When a hoax becomes history

I don’t know how many museums this week are honoring one of their town’s most notorious hoaxes, but it’s at least one.

The Eureka Springs Historical Museum’s latest exhibit features “the Eureka baby.”

This one came at a good time for me. I’ve finished 54 out of 60 chapters of my upcoming book, Welcome to Eureka Springs: The I-Sh*t-You-Not History of America’s Quirkiest Town, but I’ve been revisiting a few I felt lacked a little oomph. My chapter on the Eureka baby was one of those.

In 1880, a well digger in Eureka Springs discovered what appeared to be the fossilized body of a small child four feet down. A group of hucksters exhibited “the Eureka baby” across the country – for the low price of a ticket. Of course, it was a hoax, but that was not revealed until much later.

Thanks to original research by museum director Jeff Danos and his staff, I can now include some great quotes from newspapers of the time. I can also mention the current exhibit itself, with its whimsical interpretations of the Eureka baby by local artists.

You can find out more about the Eureka baby’s story and see the Elvis-themed, Egyptianized, and electrified replicas through July 29 at the Eureka Springs Historical Museum at 95 S. Main St. in Eureka Springs.