Haunting Museums

Book excerpt: The spectacularly successful move A Night at the Museum was a fantastic look at the off-hours wonders of the American Museum of Natural History. However, some of the real behind-the-scenes stories are more fantastic than anything a screenwriter could dream up. Haunting Museums covers these overlooked bits of history including curses, mistaken dinosaurs, conspiracy plots of the founding fathers, spectral evidence of the afterlife, and other unsettling matters on full display. Contents include: The Carnegie Sauropods, Or Bring Me the Head of Apatosaurus Louisae – the story of a dinosaur on display for close to a half a century with the wrong head. What's on that Broad Stripe with Those Bright Stars? – the quizzical mark on the flag that is known as the Star Spangled banner. The 1897 Living Eskimo Exhibit – where living people were put on display and turned over to the taxidermist for "preservation" after they died Man-eaters at the Museum: The Lions That Stopped a Railroad – the story of the Maneless lions made legendary by the movie the Ghost in the Darkness So Where is Amelia Earhart? – the exhibit at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum of the most famous missing aviatrix of all time. Along with many other entertaining and fantastic stories.