International Cryptozoology Museum: The Weird & Wonderful
International Cryptozoology Museum
The International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland Maine has so much in the way of mysterious and interesting displays for you to spend your time enjoying in person. From casts of sasquatch feet to cryptozoology taxidermy, there is something for everyone at this cryptozoology museum. So lets get right into the fun stuff!
Cryptozoology Definition:
The oxford dictionary has Cryptozoology as “The search for and study of animals whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated, such as the Loch Ness monster and the Yeti.”.
This is to say that they stuff out there in the world, that many believe to be real but is not yet to be scientifically proven, fits within this category of being.
If you want to learn more about Cryptozoology here is a book that essentially covers everything you could ever hope for on the subject. (Amazon.com Cryptozoology Book)
Inside of the Cryptozoology Museum:
There are so many interesting sculptures and stories to be told from the objects found around the layout of this museum. Tons of sculptures recreating what the cryptids look like are housed in their own little specific corners of the museum. Not only this, but there are casts and potential evidence for the existence of some of these creatures in cases as well.
Gigantic representations of alien looking creatures and smaller more nuanced details throughout the museum provides you loads of information and amazing sights to take in and enjoy. There’s little better than being able to explore new fun creatures in a place like the International Cryptozoology Museum.
Cryptozoology Taxidermy:
This is one of the coolest parts of the whole entire museum. This taxidermy mounted on the wall is of cryptid animals and certainly stands out to us as a taxidermy/oddities business. There is even a hairy fish mounted up on the wall! It doesn’t get too much cooler than having a hairy fish mounted on the wall, and I will certainly be asking Chelsea (the owner of Chelsidermy) if she can make me one of these now.
This creature is called the Fur Bearing Trout and is said to hail from the areas of northern America and Iceland. It is said to live in extremely cold waters and thus developed thick hair in order to keep it warm in these waters. In Iceland it is known as the “Shaggy Trout” and stories of this creature range back to the 1600’s.
There is a chance that this may actually be real but be a case of mistaken identity in a sense. Saprolegnia is known as the ‘Cotton Mold” and has been known to grow on fish at times. This water mold can infect the fish and spread across the entire surface in extreme cases. It is called cotton mold because of its white cotton like appearance, and if it gets drastic it can sometimes grow longer to resemble white hair.
There is another chance for mistaken identity, but it is far less likely. There is a fish named Mirapinna esau found in the 1950s in the Atlantic Ocean. This fish is incredibly rare and has a hairy looking surface to it along with what looks like wings. This animal is one of the rarest animals to ever be found and documented in science as it has only been caught one time in history. It was caught near the surface of the water and was a little bit over 2 inches long. This is certainly not the case in our opinion, but there’s a small chance.
Sasquatch AKA Bigfoot
There are many skull and head models to show the size comparison of bigfoot to regular apes and humans alike, but the center piece of this topic is the life-sized recreation of bigfoot himself. This massive hairy creature is done justice by this model, and you can even stand next to it yourself in order to get a picture with sasquatch to reminisce on.
There are other items as well in this section like a dart gun that was used to hunt for bigfoot and cast molds made of foot imprints said to possibly be from sasquatch. There are human footprint casts lying beside the bigfoot molds in order to show you just how massive the foot of the sasquatch is. It is really cool to see just how large these feet are in person as seeing them on a screen doesn’t really fully do them justice.
Esau AKA The Baby Bigfoot
There is no information on the internet for Esau the baby bigfoot as far as we can tell. Upon further research we see that Esau was the name of Isaacs oldest son from the Hebrew Bible. He was said to be known as a “man of the field”. In the book of Genesis 27:11 it is said that Esau is a very hairy man. This is most likely where the name stems from as the story and name fits the description. There have actually been many sightings of “baby bigfoots” over the years.
Real Mermaids and Chupacabra
There are artistic sculptures made of “real” mermaids in the museum. These are not the typical pretty upper halves of human females flowing into the fish like bottom half that we are used to seeing. They are much more grotesque and realistic in nature.
There is also a statue made to represent the Chupacabra. This is said to be a blood sucking dog like creature that roams around killing livestock in farmlands.
Recap & Summary:
There are so many amazing stories and really interesting cryptids to find in this cryptozoology museum. From baby bigfoot to hairy fish, you got to see some of the strangest and most incredibly fascinating creatures that the International Cryptozoology Museum has to offer. If you ever get the chance, and are around the location, you should really stop in and give it a look. There is plenty in this museum to keep you interested, learning, and smiling for hours on end.
If you enjoyed reading this article and want to see more like this, you can find other articles just like this one on cryptozoology and mysterious creatures right here.
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