FORT MITCHELL – (TNS) In a small building tucked in a quiet Fort Mitchell neighborhood, more than 1,200 retirees have found a home.

But they aren’t people — at least, not when they’re not on stage. They are dummies and dolls that serve as the largest collection of ventriloquism memorabilia in the world.

The Vent Haven museum in Northern Kentucky claims to be the only ventriloquism museum in the world. Open since 1973, it has grown from 500 dummies in founder William Shakespeare Berger’s collection to its current size of 1,242 dummies.

The museum was in Berger’s house until three years ago, when the collection was moved to a neighboring building. Lisa Sweasy, curator of the Vent Haven Museum, described the collection as the “Mecca of ventriloquism.”

“Every ventriloquist, whether they’r

See Full Page