Woolly Mammoth Chicago Antiques & Oddities

I NEED TO MAKE SPACE!
This thing is awesome, and it could be yours! She’s a bobcat and is about 100 years old. She represents an outdated process of form building for taxidermy. The cat’s skeleton was articulated, then her muscles were sculpted with clay. A plaster mold would have been the next step. After the plaster, a rosin paper form would have been cast, then taxidermied. As far as I understand, this process rarely happens anymore. Instead, many contemporary molds are made directly from a frozen carcass. (I actually don’t know her s*x, I just always referred to her as she)
FIRST $650 TAKES HER!
(I really really really don’t want to ship her)

This is what it takes to fill up my van.
(Get it?)
(It’s an arm and a leg)
(…cuz it’s expensive)
(…)

Beaver?! I hardly know her!

This is a true story that happened the first summer we were open. It’s funny too, because this wasn’t even the only crazy thing the lady did that day.
I think about her often.

Holy Crap! This looks like a total pain in the ass!

A crew from just filmed a little segment in Woolly Mammoth for an ad campaign. This Sasquatch figure was a prop for their schtick, and it should be going live in about 10 days.
…and just when I thought I was sure I’d never be complicit in the sale of dehydrated meat snacks…smh…

DWARF HEAD!
The dwarf head is on the right, that’s my non-dwarf head on the left for comparison.
The head was originally made for The Great Dime Museum in Brooklyn, NY, circa 1890.

💔

To me, happiness is when I see someone primping themselves in the mirror in our glory hole.
(It happens kind of a lot)

The Trifecta.

Our guest good-girl Starbuck is filling in for Melvin and Phil today! She’s patiently waiting for you to give her a treat anytime from 12-5!

Yikes! I took the trash out and an Alley-gator almost got me!
(Actually, I’m not 100% it was an alley-gator, if it’s still there after a while, then I guess it’s probably a crocodile…)

Assassinated President William McKinley dressed in a Masonic apron, decorated with an all-seeing eye, with his hand resting next to the Square and Compass. McKinley was shot at close range by Leon Czolgosz shortly after Czolgosz heard a speech by Emma Goldman in Cleveland in 1901. Czolgosz believed the murder would further the anarchist movement. McKinley died on 9/14/1901. This lithograph was made that same year in Chicago. Considering the timeline, my hunch is this is a Masonic memorial piece for the fallen president. He had been a Freemason since 1865.
The glass over the print was being jerk, so it was hard to get a non—reflective pic.

One extra-large sheep skull please!…leave the skin on, hold the mayo, and make it extra Satan-y!

Here’s a fun snippet of a convo I overheard…

CASSOWARY BONE DAGGER
…are made by indigenous tribes in Papua New Guinea. The daggers are crafted from the leg bones of the large, flightless and dangerous cassowary bird. Cassowaries were believed to possess supernatural strength which could be channeled through the dagger during battle. Historically, warriors would use the daggers in close combat as recently as the 1970’s. They are more of a ceremonial item today.
A friend of ours acquired this one while visiting Papua New Guinea around 1980.

Hey Gang! Yer ole pal Duckulum here!..quack quack…just a bills up, Woolly Mammoth will be closed Thursday, July 4th…we will be busy setting off loads of fireQUACKERS! QUACK QUACK QUACK!

I’m looking forward to the Pride Parade today to celebrate my bi-son.

(I’ve been recycling this post for the for like 4 years now, and I have no intention of stopping)

Nailed it.

This spotlight came out of Chicago’s oldest gay bathhouse Man’s Country! Think of all the genitalia this bad-boy illuminated before they closed in 2018…First $200 takes it. Own a piece of Chicago history!
(I really really don’t want to ship it)

The Marabou Stork, aka The Undertaker stork or the Grim Reaper stork is one of my all time favorite creatures. Just so you don’t think I’m lying, the last pic is a tattoo of one I have on my shoulders.
I like them for symbolic reasons. Storks are known to be the bringer of life. They deliver babies in little bundles to new parents. So, it follows that an Undertaker stork takes life. I like the cyclical symbolism of life and death embodied in one organism.
They are a large bird, reaching heights of 5’, and frequently scavenge for food like a vulture. But they are also opportunistic, and will eat almost any critter it can swallow. They get their nickname “undertaker” because of their hunched shoulders and back resemblance to a black cloak, and for their penchant to devour carrion.

Vintage match books from gay clubs, mostly in Chicago, but also Milwaukee, Houston, and a couple from the west coast. The perfect matches to lite all your Pride fires!

Open daily 12-5pm!

This is one of very few (if any other?) burial sites for a fictitious character in the world.
It’s hard to see it, but the headstone reads:
Paul Bunyan
Born- 1794
Died- 1893
Here lies Paul, and that’s all

The stone is at the end of 20’-ish grass mound, where Paul is presumably buried.
It’s kind of weird too because there a playground/jungle gym thing directly next to it. I imagine hundreds and hundreds of kids have played on top of this giant grave.

I have always loved folklore, fairy tales, myths, and folk horror, and I even specifically went down a Paul Bunyan rabbit hole a few years ago (during Covid) to try to figure out if the giant woodsman was based on an actual person. I don’t remember having much luck, but there was a few mentions of a French trapper or something that may have been the genesis for the myth.
Coincidentally, I wrote a little story just for fun during this time about Paul Bunyan. In my story, Paul was dead, and also buried in mound just like this! Crazy?! But my mound was on top of a hill in the woods, and trees grew around the mound to try to contain the Bunyan ghost who would rise and cause mischief in the night. Also, my Paul was actually a giant indigenous guy, and his axe was actually a tomahawk.
Anyway, here lies Paul and that is all.

After work beers with the boys !

Prohibition was wild.
Here’s a photo of a guy in a fedora (presumably an authority?) smashing a still in front of a truck filled with other smashed stills and booze making materials.

We rescue animals dead (taxidermy) or alive! This morning we were able to save a litter of kitties that were abandoned in a ditch alongside a road!