Admiral Peary or Bigfoot?

Cresson, Pennsylvania

Admiral Robert Edwin Peary was the most famous human on earth when he became the first man to reach the North Pole in 1909 (although maybe he wasn't). The Arctic explorer became an American hero, and in 1937 a statue of Peary with a smiling sled dog at his side was erected here, across the highway from his birthplace. It was a popular attraction back then -- listed in all of the travel guidebooks -- but it doesn't get much attention nowadays.

Blue with age, the bronze admiral with a big mustache stands wrapped head-to-toe in furs. Although no one could have foreseen this in 1937, today Peary looks a lot like a big blue Bigfoot.