Visitors to downtown Athol may be pleasantly surprised to find a museum tucked into the retail storefronts on Main Street—but this isn’t your typical museum.
At the Education Earth Museum, you can learn about dinosaurs and native New England wildlife and meet some live reptiles, but you can also learn about aliens, the paranormal and cryptozoology, the study of creatures that may or may not exist, like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster.
“What we’re trying to do is promote different things upon this earth, whether they be real or not,” Storm Plains, the museum’s founder, said.
Plains has a bachelor’s degree in archaeology and a master’s degree in forensic psychology and is a former lecturer in paleontology.
However, she said she has long been interested in crime stories and things that can’t be proven, like cryptids.
“I’ve always liked things that are basically untraceable,” she said. “I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I need scientific proof. But it’s fun.”
The Gardner resident wanted to use that interest to engage the community, especially kids and teens, who are interested in exploring the imaginative possibilities that cryptozoology, UFOs, the paranormal, and real-life science offer.
She began working on the museum in February and has had help from a diverse group of volunteers getting it set up.
She said she has spent many weekends and countless eight- to 10-hour days in the Main Street space with her volunteer team, painting and building exhibits.
While some of the items currently on display came from Plains’ personal collection, the vast majority were donated from a variety of sources, she said.
When she put out a request for help, she received so many items that she couldn’t even fit them all in the museum at one time.
The back room is full of material for future rotating exhibits, she said.
“People come in to help and they say, ‘Where’s that thing I donated?’” she said. “I feel bad that I can’t use them yet.”
Current exhibits include Bigfoot, a reproduction from the science fiction film “Hangar 18,” the mummy of King Tut from ancient Egypt, the White Lady from Union Cemetery in Connecticut, an Allosaurus dinosaur, the Demogorgon from the TV show “Stranger Things,” antique taxidermy New England wildlife and a duplicate of the Annabelle doll from “The Conjuring” movie series, which was inspired by the story of Plains’ former neighbors and paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Each exhibit has a selfie-ready setup as well as posters with information, and museum volunteers will be ready to provide more explanations and answer questions.
They will also have live reptiles and bugs, including Plains’ 6-year-old snapping turtle Blut (German for “blood”) and a red knee tarantula named Enoch, and host lectures and presentations. In the future, they hope to offer virtual presentations as well.
Plains said her volunteers, many of whom are teens coming from local organizations that help people with disabilities and substance use disorders, have largely guided her on what to include in the museum.
While she is an expert on dinosaurs, she said her helpers often know more than she does about the other topics.
“I want kids to be involved in something positive because there’s really not that much available,” she said.
She hopes the museum can become a community space where anyone who wants to can come give a lecture, record a podcast, volunteer to teach others, put up their own display, or just have fun.
“It’s not something to make money. It’s to involve the community. There’s not a lot of places that do it all like this,” she said. “If it’s just something for your resume, you want to work with reptiles or you just like Bigfoot, we want everyone.”
The Education Earth Museum will officially open on Sunday, May 12 at 475 Main St., Athol. Admission is $5, but if you wear a costume on opening day you will receive a discount. Annual memberships are $35 with discounts for students, families, and people receiving certain public assistance benefits and free memberships for veterans.
If you are interested in a membership but cannot afford it, contact the museum.
The museum is seeking volunteers, lecturers and presenters to get involved.
Visit educationearthmuseum.com for more information.
