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.

Rain check
When bad weather strikes, just go indoors!
By ANDREW STEINBEISER | June 16-25, 2010
Portland Phoenix

Loren Coleman 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.

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