Battered weevil was found buried several weeks after its bugnapping.

Depot Museum: Weevil Relics

Enterprise, Alabama

The Enterprise Depot Museum, housed in a 1903 railroad depot, is filled with artifacts familiar to most small town reliquaries: a spinning wheel, a school bell, a millstone, military uniforms, old doctor tools, old farm equipment.

What makes this museum special is its exhibit devoted to the Boll Weevil Monument, which stands in a traffic intersection only a couple of blocks away. Unique relics include wooden molds, carved by Carl Griffin, that were used to cast the metal parts for the 1981 version of the weevil -- one of several versions over the years that were made to replace earlier versions that were stolen.

Noble Greek lady, cruelly assaulted by bug thieves.

Also on display is the metal weevil stolen in 1998 (and later recovered, slightly battered from being buried by its bugnappers) and the Greek lady statue that was destroyed during that theft. The statue, now armless like the Venus de Milo, is in a glass case befitting a valuable work of art. Her gaze is downcast, and she appears to be mournfully contemplating her shattered forearms and hands scattered before her feet. Visitors can see the hollow pipes in her arms that once carried water up to the fountain nozzle above her head -- which was later replaced by the metal weevil whose allure for criminals ultimately destroyed her.

The Boll Weevil Monument currently standing in the traffic intersection is an exact replica of this statue, cast from a mold made from it years before her arms were amputated.