the Bigfoot statue in the museum on the first floor of his house, which looks like a knickknack-filled great-grandmother’s house — that is, if your great-grandmother hung creepy ventriloquist dolls in the corner or collected shrunken heads from Ecuador. “You can’t have a paranormal museum,” his daughter, Holly, likes to say, “without shrunken heads.”

Barcelo is convinced that more tourism could make Littleton great again — and if Bigfoot is going to be the draw, the town should embrace it. Some local businesses have — the Cryptozoological and Paranormal Museum sells “Yeti” beer made by someone in town, as well as Littleton Bigfoot Blend coffee roasted locally. “Even if it’s silly, go for it!” he says, adding that he is mostly in the entertainment business, which means marketing the heck out of what he has to offer.

So it wasn’t at all surprising that Stephen Barcelo started doing ghost tours once he moved to Littleton, taking tourists to various old houses in town on any night he could assemble enough of them. “No one is doing what we do down here,” he says in his fast, faintly Long Island accent.“"Where else are you going to buy a ghost meter?”

So it wasn’t at all surprising that Stephen Barcelo started doing ghost tours once he moved to Littleton, taking tourists to various old houses in town on any night he could assemble enough of them. “No one is doing what we do down here,” he says in his fast, faintly Long Island accent.“"Where else are you going to buy a ghost meter?”

Littleton, N.C.