Land creatures. United States

A museum in Indiana is trying to get to the bottom of a strange mystery that appeared on their doorstep in the form of a bizarre figurine that they have dubbed the 'Richmond Rat Boy.' Showcasing the oddity on social media earlier this week, the Wayne County Historical Museum in the community of Richmond explained that they discovered the peculiar piece on Monday morning in a wooden box addressed to the site and delivered to their back gate. The creepy figurine (seen in more detail below) resembles some kind of cryptid, with a creature's head atop a small humanoid body stretched out inside the container, which is marked 'fragile.'

The museum indicated that the individual who donated the very weird object did not identify themselves, but did leave a note which provides a some insight into the curious doll's origin story. According to the donor, the piece once belonged to their "great-grandfather's friend who worked for one of the circuses that frequented this area, most likely in the 1910s-30s." Although not explicitly stated in the note, one imagines that the 'Richmond Rat Boy' may have been passed off as the remains of some kind of 'monstrous creature' akin to the infamous Fiji Mermaid. To that end, the museum revealed that the 'rat boy' is not really a creature at all and, in fact, appears to have been crafted using "plaster of Paris and clay over an armature."

The body of the 'beast,' they said, is "decorated not only with paint, but also animal claws and animal hair" to add a laudable touch of realism to the figurine. While modern day pictures of the 'monster' may make it hard to fathom how one might believe it was real, it's not all that difficult to believe that unwitting circus patrons observing it from a distance a century ago could walk away thinking that they had just gazed upon the remains of some exotic creature. Planning to add it to their collection of "strange things," the museum expressed hope that the donor might come forward with additional information on the piece or that perhaps a member of the public could shed more light on the doll's undoubtedly unique tale.

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Museum owners have been left calling for help after a mysterious box arrived, containing something that looked like a 'rat-human hybrid'.

The strange package greeted staff at Wayne County Historical Museum in the US city of Richmond, Indiana, when they arrived for work on Monday.

Inside was something resembling a mummy with a rat-like head, a humanoid body, and pointy teeth and claws, accompanied by a note.

The note said it was the “Richmond Rat Boy”, and that it was found long ago in the basement of a local hospital, and that it once belonged to a circus worker-friend of the donor’s late grandfather.

Collections manager Kerry George said: “My co-worker brought it inside for me to open. We joked that it was probably a severed head – we all watch way too many horror movies.

“I read the note written on the box, thankful that I had at least some information about the contents, put on some nitrile gloves – because you never know – and opened it.

“It had some old newspapers as padding, dated 2019.

“Rat Boy's head was the first thing I saw and I initially thought it was a piece of terrible taxidermy. When I pulled out the rest of the newspaper, there he was in all his glory.”

Museum staff think the artefact is probably a “gaff” – a cryptid that was fabricated as a sideshow attraction, like the so-called Fiji Mermaid once exhibited by P.T. Barnum.

Another such “mermaid” was recently analysed by Japanese scientists and found to be made from cloth, paper, cotton, fish skin and animal hair.

Similarly, the museum thinks Rat Boy was probably made from plaster of Paris and clay, moulded over an armature frame, and decorated with animal claws and hair.

Staff believe the artifact is fake, made to be used in circuses ( 

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It’s thought to have originated in the circuses that frequented the area from the 1910s to the 1930s.

Kerry said: “You'll see in the note the story that Rat Boy was supposedly ‘found in the basement of some hospital’.

“Who knows what kind of weird experiments were carried out on some poor patient that turned him into a rat?!

“This is the first gaff any of us have come across.”

But the real mystery is the identity of the donor, without which the item can’t officially enter the museum’s collection.

The package was addressed to the museum and left at its back gate, but the donor didn’t leave their name or contact details, and it wasn’t officially signed over.

Now they are asking for the donor to come forward.

Kerry said: “I think the best explanation is that someone was cleaning out grandpa's house and didn't have any use for Rat Boy, but wanted to make sure he was taken care of.