Marsh's Free Museum - Long Beach, Washington

Jake the Alligator Man is an alleged half-man, half-

alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

creature on display in apparently

mummified A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furt ...

condition at Marsh's Free Museum, a

tourist trap A tourist trap is an establishment (or group of establishments) that has been created or re-purposed with the aim of attracting tourists and their money. Tourist traps will typically provide overpriced services, entertainment, food, souveni ...

located at 409 South Pacific Avenue in

Long Beach, Washington Long Beach is a city in Pacific County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,392 at the 2010 census. History Long Beach began when Henry Harrison Tinker bought a land claim from Charles E. Reed in 1880. He platted the town and calle ...

. He was acquired by the museum for $750 in 1967 from an

antique store An antique shop (or antiques shop) is a retail store specializing in the selling of antiques. Antiques shops can be located either locally or, with the advent of the Internet, found online. An antiques shop can also be located within an anti ...

. A postcard image was used by the ''

Weekly World News The ''Weekly World News'' was a tabloid which published mostly fictional "news" stories in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news th ...

'' on November 9, 1993 for the front-page article "Half-human, half-alligator discovered in Florida swamp". Jake has acquired a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

in Northwestern

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

. His 75th birthday party is held annually in early August on the

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

, and features events such as a

bachelor party A bachelor party (in the United States and sometimes in Canada), also known as a stag weekend, stag do or stag party (in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth countries, and Ireland), or a buck's night (in Australia), is a party held/arranged by th ...

, car show, bridal contest, and live music.

References

External links

Official site
1993 hoaxes Hoaxes in the United States Washington (state) culture Pacific County, Washington {{culture-stub

See also

References

External links