Courtesy of Poozeum
A Tyrannosaurus rex fossil with a coprolite underneath its rear is displayed towards the front of the Poozeum, a museum in Willaims, Ariz., dedicated to educating the public about fossilized feces. The Poozeum, which has been a traveling exhibit across the U.S. for several years, will open its first physical location on Saturday, May 18 at 8 a.m.
Saturday, May 18, 2024 | 2 a.m.
When George Frandsen stepped into a Moab, Utah, gift shop in the late 1990s on a visit during his college years, the then-teenager didn’t expect to leave with a piece of poop.
He had taken some paleontology classes in college and became familiar with fossilized “turds” — also known as coprolites — but didn’t realize what he was buying at the time and thought it was simply funny.
Ever since he was a child, Frandsen could remember loving fossils and dinosaurs, so for $20, he took the mystery coprolite back to his dorm in Price, Utah, showing it to people across campus.
And what initially started as a funny purchase exploded into a full-blown collection of coprolites that has led to Frandsen establishing the first Poozeum, a museum dedicated to fossilized feces education.
It opens today on Route 66 in Williams, Ariz., at 109 West Railroad Ave. Williams is about a three-hour drive from Las Vegas.
“It’s important that people learn about these fossils, so I’ve been doing that for the past several years,” Frandsen said of the Poozeum. “A couple years ago, I made the decision that there needs to be a permanent museum, there needs to be a place where people can go where it’s set up, (and) it’s incredible. There’s information; there’s interactive displays; and it’s truly my vision of how to bring coprolites to the world.”
Frandsen, 45, started the Poozeum online in 2014 as a virtual hub for all that’s related to fossilized feces. It became a database of academic papers, videos, news articles and “everything you could possibly want to know about fossilized poop.” He said people loved it, and as his collection began to grow, so too did his community of coprolite enthusiasts.
Many of his coprolites were procured from places like Morocco, the south coast of England and Wyoming. He also would frequent eBay to look for people selling the fossilized poop.
His website eventually branched out into a traveling exhibit, where Frandsen would take some of his coprolites and temporarily loan them for free to museums across the country that were looking to feature a more in-depth exhibit on fossilized feces.
Though many hear the word “poop” and are immediately disgusted, Frandsen explained that coprolites are crucial for figuring out the makeup and lifestyle of extinct creatures. By examining the droppings, scientists can discover the bones of prey that may reveal details about the predator’s life, such as the environment in which they could live, what their diet was, how the beasts may have hunted and more.
You can even determine a creature’s eating habits and digestive processes — all information that humans might not be able to gather from beings long gone.
With a new, permanent home in Williams, the traveling exhibit will end, Frandsen said, but his mission to educate people on the importance of coprolites will not.
Williams, which calls itself the “Gateway to the Grand Canyon,” lies along the old Route 66 and relies mainly on tourism for its economy, according to the city’s website. It boasts a range of attractions, from the Bearizona Wildlife Park to the Route 66 Museum and, as of today, the Poozeum.
“The City of Williams is our ‘little town with a big heart,’ ” said Mayor Don Dent on the city’s website. “If there’s one thing we know, it’s that everyone has a unique way to enjoy the city of Williams.”
While searching for a physical place to display his collection of fossilized dung, Frandsen and his wife came across Williams, and it was love at first sight. The town’s proximity to the Grand Canyon — which drew 4,733,705 million visitors in 2023, according to the National Parks Service — as well as the kind townspeople and various other attractions checked all the boxes for Frandsen.
Though they discovered Williams a few years back, Frandsen said it was difficult for them to find a place to rent due to the town’s prime location. But, earlier this year, “the most perfect space opened.”
Painted a deep black, the Poozeum’s facade is hard to miss. Frandsen approached the landlord immediately after finding the building, and although the curator was initially expecting rejection, he said the landlord “totally got” his work and “was incredible” to work with.
Frandsen and his wife made the move from Jacksonville, Fla., to Williams in March and he’s been working on the Poozeum every day since then in anticipation of the debut.
He’s also already had some help and interest from Willaims residents, he said. Some lucky people have even gotten to catch sneak peeks of the museum prior to its opening, according to posts on the Poozeum’s Facebook page.
At the end of April, Jennifer Lewis requested a tour and brought her family by the Poozeum during a trip to the Grand Canyon. Frandsen, in a Facebook post, said they were able to “witness the preparation chaos and talk about coprolites,” and alluded to the family returning once the museum was fully open.
“We had a great time learning about the wonders of Dino poo,” Lewis said in a Facebook comment. “I hope we get to come back some day to see the Poozeum fully open. Good luck with your new adventure!”
Frandsen described the Poozeum as a free experience with many interactive activities for families to enjoy, including vibrant carnival banners, a four-foot-wide titanosaur poop replica, authentic coprolites in glass cases, a gift shop with dinosaur-related goodies, dinosaur skeletons and “The Stinker” — a bronze statue of a Tyrannosaurus rex sitting on a toilet, inspired by sculptor Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker.”
The space has been 28 years in the making for Frandsen, whose collection has since exploded after he was crowned the Guinness World Record holder for the world’s largest collection of fossilized poop in 2016.
At the time, Frandsen had about 1,277 coprolites, but through his extensive network — many of whom have traded or donated their own fossilized feces — the curator has now amassed a collection of almost 9,000, he said.
Frandsen is hoping for large crowds — especially as the summer ramps up and more families make the trek to the Grand Canyon — and to deliver an experience that makes people want “to get off their phones for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, however long it takes them to go through it.”
Expansions aren’t on the curator’s mind, despite his world-record-holding collection of fossils. If he’s got people to share his passion with, that’s all he could want.
“That would be the greatest day for me is that this work, this lifelong passion I’ve had to educate people on coprolites through this collection, gets that kind of traction and people who can see it in person go back to wherever they’re from and share it with others,” Frandsen said. “I just want this to be the best museum it can be right now. If I’m able to accomplish that, then I feel that I’ve been successful.”
grace.darocha@gmg vegas.com / 702-948-7854 / @gracedarocha
