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Earlier this summer, creationist Ken Ham opened the massive waste of lumber known as the Ark Encounter.

The Ken Ham creation located in Williamstown, Kentucky, claims to be a life sized re-creation of Noah’s ark from the flood myth in Genesis.

In the myth, the Hebrew god Yahweh tells Noah that he’s about to drown every living thing on the planet. He asks Noah to build a ship with which to save himself and his family from the impending destruction.

In addition, Yahweh tells Noah to load the ship with two of each kind of animal on earth so that once the floodwaters subside, Noah can then release the animals and life will sort of “re-set,” only ideally a little less wicked this time around.

An elegant solution from the all-powerful creator of the universe and an interesting story no doubt.

Now for some reason, Ken Ham was able to convince the people of Kentucky that a re-creation of this large vessel would be something that folks would like to visit.

As it turns out, much like the story itself, this is not reality.

According to Dan Arel who has been following the Ark Encounter closely, the opening attendance numbers were around 5000, much smaller than Ham anticipated. Those numbers haven’t climbed since.

As such, the town closest to this colossal tax-subsidized $92 million boondoggle, is noticing.

The mayor of Williamstown, Rick Skinner, said in an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer:

“We do have some (tourists) exploring downtown as the merchants are getting more advertising with the ark, we’re picking up traffic, but it’s not been as immediate as we thought it might be.”

It seems the good news is that road traffic around the ark isn’t nearly as bad as some had feared.

In a twist of irony, some visitors to the Ark Encounter are camping in Big Bone State Lick Park, a park again according to the Enquirer:

“Known for its bones of mammoths that died there more than 10,000 years ago.”

Keep in mind the folks that built the Ark Encounter believe the earth is only about 6,000 years old.

Unlike the Ken Ham creation, this two-part re-creation of Noah’s Ark by the incomparable NonStampCollector is actually worth your time to watch:

Part Two: