Loren Coleman of the International Cryptozoology Museum packs up artifacts to be moved from his home to 661 Congress St. in Portland. At rear are volunteers Jeff and Jessica Meuse of South Portland, who are helping Coleman with his move. Photo: Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
I’ve watched as the press notices of the museum have focussed on different parts of the forthcoming move. Some of the treatments, for example in the Portland Daily Sun (“Bigfoot on Congress Street“) and the Portland Phoenix (“Bigfoot Coming to Congress Street“), have been location-oriented, object-specific, good-natured, and rather positive.
Today’s, in the mainstream media, in the Portland Press Herald, publishes an account that starts with a definition of cryptozoology using the word “imagination” and does a good job of capturing some of what I was saying about “cryptotourism.”
Such is the life of one thrust into a position of trying to get publicity for a new public venture in cryptozoology, I suppose. Publicity, good or bad, as they say, is publicity, and getting the future address known is a significant objective.
One aspect of the press attention I did want to attempt to have noted was the importance of the many volunteers who have been assisting me during this transition time, from home-based museum to downtown location.
When the paper’s photographer came over, I was happy to have two of the most important docents here, if only captured in the background, as shown in the above photo. Jeff and Jessica Meuse have been assisting me for years. During this specific move, besides packing, actually Jeff has been in charge of the crew of movers, while Jessica is involved in interior design.
Museums are never one-person operations, even if they are run as a cabinet-of-curiosities for six years in one’s home. It is good to visually see the docent factor being acknowledged as the museum goes public.
Here is today’s Portland Press Herald article. Please read it with a keen eye for not believing everything you read as being the whole story. Your comments below are most welcome on how the article sounded to you.
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Bigfoot and friends coming soon to a storefront near you
Loren Coleman’s museum could make Portland the epicenter for the world of cryptozoology, he says.By Tom Bell, Staff Writer
October 5, 2009Portland — Bigfoot is coming to Congress Street.
Loren Coleman, an expert on creatures that exist at least in the imagination, but have yet to be documented by scientists, is about to open the International Cryptozoology Museum, the only one of its kind in the world.
Coleman will rent a U-Haul van and move his 8-foot-tall, 400-pound Bigfoot sculpture, which now stands on the front porch of his home on Massachusetts Avenue in Portland, to a storefront window at 661 Congress St.
The museum, opening on Nov. 1, will feature fake artifacts, such as full-body mounted jackalopes and “cryptids,” creatures whose existence has been suggested but lacks scientific support.
Coleman owns a model of the Loch Ness monster that was made from descriptions of those who claim to have seen the creature, and he says he has a foot cast and hair sample from the Abominable Snowman, both found during a 1959 expedition in the Himalayas.
One of the most curious artifacts will be Coleman himself.
Coleman is considered a leading expert in the field of cryptozoology, which refers to the search for animals that are considered legendary or otherwise nonexistent by mainstream biologists.
Three years ago, when an ugly creature that became known as the “Maine Mutant” was found dead in Turner, it was Coleman who rushed to the scene and announced to the world that the creature was just a dog, which DNA results later confirmed.
Loren Coleman of the International Cryptozoology Museum has a model of Bigfoot at his home in Portland. Photo: Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
For the remainder of the article, see here.
Coleman displays a cast made from a supposed Bigfoot footprint that was found in Washington state in the 1980s. Photo: Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer.
Join Jessica and Jeff Meuse today in positively assisting the move of the International Cryptozoology Museum, as it soon opens in downtown Portland, Maine. Please click on the button below (not the one up top) to take you to PayPal to send in your museum donation.
If you wish to send in your donation via the mails, by way of an international money order or, for the USA, via a check (made out to “International Cryptozoology Museum”) or money order, please use this snail mail address:
Loren Coleman, Director
International Cryptozoology Museum
PO Box 360
Portland, ME 04112
Thank you, and come visit the museum at 661 Congress Street, Portland, Maine 04101, beginning November 1, 2009!!
Not a 501(c)3, so your donations are all that more important, whether $15, $25, or $150!!
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