This sounds like a joke, but it’s not — a free museum along Route 66 in Williams, Arizona, is dedicated to coprolites, or fossilized poop.
It’s called the Poozeum, at 109 W. Railroad Ave. (aka Route 66), which claims it’s “No. 1 for fossilized No. 2.”
(It sounds like a marketing opportunity for the Uranus Fudge Factory, but I digress.)
The Associated Press had the poop (pun intended) about the museum. It’s the brainchild of dinosaur enthusiast George Frandsen, who bought his first chunk of fossilized feces from a shop in Moab, Utah, when he was 18.
“It was funny. It was gross,” he told the AP. “But I learned very quickly it could tell us so much about our prehistoric past and how important they are to the fossil record.”
More about the museum:
A highlight of Frandsen’s collection is a specimen that holds a Guinness World Record for being the largest coprolite left by a carnivorous animal. Measuring more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) long and over 6 inches (15 centimeters) wide, Frandsen said it’s believed to be from a T. rex, given where it was found on a private ranch in South Dakota in 2019.
Frandsen also holds the record for the largest certified coprolite collection of 1,277 pieces, earned in 2015 when it was verified at the South Florida Museum in Bradenton, Florida.
His collection now stands at about 8,000 specimens. He doesn’t have the room to display it all in the museum in Williams and features some online.
In case you’re wondering, fossilized poop won’t raise the ire of health inspectors. The smell and bacteria vanished millions of years ago.
Here’s an AP video of Frandsen and his museum:
The Arizona Republic, which posted one of the first stories about the museum, reported it opened in Williams in mid-May.
As you might imagine, a museum about poop creates a lot of merchandizing opportunities.
The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday.
(Image of the Poozeum logo)