A brief history of the Second Ersatz Museum, England 1959-1973
During the early 1950s a small group of Polish émigrés and British sympathiser formed a clandestine group known as the Ersatz Foundation, their main objective was towards the re-establishment of the original Ersatz Museum in the U.K. Over a period of several years they alleged that they successfully managed to locate and smuggle out from Communist controlled Poland many items from what they maintained to have been the original Ersatz collection in hiding.
These remained in the custodianship of the head of the group known simply as The Curator. Although the foundation never identified him or any of their other members at the time, due in part to the illegality of importing such items from inside the Iron Curtain and into the Great Britain, still many have speculated that this mysterious curator was actually Jacobovski himself who had survived the war and eventually coming to England. We have found only a few fragments of circumstantial evidence to support this and it seems to be mainly based on rumour.

It wasnt until 1957 that the second Ersatz Museum began to be established close to the site of an abandoned medieval village of Loriham, a few miles from Happisburgh (pronounced hayz--bra) on the north Norfolk coast.The Foundation purchased a group of dilapidated farm buildings on the site of an 18th century manor, formerly a small grange, and known locally as the 'Old Hall'. This was a remote spot, close to the cliffs. and apart from the coastal path, could only be reached from the main road by following the narrow Cliff Lane and then along an old farm track (approx 2.5 miles). Over several years the buildings were repaired and extended. Much of this was achieved by dismantling and transporting various salvaged parts from other buildings. When completed the museum consisted of three floors divided into several galleries, a small library, offices and several outbuildings used for storage. In 1966 there was further development with a retail and reception area built and a year later a complete new building was erected affording more office and research space.

The Ersatz opened officially on June 9th 1959 and from the beginning promoted itself as 'The museum of lost science and forgotten histories' and featured what seems to have been a host of weird and wonderful artefacts. While it advertised itself as being generally open to the public, (for most of the 1960's this was usually Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 3pm), the museum's actual opening times were often sporadic with the entire collection was not always regularly available to view. This was due in part, to only a couple of part time staff being available, with the museum often being opened and operated by a handful of volunteers. Although it advertised itself in the local press and tourist guides, its relatively remote location proved difficult for the general visitor to find and being away from the tourist trails, had virtually no passing trade. As a result few people ever bothered to make the effort to visit it at all. The museum was closed entirely during the winter months, usually from the last Saturday in September to the Easter Bank Holiday.
Those that did make it were rewarded with the sight of some of the strangest objects ever to be exhibited under one roof. Although never as prestigious as its Polish predecessor in many ways it often mirrored it. Not least in the fact that this very bizarre content seems to have struck a resonance with writers, artists, intellectuals, (and even a few actors and musicians of the period) and it received many renowned visitors who made the long journey to view the collection throughout these years.

Unfortunately during the late 1960s, this included an increased interest from a host of cultists, self styled mystics, and their eccentric followers. The artefacts in the collection were often cited by them as proof of the existence of anything from aliens, mythical creatures and the lost civilisations to the actual physical evidence to support their more radical beliefs and a host of conspiracy theories.
The Ersatz had always been careful to cultivate the appearance of a serious and legitimate scientific organisation to gain credibility from the mainstream authorities. Unfortunately the attentions of these fringe groups led too many of the more established organisations and scientific or historical bodies, already somewhat suspicious of the museum, to distance themselves from the Ersatz even further and to dismiss the entire establishment as nothing more than a form of pseudo science.
For its part the Ersatz Foundation endeavoured to distance itself from the various cultist that had adopted it, always maintaining its stance of only being interested in legitimate scientific research.
The unwanted attention from these elements would however eventually resulted in 1969, to the Foundation adopting the policy of restricting viewing to by appointment only and even then, when the foundation was approached in writing and it was agreed by all members.
Even this was seized on by its critics as being too subjective and the Foundation was faced with new accusations that it was now only offering admittance to those who would look favourably on its contents.

Due mainly to this policy, over the next three years visitor numbers dramatically decreased and even it's 'celebrities' seem to have lost interest. Operating behind closed doors, the members of Ersatz Foundation continued to find, purchase and research new additions to their collection, mostly working anonymously and always under the general rule adopted way back in 1929 by Jacobovski himself, that all such finds should be restricted only to those objects, either scientific, historic or cultural, that were overlooked or dismissed by other institutions, as they fell outside conventional science, but nonetheless have a proven and legitimate history or provenance.

We do not know how much, if anything, of the original Polish collection made up the content of the museum at this time, as most of the documentation and records of the original institution were destroyed during WW2 so can not be compared or verified. However during this later period several of their more notorious or often disputed items were discovered and added to the collection. These are thought to have included the famous Computer a 16th century drawing and calculating machine , the 3ft tall, mummified winged homonid known simply and enigmatically as Winged Thing, as well as McGallion photographic archives and other additions to the much publicized Victorian Fairy Cabinet (supposedly donated by Professor Z.McGallion himself).
What is clear is that the Foundation must have had access to somewhat considerable funds or at least a rich patron. This is evident not only in the finances required to purchase and recondition the buildings in the first place, but to continue to acquire more items for their collection and to operate and maintain the museum for over 14 years. There is no evidence that the museum was ever funded or sponsored by local authorities, national government or trusts etc. There has been much speculation about this but as we are not able to identify the Foundation members we are not able to assess from where their income came. However it is very clear that these funds did not come from paying visitors or income generated by opening the museum itself, as this was minimal.

By 1973 it would seem that who ever had been paying could not sustain these subsidies any longer. Due to what was officially stated as both monitory difficulties and the general disrepair and up keep of the buildings, the announcement came that it was to close altogether. They also stated that the buildings were too small to house their growing collection adding "they hoped that the museum would open again at a future date once they were in a position to acquire suitable premises" - as we know, this never happened.
The Foundation vacated the building in December 1973 and put the entire collection into storage for a second time at an undisclosed location, These financial problems are also believed to have led to several minor parts of the collection being sold, mainly to U.S. clients and items known to have been owned by the Ersatz are now in U.S. private hands.

The museum and the site itself was purchased in 1974 by a local farm estate initially with the intention to turn it into accommodation, however this never happened and it was used mainly for agricultural purposes and allowed to decay. The buildings were resold in 1992 to property developers. Even though they were listed. due to over 20 years of neglect they were considered too dangerous to stand and were pulled down in 1995, including the new buildings that were less than 30 years old. Up to the present time the area, still privately owned, remains un-built on. Planning permission to develop the site, including yet another caravan/holiday park, were fortunately turned down in 1997, due in the most part to it's close proximity to the dangerous cliffs, which along this part of the coast are under constant erosion and increasingly threaten the entire site.
At the present time there are still some of the foundations visible and these now remain as the only evidence of a once remarkable institution.

The location of what is left of the Ersatz collection still remains a mystery. In the last five years our members have done various research into trying to find out exactly where it is stored - if in fact it still exist at all. While we have often come across rumours to suggest that it was completely broken up and sold, we have not been able to verify this and although we have collected articles, photographs and ephemera from the two museums we are yet to come across any single items we believe were part of either collection, whether in the public domain or with private collectors (apart from those sold in 1974 to private U.S. collectors), all of which leads us to believe it may still remain intact.
Likewise we have spent much time trying to find or trace any of the original or existing members of the Foundation, if they are still together or continue to operate, but again with very limited success, even when offering them our open commitment to secure their continuous anonymity if they were to come forward.

In our six years of research we have come across several public records in the local archives, either pertaining to the purchase and sale of the buildings, planning permissions or building contracts, however all these have only been in the name of the 'Ersatz Foundation' and mention no individuals at all. Remarkably it seems that all their business and finances over a 25 year period were conducted on their behalf through a firm of solicitors and these representatives are the single signatories on all legal documents etc. we have found so far.

Neither have our investigations been helped by a recent rival of interest in the museum. It would seem that even 40 years after its closure the whole subject still attracts wild speculation and falsehoods. Many individuals have now written spurious and unfounded articles about the Ersatz museum, but more particularly about the Foundation itself and these have helped cloud the issue even further. In 1998 a 'journalist' wrote an article purporting to be from an unprecedented interview with the surviving Foundation members themselves and went as far as to 'name' several individuals. However he later admitted that the article had been faked in an attempt to 'draw out' the real members, but even after this retraction it continues to be frequently quoted and used as a legitimate reference. Likewise there is also the equally spurious academic paper published through York University Press and widely circulated on the Internet. It again purported to identify and name members of both the original and existing 'Foundation' and even the present location of the collection itself. After only a brief inspection of this document we immediately discovered that this information was totally inaccurate and completely false and that much of the factual entries had originated or had been directly copied from documents published by us at EMHS!

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