Samurai Mystery Box From P.T. Barnum to be Unveiled

Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History will unveil a samurai mystery box from Bethel’s own P.T. Barnum.

The unveiling will be held at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, 170 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, on Nov. 7, 2015 at 2 p.m. in the Great Hall of the museum.

Experts from the Peabody Museum will examine the contents as they emerge and discuss their findings live with the audience. They will look for physical clues about the age, origin and utility of what is expected to be one or more rare and unusual artifacts.

According to Biography.com, P.T. Barnum was born Phineas Taylor Barnum on July 5, 1810, in Bethel. The Greatest Showman on Earth was known for such oddities as the 161-year-old woman, the “Feejee Mermaid,” a 25 inch high boy known as “General Tom Thumb,” Swedish opera singer named Jenny Lind and many more. He founded the P.T. Barnum traveling circus and coined the term “The Greatest Show on Earth” in 1871.