Weird Museums: Archie McPhee’s Rubber Chicken Museum

I’ve not yet been to Seattle, but, from the mental picture I’ve gathered of it over the years, it makes sense that it would house the world’s first and only museum dedicated to rubber chickens.

Archie McPhee is, first and foremost, a gag-gift and novelty store. It sells a wide variety of toys, pranks, and general oddities. When you shop by category on their website (which I highly recommend you do), your options in the drop down list are as follows: Bigfoot, Unicorn, Cats, Hands, Squirrels, Bacon & Meat, Zombies & Monsters, Pickles, Underpants, J.P. Patches (the clown), Creepy Horse Head, Religious, and, of course, Rubber Chickens.

The Archie McPhee storefront in Seattle, WA [photo by archiemcpheeseattle.com via Google images]

While Archie McPhee is generally considered the manufacturer of rubber chickens, the toy’s origins date way back and are actually not totally clear. Some theories claim that the rubber chicken was based on the playful use of inflated pig bladders (a practice that scarred me for life during my third-grade reading of the Little House on the Prairie series). Before the invention of plastic and latex, jesters would use these as props in their slapstick comedy routines; since chicken corpses were everywhere, they were soon incorporated as well. Another theory claims that, in the early 1900s, a Swedish black-faced clown (yikes) named John Holmberg was the first to use a prop chicken: quite the legacy. If you get your hands on a rubber chicken manufactured by Archie McPhee, however, their tags credit soldiers from the French Revolution who would hang chickens from their muskets for good luck.

Archie McPhee only became home to the Rubber Chicken Museum in 2018; prior to that, it was the brainchild of Mark Pahlow. As someone who also grew up in Ohio, I can especially relate to his origin story:

“Growing up in Ohio, I was starved for quality humor,” Pahlow says. The middle of three boys, Mark was smart but bored. He read the family’s World Book Encyclopedia from A to Z, subscribed to MAD magazine, raised iguanas, snakes and an alligator in the basement, ordered X-ray specs and buzz rings from the backs of comic books, was an ardent fan of Ghoulardi, a late-night television horror-show host.

[from 2004 Seattle Times Article Big Daddy of Doodads: Mark Pahlow is Serious about Archie McPhee by Paula Bock]

The shop started as a mail-order business in the ‘70s, and in 1983 they opened their first physical storefront. It draws locals and tourists from all over the country who spend hours going through the thousands of items in the shop; you can even register for wedding gifts there.

But on May 11th, 2018, Archie McPhee became so much more than a novelty store. It became the proud home of the world’s only Rubber Chicken Museum. While this hilariously small museum is free to enter, visitors must pass through turnstiles that separate it from the rest of the store. From what I can tell, the museum started out as just a small section of wall that displayed rubber chickens lying around Archie McPhee and the homes of employees, and has expanded since with donations from all around the country. And while it is still comically small, it boasts both the world’s largest rubber chicken and the world’s smallest - and many fascinating artifacts in between.

The haunted rubber chicken

[photo from atlasobscura.com via Google Images]

According to staff, the crown jewel of the museum is a rubber chicken signed by Seattle clowning legend JP Patches. My personal favorite, however, is a tasteful work of stained glass depicting a rubber chicken in all its flaccid glory. A close second is the so-called haunted chicken that was found underneath a storage shelf in Archie McPhee. After decades of being flattened by the weight of store inventory, this mangled chicken is now on display on a dinner plate.

As if the experience itself weren’t a keepsake enough, you can of course bring home a variety of rubber chicken-inspired souvenirs from the gift shop. There are hats, socks, t-shirts, toys and even prayer candles that all start the famous fowl.

Sources and Further Reading:

World’s Largest Rubber Chicken [photo from archiemcpheeseattle.com via Google images]

• Archie McPhee’s Rubber Chicken Museum - Official Website

• Rubber Chicken Museum - Article by Atlas Obscura

• The World’s Only Rubber Chicken Museum is in Seattle - Seattle Refined article by John Prentice [this features a great video where I got a lot of good info]

• What’ s the history of the rubber chicken? Archie McPhee is glad you asked - Seattle Pi article by Zosha Millman & Gonna Martin

• Rubber Chicken - Wikipedia entry

• The big daddy of doodads: Mark Pahlow is serious about Archie McPhee - Seattle Times article by Paula Bock