In the picture below, Will, Uncle Jack, and Holly steal a Sleestak statue ("Land of the Lost" episode "Ancient Guardian") It's not good to steal a Sleestak statue, just like it is not good to check out a skull from the Library of Skulls without permisison. Perhaps this statue did get stolen by someone in the end: no sign of this prop has been seen since the cancellation of "Land of the Lost". Perhaps it stands in someone's back yard next to a bird bath, keeping the local garden gnomes cowering in terror.
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| Sleestak statue |
I found this a vintage brochure of the Prehistoric Forest, billed as "Southern Michigan's Dinosaur Land' on Saturday. This place in the Irish Hills is no longer lost. But the place would count as Michigan's own "Land of the Lost". This tourist attraction and was open from 1963 to 1999. At last check, it was for sale for half a million dollars. Would you like to buy a piece of Midwestern reverting forest filled with dinosaurs? Well you may have a chance.
You can read more about it at io9.
Both sides of a the large brochure are shown below:
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| Michigan Prehistoric Forest dinosaur park brochure |
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| Michigan Prehistoric Forest dinosaur park brochure |
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| Grumpy the T-Rex looking for prey |
To the right is a photo by Vince Verna. One can imagine Will and Holly Marshall have just narrowly escaped crushing death in the jaws of Grumpy the T-Rex. They hide inside the High Bluff cave, watching the angry dinosaur pacing back and forth outside.
And yes, there are postcards of this, including this fine 1960s-era postcard view of the Tricerotops at the Prehistoric Forest (below right). The Tricerotops in the Land of the Lost was named Spike
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| Postcard of "Prehistoric Forest" dinosaur park tricerotops |
12 comments:
Funny, as soon as I saw the Sleestak statue, I thought it would be fun to put one in the garden. Too funny!
I do enjoy things like your dinosaur forest. We have something similar out this way too. As a kid my parents would never stop to see it. So as a young adult, I made a point to visit. Of course back then the world thought that all dinosaurs were gray or gator green, not like the bright colors they put on them now. And they had only big dinosaurs. No small raptors or little curiosities. I'd buy the old park if I could!
Some enterprising filmmaker should lease the place for a shoot. It has endless possibilities. Wonder if we could get the volcano working again . . .
Silly: I bet if someone made them and sold them along with the lawn gnomes, the birdbaths, and the chromatic colored crystal ball things on stands, someone might buy them.
Seems there is or was another Prehistoric Forest in Ohio, probably not a huge distance from the Michigan one.
I've seen one yellow brontosaur, more to the north in Michigan. click here. "Laughing at the Slut" has seen this dinosaur park in Texas.
Gerry: It could be interesting. Someone imaginative could come up with a concept. Imagine something like a "Jurassic Park", but taking place after the time of the movie... a time in which just about any roadside tourist-trap huckster has the ability to clone up a few dinosaurs to charge tourists.
That Vince Verna photo does it for me.
PJ: And with global warming, one might expect the dinosaurs of southern Michigan to range further to the north now.
And here is a good link to other photos by Vince Verna.
Hmm, I'm not sure if I could resist stealing a sleestak statue. That is a huge temptation and I can't fault anyone for attempting it.
Staknapper!
Thunderbeast Park - Closed, Chiloquin, Oregon
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2193
This was the one I went to see, though the pictures in the article show a happier picture when the dinosaurs were given a new paint job.
That yellow dino is bright alright!
They seem to be everywhere. There is another one in Port Orford, Oregon too. Though I have never been to one.
I'd buy a Sleestak for my garden. I would!
dmarks, you would enjoy Dawn King's blog post today. It's at http://dawnking.interspike.com/?p=13734
One of the musical pieces she discusses is intended to have comic book qualities. Check it out.
PJ: That is very interesting. A year or two ago I heard a feature on NPR about this Metropolis music; I hope to hear the entire piece some day.
You yourself are familiar with well-regarded Superman-inspired works, of course, with "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" largely inspired by the men who created "Superman".
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