cryptozoology is the study of hidden, semi-mythical animals that have yet to be officially discovered and documented.) Alongside Bigfoot, the museum has displays on other famous cryptids, chief among them the Chupacabra and the Loch Ness Monster. Loren Coleman, Maine’s leading cryptozoologist, has crammed the kitchen-sized space with more than 1200 items collected over the last 50-odd years. The author of more than 30 books on unusual and unexpected creatures, Coleman can tailor tours to visitors, personalizing the experience to your background and interests. There are one-of-a-kind movie props, and even casts of cryptid footprints (shown to “serious” cryptozoologists). Even the toys, like a Bigfoot action figure, take on new significance, as evidence of cryptids’ influence on popular culture.
International Cryptozoology Museum | 661 Congress St, Portland | 207.518.9496 |
Rain check
When bad weather strikes, just go indoors!
By ANDREW STEINBEISER | June 16-25, 2010
Portland Phoenix
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Loren Coleman no longer writes for Cryptomundo. His archived posts remain here at Cryptomundo.
The chupacabra is not semi-mythical, just a case of a description of the whupperwill bird being applied to something fantastical. In Mexico whupperwills are bad luck and are thought to suck the milk from goats hence the term chupacabra(goat sucker). How this evolved into a bloodsucking reptilian monster is something worth investigating. This nugget of info popped up on an old episode of Bonanza of all places.
I’m not quite certain that you can draw a direct line from nightjars such as the Whip-poor-will to the Chupracabra, although it is true that the nightjars are part of the goatsucker family (Caprimulgidae, Latin for goat suckers).