Liars' Hall of Fame is no tall tale at Nebraska museum

DANNEBROG, Neb. -- A visit to this tiny central Nebraska town will squelch any suspicions that the National Liars' Hall of Fame is just a tall tale.

Creator and humorist Roger Welsch will tell you the museum is dedicated to "the art of prevarication and metric mendacity." It's often compared with the Smithsonian and attracts just under two million visitors a year.

Of course, Welsch warns on his business cards, you can't believe anything you see in the museum. (Might as well add "hear" to that for good measure.)

The hall occupies the back section of the Lille' Mermaid Gift Shop, which is squeezed between the Dannebrog Bank and the Dansk Hall community center in this town of about 350 people. The main street through town is called Roger Welsch Avenue. (Ask Welsch, he'll tell you that having a road named after him just means he has to shovel the snow there in the winter.)

Over the years, the author and former commentator on the CBS program "Sunday Morning" has collected a few favorites for the museum's collection.

Colored golf balls are kept in a box labeled "golf balls as big as hail."

A miniature yellow plastic football covered in X's is autographed by all of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

A fly swatter with a gaping hole in its plastic mesh is accompanied by a certificate of approval from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the lesser-known Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Flies.

"You get the same thrill of the swat and the noise, but it doesn't hurt the fly," said Gaylord Mickelsen, the museum's curator and owner of the gift shop.

Though Welsch and Mickelsen advise groups of 500 or more to call ahead for the free tour, only a few people actually could fit comfortably into the "hall" to encircle the three-shelf unit that holds the museum's contents.

In a serious moment, Mickelsen estimates the museum sees 600 to 700 visitors a year. They've come from all 50 states and 28 foreign countries.

Welsch, who lives on a tree farm near Dannebrog and has written several books, including "Ode to the Outhouse," created the museum in 1986.

Its quirky collection comes from Welsch's readers and others who learn of his interest in tall tales and all things eccentric, such as the two-way hammer, cow seeds (to grow your own), an electric nose picker and a mounted head of the fictitious jackalope -- an antlered species of rabbit.

This year, though, Welsch has been overshadowed by other figures.

"Election years are very hard for tall tale tellers because of the competition from the professionals," he quipped.

And, in typical Welsch fashion, he seems amused by opposition to the museum from some Christian groups who are against promoting dishonesty.

"None of this stuff -- obviously -- is meant to deceive anybody," he said. "It is all humor."