The town of Wedowee is a special place. It's small and quaint, but there are a few attractions that bring people in from all over.
For New Year's Eve, people flock to Wedowee for the annual fish drop, and in the Spring, they come to enjoy the Frog Level Music Festival. Of course, there is Lake Wedowee, one of the best fishing lakes in the Southeast.
However, some may not realize that something else is attracting people to town—the Lake Wedowee Bigfoot Museum. The museum is inside the Lake Wedowee Antique & Treasure Mall, located just a mile and a half outside of downtown Wedowee.
The one-room museum is full of national and Alabama artifacts, such as hair samples and castings. There are also Bigfoot-themed T-shirts, keychains and gifts available. The museum features stories from local people who claim to have seen Bigfoot.
Museum owner Chuck Hand said he isn't even sure Bigfoot is real, but to each his own.
"I've never hands-on seen anything," Hand told 1819 News. "But I get people that come in here that are locals and they have and you can tell they're really not lying. They have seen something. They tell their stories and you know by looking and listening to them, they are very serious."
In Alabama, Bigfoot is known as "The Alabama White Thang." While legend has it he has white fur, the museum has fur samples with various colors.
There is a section dedicated to Sasquatch and another detailing Bigfoot sightings from other parts of North America.
Hand said he has had groups come from other states to get a glimpse into the world of Bigfoot.
"We have had people come from Arkansas and like Bigfoot clubs and stuff," Hand explained. "Their theory is he's more dimensional. He travels through different dimensions."
The museum adds to the many wonderful things Wedowee has to offer.
The museum will soon add "Sounds of Bigfoot," where people can put on headphones to hear how Bigfoot sounds.
But wait! There's more.
Hand's next project will be a Pyrex museum. He is already working on that collection.
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