Synopses & Reviews
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.
Whats 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.
Review
"Every museum worth visiting is measured by its collections, because each of those specimens, objects, and artifacts has stories to tell. The best stories instruct, inform, and inspire us, and Haunting Museums brings together two dozen of the more remarkable ones. They show wonder and mystery running amuck in 'the place of Muses.'"--B. D. Patterson, MacArthur Curator of Mammals, Department of Zoology, Field Museum of Natural History
"John Schuster's collection of weird, wonderful, and true stories from museums all over the world is a must-read for anyone who (like me) is enraptured by the fascinating byways of history."--Michael Dobson, co-author of MacArthur's War and former staff member, Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum
Synopsis
Presenting behind-the-scenes stories, "Haunting Museums" covers such overlooked bits of museum history as curses, mistaken dinosaurs, conspiracy plots of the founding fathers, spectral evidence of the afterlife, and other unsettling matters.
About the Author
JOHN SCHUSTER is a scout and development editor for the Literary Group International. He divides his time between New York and California.