« Gettysburg Electric Map: No Address | Main | Christ, Born Again in Gatlinburg »

Chupacabra On This!

October 7, 2009

Creationist realtor John Adolfi has been trying to open his Lost World Museum in Phoenix, NY for years, seeking to undermine evolutionary science through the exuberant fun of an old-fashioned sideshow chock full of entertaining oddities. Now it looks like a mysterious blood-sucking monster has come to the rescue (A dead, stuffed one, admittedly).

The Chupacabra Exhibit will be open on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays (plus Halloween!) throughout the month of October. The Chupacabra is said to be a vicious beast that preys on livestock, with a particular fondness for tasty goats. A relative newcomer on the mysterious monster scene, it was first spotted in Puerto Rico back in the not-so-ancient times of 1995. Adolfi’s specimen was trapped in a barn and recently purchased from a now-cash-happy Texas taxidermist.

What does the gathering of bizarre examples of biological confusion (such as the Cyclops Kitty) have to do with the Bible? Adolfi believes the existence of such currently unclassified anomalies that “don’t make scientific sense” somehow bring down the entire evolutionary worldview (But hey, plenty of weird creatures fit nicely into conventional taxonomy — what could be more bizarre than a humpback anglerfish?).

Back in 2006, Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California mounted its own temporary Chupacabra exhibit for entirely opposing purposes: to lure the kiddies in with a “Spooky Science” angle, and then expose them to “facts” about blood-sucking creatures such as mosquitoes and leeches. Not only did the show lack a taxidermy Chupacabra, but it did not display a single image of the horrifying beast. Creationists: One; Well-Meaning Educators: Zero.

Not that the Lost World Museum Chupacabra is a slam-dunk for Intelligent Design fans (and how exactly is it intelligent to design such a thing anyway?). It lacks the more colorful physical details of  legendary sightings (spiny quills running down the back, a forked tongue, glowing red eyes). Could it simply be a mangy coyote? A less-than-photogenic fox with an attitude problem?

Go see it and make up your own mind. For if Mr. Adolfi is right, “scientists need to figure this mystery out proper” so that we can finally “answer the question that is at the heart of the debate: “Is it Apes, Aliens or Adam?”"

For entertainment purposes, perhaps it can be all three? [Post by Anne D. Bernstein]

Sections: Attraction News 1 Comment »

One Response to “Chupacabra On This!”

1. Dan Says:
   October 14th, 2009 at 8:10 am

   Good to see Something being done in phoenix. However he stressed the point to me it is not a creationist museum.

Trunkation Nation