Museum Month: Cockroach Hall Of Fame & Museum, Plano, Texas


We’ve covered some pretty weird museums this month here on Gadling. One that may take the prize for the weirdest is the Cockroach Hall Of Fame & Museum in Plano, Texas.

Museum curator and professional exterminator Michael Bohdan opened the museum so he could educate people about a bug that’s got a serious knack for survival. As Bohdan points out, cockroaches have been around more than 350 million years and survived a lot of Earth’s upheavals that have killed off lesser species, so we might be able to learn something from them.

Wearing his roach-lined fedora, Bohdan takes visitors around the displays, showing off little dressed up bugs such as Marilyn Monroach and Ross Peroach. There’s even a Liberoachie that plays the piano. More serious displays tell about roach biology and the amazing ways they’ve adapted to a wide range of habitats.

For more strange educational experiences, check out more of our articles on weird museums!

Texans denied entry into Ireland

This story is an example of a traveler’s nightmare as well as what it’s like to win the lottery–an is the glass half empty or half full sort of tale.

Three strapping young men, high school graduates from Plano, Texas landed in Dublin, Ireland ready to embark on a back-packing trip around Europe. They were eager. Excited. If you’ve done a similar trip, you know the feeling. Then they were asked two magic questions by immigration that they didn’t know the answer to.

“Where are you staying?” and “How much money do you have?” They needed a bank statement to prove they were solvent. They came up with goose eggs on both accounts.

They didn’t have a place to stay yet, therefore, no address. Evidently, they didn’t have proof of enough funds either so there they were. Instead of following where their adventurous selves felt like going, they were sent back to New York City.

Hearing of their plight, and that shame had befallen Ireland that prides itself on being friendly, an upscale hotel group d4hotels.ie has offered the trio an all expenses paid trip back to Ireland. They’ve also been offered free cell phone service for a week and probably free pints of Guinness.

The three have accepted the offer, but feel nervous about the black mark on their passports. Hopefully, their best dreams are coming true and that Plano will be left behind for awhile. Let’s see if any other countries want to show how friendly they are.