Flames tore through one of several buildings on the property of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum in Felton Sunday night but spared the famed museum building.
Felton Fire officials said the fire broke out around 10pm and destroyed a small cabin situated between the museum, that houses scads of Bigfoot information and several large carved bigfoot statues, and a tall wood barn.
On Monday afternoon Howard Rugg, whose brother, Micahel, owns the museum, was on hand with fire officials digging through the charred ruins.
“The main thing is, no one was hurt — thank goodness,” he said. “Right now, they don’t know what caused the fire. I got a call around 11 last night about the fire. But I don’t like to drive at night — I’m only about two miles down the road. So I came out today. But right now, it looks like the museum was spared.
He added that the Bigfoot museum has been on the market for a while that it recently sold and was in escrow.
“My father bought this property back in 1961,” Rugg said. “My brother and I moved into the building in 1963. We were a major dulcimer maker in this area for decades. We made over 2,000 of the instruments.” He added that they ran a music store where the museum is now called Capritaurus. Rugg said he still continues to make dulcimers in the two-story barn that stands beside the museum, its walls emblazoned with colorful bigfoot murals.
Built in 1949, the 3,398-square-foot lot includes two buildings and the shed that burned. Currently, there’s a bigfoot in the shed, and Rugg lives in the other building behind the museum. The museum opened in 2004 and its exhibits became a destination for fans of Sasquatch — or Bigfoot — pop culture and sci-fi enthusiasts.
Michael Rugg’s decision to sell the museum last year created a stir with some locals, some of which raised money through a GoFundMe campaign to keep it open during the Covid-19 pandemic.
