Stupid Dino Tricks A Visit to Kent Hovinds Dinosaur Adventure Land

Young-earth creationist Kent Hovind has built a dinosaur-filled theme park in the panhandle and claims to prove that is bunk. A visit there shows that it is definitely a fantasy land.

GREG MARTINEZ

ld Palafox Street is an aging, two-lane stretch of road running through the middle of Pensacola, OFlorida. To the east of Old Palafox, the next major road is Interstate 110 and in between those thoroughfares rests the sprawling campus of Pensacola Christian , quickly followed by the even more sprawling campus of Pensacola Christian College. Both campuses are crammed with spotlessly maintained buildings and grounds. They stand out starkly amid the visible economic decline that sur- rounds them. The area is littered with empty, boarded-up buildings and abandoned strip malls. Less than a mile north of the Academy on Old Palafox is a Christian educational center aimed at an even younger set

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER November/December 2004 47 of pupils. Bracketed by auto-repair for-tat between Hovind and his accuser can businesses and across the street from a be found at www.geocities.com/ken- pawn shop, Dinosaur Adventure Land thovind.) More significantly, the Internal beckons all comers with a billboard- Revenue Service raided Hovind's home and sized street sign that includes a fierce office in April 2004, confiscating financial cartoon dinosaur and announces, documents related to the ministry and the "Evolution: What a Dumb Idea!" The park since January 1997. The IRS is charg- park's slogan is: "Where dinosaurs and ing that Hovind is evading taxes on more the meet!" Built in 2001 by Kent than $1 million in annual income and does Hovind, a former public-school science not have a business license nor tax-exempt teacher and founder of his own min- status for his ministry and the park istry, Evangelism, the (Norman 2004). park boasts having hosted over 38,000 Dinosaur Adventure Land (DAL) and guests (Goodnough 2004). (This num- Hovind's home and ministry compound ber may seem small compared to atten- reside on approximately two acres. The dance rates at other Florida theme entrance to DAL is off a road dominated by parks like Walt Disney World and industrial parks, car dealerships, closed Universal Studios, but it is also small in businesses, and convenience stores. The actual numbers. This averages out to rear entrance, which leads to Hovind's approximately two hundred and forty home and the buildings for his Creation guests a week, or less than fifty a day.) Science Evangelism (CSE) ministry, are off The building of this rather small a pleasant and quiet residential road lined park has created a "tempest in a teapot" with modest single-family homes. One kind of controversy with local govern- could walk from the entrance of the park ment. Essentially, Hovind converted ADVENTURE IS (with a gate that very much recalls the the backyard of his home at 29 WAITING FOR YOU! memorable entrance in the film Jurassic Cummings Road into a theme park, Park) to the entrance of Hovind's ministry improvising an entrance off Palafox in about thirty seconds. The effect really is and refusing to file the proper zoning- like being in someone's big backyard, permit requests with Escambia County. Hovind was charged stuffed full of children's games and playground equipment... on September 13, 2002, for failure to observe county and lots of fiberglass dinosaurs. (A pamphlet in the zoning regulations, but through many legal ^^^ bookstore explains that the park is available for maneuvers (multiple requests to have children's birthday parties.) judges recuse themselves, switching It is notable that the "Suggested lawyers and eventually requesting a Donation $7.00" mentioned on the public defender, and various stays ground-level entrance sign becomes requested, once for failing to a required admission fee by the appear), the case is approaching time one enters the attraction. its two-year anniversary in the The park is centralized around court system with no conclusion the three-story main building imminent. The charge is a sec- that houses the admission ond-degree misdemeanor result- office/bookstore, "Hands-on ing from refusing to pay a $50 Science Center," and park offices. permitting fee. The bookstore is small but has a This is not Hovind's only scrape wide-ranging selection of books, with the law (a visit to the Escambia videos, DVDs, fossil replicas, hats, T- County Clerk of the Courts Web site shirts, toys, cold drinks, photographic shows over a dozen court cases involving film, and so forth. The book selection reveals Hovind and his family). A month before the a broad array of concerns for Hovind aside from misdemeanor charge, Hovind was charged with crearionism. Unsurprisingly, mere are tides address- felony assault, battery, and burglary widi assault or bat- ing how to fight me teaching of evolution in public schools, tery. Charges were dropped in December 2002 when die vic- but diere are also some diat desenbe how to fight die coming New tim, a member of Hovind's congregation, withdrew the com- Wodd Order. Beyond conspiracies, Hovind also seeks to inform vis- plaint. (A lengthy description of the incident and an e-mail tit- itors about (books about sea and lake monsters— more about diat later), home schooling, the risks of immunization, Greg Martinez lives and writes in Gainesville, Florida. and a government-suppressed cure for (Laetril).

4 8 November/December 2004 Touring Practically from the moment you enter the park, you are sur- rounded by tour guides. They are all male, appear to be in their twenties, and all wear the same yellow, oxford, button-down shirts with die DAL logo embossed above the breast pocket. They are omnipresent and suffocatingly attentive. They are the most important part of the park, because they are the ones who carry out its true mis- sion. They keep up a breathless stream of patter and proselytiz- ing, declaring almost everydiing in die environs an example of 's love and power. The guides sweep the crowd of children and their adult concentration; you need to focus on Him too. A climbing wall escorts to the first part of the tour, called "The Expedition." It gets die same tiresome treatment. The guides get to rest their is a collection of playground equipment and learning-center voices when they declare twenty minutes of free play for the kids. activities dressed up with dinosaur-related names and the occa- Two single-user restrooms form a border to "The sional dino head or tail. There is a sign next to each activity Expedition," and they provide what may be the most humor- that explains what to do, the science it purports to illustrate, ous item in the park. Bolted to the wall in both the boys and and the spiritual lesson that one should really take away from girls rooms arc chains with tracts by the cartoonist/evangelist the experience. There is a simple lever-and-pulley device that a hanging from them. The pages are laminated and child can sit in and pull himself up and down on very easily. It set on rings for ease of reading while using the toilet. is called the "Longneck Liftasaurus," and after the guides Eventually, the guides gather up the visitors and direct diem demonstrate the device with a child volunteer, they tell their to die "Raptor Range" on the other side of the park. This sec- audience that while the block-and-tackle device can give one a tion follows the same pattern as "The Expedition," but with less physical lift—that's the science lesson—it is only God diat can control by the guides. The area is dominated by the "Dinosaur give one a spiritual lift—that's the spiritual lesson. Frisbee Golf" course and the "Super Sound Satellite" (two con- Then it is on to the "Circle Swivel Springasaurus," in which cave disks that send echoes back and forth across the park that a child volunteer is spun around a clearing on a swiveling har- can only be heard by standing and speaking in a particular spot). ness that is suspended under the spreading branches of a huge, The game with die longest line is the "Dinosaur Hunt," which live oak tree. The child is instructed in how to hold his legs and is two large, rubber slingshots mounted in a wooden frame. arms to control his balance and change the shape of die arc. The Participants are given three water balloons apiece to launch at a science lesson includes some vague statements about centrifugal metal-sculpture T. rex and stegosaurus. forces and conservation of energy, but die real point is that a life without God can leave you dizzy and confused and only God's During the free-play session earlier, five of the guides went guidance can show you the way. This is recited while the child to that game and began filling a large bucket with water bal- stumbles around and nearly falls, indeed dizzy and confused loons in preparation for the next stage of the tour. I wandered after his Springasaurus experience, eliciting laughter from the past taking photographs and eavesdropped on their conversa- crowd. The guides get a bigger laugh when they advise him that tion for a few moments. One would expect that men of that if he feels like he's going to "puke," he "should puke in the age would be talking about girls, sports, or even politics, but bushes and not on any of die rides." This, like almost everything they were animatedly discussing a particular bit of scripture said by die tour guides, is scripted. There is a television in die and how Presbyterians were particularly misguided in their bookstore running a copy of the videotaped tour of die park interpretation. There was much gentle tsk-tsking when a bal- hosted by Hovind, and his narration, even down to the "puke" loon got loose from a fill-valve and sprayed the khakis of two joke, is repeated by the guides. of the guides. And on and on it goes. A visit to a common trampoline Second in popularity to the water-balloon attack is the equipped widi a low basketball hoop is next. The object is to "Flingasaurus," a four-seat swing like one would find at a car- bounce but stay in enough control to focus on getting the ball nival. It is painted with black and yellow striping and spots on dirough die hoop. God, the guide intones, requires your total a green background. There is also a teeter-totter with a cross-

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Nuvembei/Deirmbei 2004 49 beam that is cut and painted to resemble a row of large teeth. encouraged to make their own miniature the The science lessons are quite a bit thinner here than on "The way it was really made: by the Noachian Flood. The signs Expedition," but the spiritual lessons are always there. mock any other ideas of the canyon's formation. Another installation purports to address Haeckel's Law (bio- The "Science" Center genetic law, or "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny"), but only The crowd is eventually pushed along to visit the "Science muddies and confuses an already complex debate. The many Center." Happily, it is air-conditioned and parents are slow to reasonable criticisms of Haeckel's research and theorizing are leave when the next stage of the tour is announced. The cen- blown out of proportion until they are distorted. One would ter is probably the cleverest in its seduction of the park visitors. believe that Haeckel's dieory was still an important part of bio- Spread over three stories are demonstrations of actual science logical research. This sign is the most intemperate of only a few that actually become active in their criti- cism. Most exhibits are gende and noncon- frontational in their tone, which is what would be expected of instruction aimed at Spread over three stories are demonstrations of children. One seeking fire and brimstone actual science resting side by side with displays of would have to look elsewhere. The middle of the bottom floor of the pseudoscience, parapsychology, religious cant, and center is a sandpit with toy shovels and pails quackery. Factually accurate sentences are mixed in so that younger children can dig up fossil replicas. The pit is surrounded on three with sentences that are patently false, producing a sides by glass cases at waist height diat farrago of argument that only the most careful of include fossil replicas and signs with scur- rilous information denigrating , readers will be able to parse. chemistry, and evolution. Particularly notable arc the two models in the case directly next to the entrance of the "Fossil Dig." One dramatizes a scene from the Old English epic poem (an inexpensive Dover Books edition of the poem is for sale in the book- store.) The plaque explains that this is one of many examples of dinosaurs living contemporaneously with humans; apparently, Beowulf is a his- torical documentary and not just a legend. Next to that is a model of a sinking ship with survivors floating in the clear acrylic waves being caused by what appears to be an Ichthyosaurus. The plaque accompanying this model provides a quote from a survivor of a torpedoed English warship, which describes the sea monster he sighted during die chaos. This is only the first example of what will be a much more richly addressed topic in the (gyroscopes, the Bernoulli effect, magnets, etc.) resting side by "": dinosaurs did not become extinct in an side with displays of pseudoscience, parapsychology, religious ice age but are die sea and lake monsters diat are known as cant, and quackery. Each display is written in the same author- Nessie, Ogopogo, Champ, and so on. itative voice, but the voice is deceptive. Factually accurate sen- A staircase to the second floor runs along die back of die tences are mixed in with sentences that are patently false, pro- "Fossil Dig." The staircase is decorated with an installation that ducing a farrago of argument that only the most careful of has more dian three dozen different kinds of scissors attached readers will be able to parse. to it and declares itself to be "The Phylogenetic Tree: Scissor A perfect example of this stands directly to the right of the Evolution?" The second floor is much smaller and contains a entrance door. A sandwich sign rests above a long trough filled few computers and television/VCR combos to peruse the CD- with sand, and a water spigot rests above the sand. Visitors are ROM and video library offered there. Small posters illustrating

5 0 November/December 2004 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER various aspects of evolution and geology decorate the walls of tion center for children. These rather commonplace activities the second floor. They are printed with what appears to be a are dressed up in a dinosaur drag that has no real point except red-ink stamp that declares each of these tenets of scientific to act as a come-on, a lure to children and families that might research a "Lie." In the midst of these posters, Haeckel is otherwise stray away. A plain creationist museum would serve invoked again and a small flame of outrage jets up briefly. The to attract only the already converted, acting as an echo cham- text on one poster insists that embryos never grow gills and that ber so that they might have dieir ideas repeated back to them. abortions are killing human beings, not fish. There is also a To attach a bunch of silly dinosaur names to playground detailed model of 's Ark. equipment and stick fiberglass dinosaur pans here and there is The diird floor is considerably smaller than die two odier die beginning of an effective marketing ploy. The realization floors and is a recreation room with a television, board games, that there really isn't anything much dinosaur about it comes and an air-hockey table. The table is scattered with pamphlets only after you have paid your admission and been subjected to for die park. , and many copies of Chick cartoon tracts a lengthy bath of proselytizing. that rail against evolution. The proselytizing is very carefully scripted. Such a script is The tour moves on to the "Creation Museum," which necessary because the connections between the games and directly adjoins the main building and has a fiberglass I. rex dra- activities and biblical doctrine are virtually nonexistent. The matically bursting through the wall above die museum's entry door. The first room of die museum greets you with a large heirloom Bible opened to Genesis. The room also To attach a bunch of houses a collection of several small animals (a silly dinosaur names to playground Madagascar hissing cockroach, a ruby taran- tula, chinchillas, etc.) whose complexities are equipment and stick fiberglass dinosaur parts alleged to be sterling examples of deficiencies here and there is the beginning of in evolution diat serve to disprove Darwin's an effective marketing ploy. science and demonstrate die superiority of creation science. The next room is a small theatre where one can watch a videocassette diat explains Hovind's grand lesson signs are usually too high for any but the tallest of chil- vision of biblical creation, a young earth, and so forth. Directly dren to read, and the kids probably wouldn't read them any- above die large-screen television is a sign that says: "Reality! way. The guides are always there, always polite and always pre- Evolution is a religion." The back of the dieater consists of two sent, repeating the message. The message needs to be empha- large, glass display cases, one that addresses the many ways in sized in this way because the items in the science center and which die Noachian Flood created the modern world and the museum are so scattered and diffuse that they never really add other devoted to explaining that are not mythology up to an effective argument. Here you will find some con- but instead accurate reports of dinosaurs living among founding assertions about granite and polonium halos; there a humans. sign calls Darwin a liar. Here's a display telling you that sea The third and final room of die museum is a collection of monsters are real; there a beach ball floats on a shaft of air gen- fossils, including a plaster cast (under glass widi muted lights, erated by a fan. Curatorially speaking, the place is a disaster. as if it was truly a fragile antiquity and not a painted plaster Dinosaur Adventure Land is just a playground tricked out casting) that purports to be from a diirteen-foot-tall human with dinosaur dressage to attract an audience that can then be giant diat was unearthed in California in 1883. This, coupled enticed, seduced, and eventually duped into accepting super- with other anecdotes and photos of other modern-age giants stitions, pseudoscience, and plain nonsense passed off with a (Robert Wadlow, ct al.), leads to an assertion that biblical patina of both scientific and religious authority. accounts of giants were indeed factual. The room also contains Acknowledgement a collection of replica fossils both real and fraudulent (includ- ing replicas of the lea Stones and Paluxy dinosaur/man tracks). I thank Susan McLaughlin and Toria Martinez for their invaluable assistance in the researching and writing of this article. I also thank The room resembles a cramped version of a Ripley's Believe It Barry Karr for his help and support. Or Not museum. References Dinosaurs and Deception Analysis of Kent Hovind. 2004. Available ai www.gcocitics.com/kenthovind. Dinosaur Adventure Land is deceptive on many levels. It is Dinosaur Adventure Land. 2004. Available at www.dinosauradvemureland. com. obviously wrong about its claims of a scientific explanation of Goodnough. Abby. 2004. "Darwin-free Fun for Creationists." The New York die origins of life on Earth based on die Book of Genesis. But Times, May 1. it is also deceptive in its manner and methods. Much of die Hovind, Kent. 2004. Available at www.drdino.com. Norman, Brett. 2004. "IRS Raids Business. Home of Creationist. " Pensacola park contains little more than playground equipment, News Journal April 17. exhibits, and activities one would find at a real science educa- The Talk Origins Archive. 2004. Available at www.talkorigins.org.

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