Believe it or not, Sasquatch exhibit stomps into Lacey Museum for summer

A new exhibit is coming to the Lacey Museum this week, determined to leave its footprint on visitors.

Sasquatch Revealed, a traveling exhibit that organizers say features the largest collection of Sasquatch-related artifacts and artwork ever assembled, opens Friday with an extended day of Bigfoot-oriented speakers, guided tours, and a Sasquatch mask-making activity.

The exhibit comes to Lacey courtesy of Christopher Murphy, a Canadian hominid expert. Murphy was first inspired by Sasquatch in 1993 when his son decided to do a school project on the famous creature. Murphy then began collecting footprint casts and speaking with experts in the hominid field. He has since become an expert himself, having written several books on Sasquatch, and he continues to petition for more support from the scientific community.

“We have enough evidence now on the Sasquatch to get scientists to put some resources into this,” Murphy said. “There are about 6,000 reports on file of people seeing Sasquatch.”

The Sasquatch Revealed exhibit was born in 2004 in Vancouver, B.C., after Murphy had spent more than 10 years collecting and researching artifacts. Since then, the exhibit has traveled throughout the United States and Canada and new artifacts have continued to be added. The Lacey Museum will be the exhibit’s ninth stop.

Marisa Merkel, Lacey Museum educator and assistant, said the museum acquired the exhibit by chance. In an effort to boost attendance and further education outreach, she and the museum’s curator, Erin Quinn Valcho, were actively looking for exhibits that would be free of charge and exciting for the community. When another museum’s curator told Quinn Valcho about the exhibit, Merkel was convinced.

“I have been a huge fan of Sasquatch for a long time, so when (Valcho) told me about the exhibit, I think she knew she would have a hard time getting me off the subject,” Merkel said.

The museum strives to highlight local history, culture and folklore through exhibits and artifacts. While Sasquatch Revealed has traveled all across the continent, Merkel said there is something special about it coming to Lacey.

“Sasquatch has been a part of our folklore for thousands of years as evident in some of the oral histories of our Native Americans, so this really spurs a discussion on one of the most popular and endemic phenomena in this area,” Merkel said.

The exhibit will remain in Lacey the whole summer, but opening day is meant to enhance the Sasquatch experience. On Friday, there will be a speaker series of five Sasquatch researchers held at Lacey City Hall in the council chambers beginning at 11 a.m., and Murphy himself is scheduled to close out the event.

The speakers will discuss everything from Sasquatch depictions in art to the sounds of Sasquatch. Speakers include David Hancock, Gene Baade, Ron Morehead, Paul Graves and Thomas Steenburg.

In addition to the main exhibit housed at the museum, there will be additional displays at Lacey City Hall, including a 9-foot iron skeleton and a display on the larger Sasquatch family. The museum also will be open all day and will host family-friendly activities and Sasquatch-themed arts and crafts.

Merkel said the exhibit is not meant to debate the creature’s existence, but instead, to discuss the phenomenon of Sasquatch as it has permeated popular culture. Sasquatch experts and novices will find something in the collection to pique their interest, according to Merkel.

“The goal is to discuss the phenomena as we know it, all the way from scientific footprint casts down to postage stamps and bumper stickers,” Merkel said.

The exhibit runs through Aug. 31 after which it will head to the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

This story was originally published May 29, 2019 at 2:52 PM.