Check out OKC’s Skeleton Museum

Looking for things of interest to give your family an indoor option during this oppressive heat of July?

Here’s a story of a gentleman whose interest as a boy grew into one of the most impressive private collections in the world.

If you are out hunting, hiking or just spending time outdoors, you never know what might capture your interest. It could open up a whole new world of adventure.

One entrepreneur turned his early curiosity and need for a school science project into a life-long dream and a very unique line of work. Skulls Unlimited International, located in Oklahoma City, is a family-operated business begun by Jay Villearette Sr. in the late 1980s.

“At age 7, I found a dog skull in the woods near my home,” Villemarette said. “When my father saw my interest, he encouraged me to find and collect other skulls, thus making it a life-long hobby.”

Although never a hunter, during his youth he did do some trapping.

After high school, Villemarette worked as an auto body technician. Jay and his wife cleaned skulls in their kitchen. Then, they either kept them for their own collection or sold them. After four years, Skulls Unlimited, evolved from a small home-based business into a successful retail and mail-order company.

Fast-forward to today and Skulls Unlimited International is the world’s largest supplier of bone specimens to schools, museums, scientists, collectors and hunters as well as doctors and veterinarians.

They have produced artifact skeletons of marine animals, apes, giraffes and lions as well as most North American animals. A while back, Mike Rowe from the television show “Dirtiest Jobs” paid a visit and filmed for an episode.

I visited with Jay Jr, the owner’s son, and he said that Rowe was one of the nicest people he had ever met.

“We completed the 7,000 square-foot Museum of Osteology, and it is open to the public, Villemarette said. “This museum allows Skulls Unlimited to showcase the thousands of skull and skeletal specimens we have acquired over the years. The goal of our museum is to serve as an educational experience, with the hopes that through education, an appreciation of the natural world will ultimately lead to conservation for the future.”

Exhibits include adaptation, locomotion, classification and diversity of the vertebrate kingdom.

The museum currently has 450 real skulls and skeletons on display and serves as the largest privately held collection of osteological specimens in the world.

Tickets prices are $13 for ages 12 and older, $11 for ages 3-11 and children ages 3 and younger are free with a paid adult. Museum admission can be redeemed any day the museum is open and our tickets do not expire. If tickets are purchased online before the date you’re attending, the prices are $1 less.

The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The Museum of Osteology can be reached by calling (405) 814-0006 or by going online to www.skeletonmuseum.com. The museum is located at 10301 S. Sunnylane Road in Oklahoma City. Call for group rates. Teachers can plan education field trips by contacting the museum staff. Also, people can even schedule their birthday party there.

If you have a specimen to donate, they regularly accept specimen donations. While not all donations are exhibited in the museum, many will be retained for educational or teaching purposes. For more information on Skulls Unlimited, go online to www.skullsunlimited.com or call (800) 659-7585.

Next time you are near OKC, make plans to visit this truly unique business begun by, as the Randy Travis song says, “diggin’up bones.” It’s interesting to see displays of full skeletons of some of the critters you run across in the outdoors.

John Kilgore is the former Greenleaf State Park manager. He can be reached by e-mailing him at jkilgoreoutdoors@yahoo.com.