Silverton Bigfoot Museum
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 20th, 2009
Remember the Garberville, California museum entitled…”The Legend of Bigfoot”?
Well, the name is just too good to not be independently re-invented for use someplace else, I guess.
Shamus Garvin of Silverton sees how he measures up to Bigfoot at the new Legend of Bigfoot Museum and Gallery on Blair Street, Silverton, Colorado.
Since I’m passing information along about a virtual museum today, I thought I would forward this recent article, Bigfoot museum seeks to ‘educate’ public by Mark Esper, about a new bricks-and-mortar museum.
BTW, of course, Yetis are NOT necessarily white-haired, unless they are very, very old.
😀
An alleged cluster of Bigfoot sightings in the Silverton area in recent years is the inspiration behind the newest museum to open on Blair Street.
Bigfoot Central, with its Legend of Bigfoot Museum and Gallery, opened Friday, May 1. It’s the brainchild of Rick and Gayle Lewis of Kanab, Utah.
Rick Lewis claims there have been eight “confirmed” Sasquatch sightings within a 10-mile radius of Silverton over the last 10 years, making the San Juan Mountains perhaps the most significant Bigfoot habitat outside the Pacific Northwest.
The most recent sighting, he said, was near Durango Mountain Resort in February.
The Standard was not able to confirm that report.
Lewis also claims that Bigfoot sightings in the area go back a long way, and that a miner in the San Juan Mountains in the 1840s reported an early encounter with a Bigfoot.
Lewis says his museum is an educational experience to introduce people to the huge creatures, where they live, what they eat.
Gayle Lewis says a Bigfoot can grow to be 7 to 10 feet tall and weigh up to 700 pounds.
“Some are more black, some are more brown and of course the Yeti is white,” she said.
The museum’s mission is to improve understanding of Bigfoot, and to bring attention to what they claim is an often overlooked part of Silverton’s real history.
Rick Lewis complained that the media has been unfair to Bigfoot, even going so far as to blame the beasts for various unexplained pregnancies from time to time.
“We’re hoping to bring something different to Silverton,” Lewis said. “We live in a world of everyday science explaining everything. It’s nice to think there are still mysterious things to believe in. That’s what Bigfoot Central is all about.”
Gayle Lewis said she hopes the museum will spur more scholarly inquiry into the elusive creature.
“We’re hoping to have a symposium with Sasquatch researchers,” she said.
In the meantime, Bigfoot Central is the place to go for all your Bigfoot accessories — T-shirts, pens, mugs, books, videos and of course the Bigfoot FM Radio.
The museum has both visual and interactive displays telling all about Bigfoot. It will also exhibit Bigfoot “art” selected from nationally known artists, providing visitors with a fun-filled learning experience and family entertainment.
The Lewises said they expect more Bigfoot sightings in the area. They said Bigfoot is likely to be spotted from time to time along the Animas River from the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad trains.
Admission to the museum will be $3 for adults, $2 or children 12 and under, with nonwalking baby Bigfoots admitted free.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I was there just a month ago. I puchased a bigfoot cast and “in search of the yowie” book there. I spent around in hour in the Silverton bigfoot museum. I thought everything there was amazing, esspecially the gigantopithicus skull and the lifesive bigfoots. I also got to talk to the owner of the museum for a while. I’m probably the only 12 year old to commet on this article.
Cool, I am going to Durango this Winter for some fly fishing. I may have to make my way over to Silverton for a gander at this newly minted museum. Who knows maybe I will see the big hairy dude himself while I am on the river fishing.
Greetings All!
Wow! get a load of prettyboy there in Silverton! That face looks more like something from a romance novel than the P/G film. When will the media stop reinforcing this view of Bigfoot? Young Bigfoot grow up seeing these unattainable pictures of young Sasquatch (the picture’s only a bit over 7 foot tall, ehy can’t older Bigfoot get these modeling jobs?) and their self-esteem goes right down the tubes!
Wake up people!! Its no wonder all the average looking Bigfoot hide from us, faced with this kind of air-brushed body image! 🙂
Seriously, what I’d love to see is a traveling exhibit put together by all these museums, that could go around the country to museums and zoos. Throw those of us outside the Pacific Northwest (and Maine!) a bone. And some hair samples, a few footprint casts…..
I am a skeptic on the existence of “sasquatch”. However I am open to the idea of the possiblity this creature could exist?? Too many people have seen something in the Northwest. I have recently read many accounts of sightings. The possibilites are 1. Miss identification of an animal, 2. Some individual with a “gorilla” suit, 3. Or they are actually seeing an unknown species. I am a former state police investigator, formerly served with US Military Intelligence and Special Forces. What I have seen with these “expeditions” are ridiculous! You cannot have a large number of people with no military experience “stomping” through the forests and expect to see anything. If this creature exists he can smell you, hear you and see you before you can see it if it indeed exists. In a combat situaltion or a “recon” mission if you proceeded in this manner you would be dead or captured. If this creature exists he is very elusive using “stealth” and is more than like nocturnal from what I have read. He probably uses the trees for cover, either up in a tree and looks down at his pursuers and he is very familiar with the terrain. Without the use of camo, stealth, night vision and “scent” blocker in a very small number of individuals you will see nothing! If you are serious about discovering if this creature exists please utilize individuals with military experience (Rangers, Special Forces, Force Recon, Seals). They have the “professional” skills.
I love the Silverton area and riding the Durango – Silverton train. I’ll be sure to stop by the museum next time I am in the area.
Well trooper, I have been on expeditions. With 50 plus people on them. First let me say you are wrong thinking that 50 people trapes through the bush looking for Squatch. We break up into many different groups with no more than usually 10 to a group. And we don’t actually look for squatch. We walk the trails at night and let them know we are there. (I’m sure they already know this.) We do calls and wood knocks, and we listen for response. After we spend a few hours doing this we return to the camps. There is the main base camp and usually 4or5 other camp sites. So it’s not like you have a huge amlount of people all together at the same time. Second, you can take all that miltary mumbo jumbo and toss it out the window. Because I don’t care how much Ranger & Special Force training you have. You will never sneak up on a Squatch. If you’re lucky you may get a glimps of one for a split second. If a squatch wants you to see it, it will show itself. You don’t find Squatch. Squatch finds you. The best way to see a Squatch is to keep going back to the same location they are in, let them know you are there. Leave them some food. I usually leave apples and squash. And leave the are. Keep repeating this process. then come back leave food and stay the night. My bet is you will get a visitor in your camp. Once they know it’s you and figure out your not there to harm them, they will come sneak around your camp. Just like what happened to me. I have night vision, listening devices, recorders and actually, none of it has helped me see anything. I think my best tool is the bionic ear. At least I can hear when one is around, it helps you know where to look. But like I said, if Squatch wants you to see him, you most likely will.