The Columns Museum in Milford, Pennsylvania contains a blood-stained flag which is said to have cushioned Abraham Lincoln’s head after he’d been shot. A morbidly enticing historical artifact, to be sure. But did we really want to pay the five dollar entrance fee for the rest of the collection of ephemera housed within? We stood in the entrance hall, while a helmet-haired docent waited somewhat insistently for us to make up or minds. We just wanted to poke our heads in…don’t know if we have the time…we’re in a hurry. She folded her arms across her chest. We’re waiting for my dad to move the car, I said, which was not untrue. We heard you had…is this …can we just take a look? Around the corner, in the front parlour, was The Bloody Lincoln Flag. She allowed us to take a photo (sans flash) and then we left quickly, mumbling excuses about being in a hurry, etc. We’d seen what we’d wanted.
Really, the number one rule of showmanship: you don’t put your main money maker in full view of the public, you get the rubes to cough up some cash before they get a peek at the goods. That’s just bad business otherwise.
