By Tim Binnall
A Florida branch of the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum franchise has unveiled a fantastic new immersive exhibition devoted to cryptids. Opened to the public earlier this month in St. Augustine, the comprehensive showcase of curious creatures reportedly features a room where one can be surrounded by the spooky Sierra Sounds, which many believe to be audio recordings of Sasquatch, a proverbial rogues' gallery of talking cryptid portraits, display cases containing the various tools used by Bigfoot hunters, and a room dedicated to 'hoaxes and cons,' like the fur-bearing trout and the Fiji Mermaid.
Additional aspects of the exhibition include a presentation on unusual animals once considered apocryphal that turned out to be real, like the platypus and the okapi. The centerpiece of the new attraction is an interactive animatronic Sasquatch, dubbed 'Bigfoot Bob,' that can chat with visitors about cryptozoology. Calling the exhibition a "labor of love," Ripley's St. Augustine general manager Kim Kiff indicated that the museum intends for the sizeable showcase to be a fixture at the location, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary and was the first of the company's many 'Odditoriums' that have since sprung up around the world.