Love Sex Marriage Family

Located in the bump at the top of Kentucky just south of (just 5 miles south of Cincinnati) is the little community of 8000, Fort Mitchell. In this little town is the Vent Haven: Ventriloquist Museum. This unusual stop, for those vacationing in the area, will have you recalling memories from when you were a youth and watching the gifted ventriloquists bring you from the current world into the usual times funny world of the “dummy”.
Vent Haven is different in the museum world. It is the solitary one dedicated to the art of ventriloquism. It was started by William Shakespeare Berger in 1894 when he was just 16 years old. When he died the collection had grown to a huge size and now has over 700 figures along with thousands of photographs and playbills, and a library of books.

Vent Haven (“vent” is slang for “ventriloquist”) isn’t a sizable building jammed with dolls in glass cases for you to stare at and read the individual placards. It is in a private home with many small outbuildings also home to part of the collections and the fables they can tell. If you want to know anything related to the skill of ventriloquism you can probably find the answer from Lisa Sweasy, the curator. She has more facts and history available to her than you will most likely ever have a need, or desire, to know.

There are a few that visit ventriloquist the museum who are terrified of the dummies…seriously…they believe they are being stared at by the dummies. Yes, the eyes are gazing forward (in most cases) but seriously, it’s not human, it’s a dummy. Rest knowlingly that it isn’t focusing special attention to you, it looks the same way at everyone that goes tours the museum..yes, everyone.

There are rooms filled with the speechless dummies in seperate habitates, along the walls, seated on chairs and then of course there are the heads on the shelves that are not attached to a body. Maybe the body has been lost or some other occurance arose and so all that was remaining was the head. The museum values these too, they all have a history and a story to tell.

The facial features of the dummy were dramatic to show the features to everyone in the theater, even those in the back seats. If you have ever seen a show with a ventriloquist you know that they are use their ability to take you out of the everyday and into the world of illusion with their humor and stories. Dummies don’t do well on TV or in videos since the features are so exaggerated, they are actually quite haunting in those situations. Just remember the movie “Magic” and you will understand. How many of you have seen the movie “Chuckie”? Now how would you like to sit for some time with that dummy? There were even dolls made to look like Chuckie for a time. The curator of the museum, Lisa, believes that these movies frightened the minds of a whole generation of people to the thrill of ventriloquism.

There are famous dummies, not so famous dummies and those that no one but the owener probably remembers at all. But each one has a history that may be of interest to you. Each one has a story to tell if you want to delve into it.

Why are people afraid of the dolls? They are just dolls that have given people happiness for years. If you remember Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney or Waylon Flowers and Madam you have seen some of the classics in the world of ventriloquists. If you don’t remember them you should spend a little time researaching in the achieves of TV history and you will be able to find a clip showing how they “acutally seem alive.”

The museum doesn’t get their dummies from acutal living bond to the dolls that they won’t let them go. Their children often times honor those feelings by holding on to the dolls too but, lucky for the museum and the rest of us, the grandchildren regularly donate the dolls where they know they will be cared for and honored.

Most of the ventriloquists created their own heads. They appear so real from a distance that it’s hard to tell if they are real or a doll. It’s easy to see how the ventriloquist got so attached to their dolls that they held on to them even after their years in the theater came to and end.

You need to call ahead for reservations to visit the museum since they aren’t open without an appointment. Groups of less than 15 needs to request tours at least three days in advance. Larger groups need to allow two weeks.

Hours: May 1 – September 30 (by appointment)

Admission: Please leave a donation, a $5 is requested (strongly suggested but more is welcome.)

Length of tour: Between 45 and 90 minutes.

Phone: (859) 341-0461

Location: 33 West Maple Ave.
Fort Mitchell, Kentucky

Directions: Just off I-71/75 exit 188. US 127/42/25 north a half-block, then left onto West Maple Ave., a dead-end street. Museum is on the left.

Share This

Tags: Kentucky, outdoors, recreation, travel