Someone poked the Science Museum of Virginia in the eye.At least that's how Museum Director Richard Conti feels.
Just 12 hours after Conti's staff turned the iconic Grand Kugel outside the museum into a giant eyeball, someone stole its cover.
About 1:30 a.m. Saturday, thieves cut away a fabric cover resembling a large eyeball that tightly wrapped the 8 ½-foot diameter, 29-ton ball, Conti said. The globe gyrates on a thin film of water.
The eyeball decoration, valued at $4,000, promoted a "Goose Bumps, the Science of Fear" exhibit at the museum in conjunction with Halloween.
"We thought it would be kind of cool to turn the Kugel into an eyeball," he said. "We have mummies and sea monsters in the Imax, and it was just kind of a fun way to get attention that something new and different is going on here."
Turning the Kugel into an eyeball "is pretty striking," he added.
But someone decided to spoil the fun before it really got started.
"It was its first night," explained a disappointed Conti, who wondered what use the thieves would make of their pilfered prize. "Where are they going to put it?"
Virginia's Capitol Police, who have jurisdiction over the Science Museum property, are investigating. They are reviewing surveillance camera photos of the possible suspects.
"Two individuals were seen running away from the globe towards Broad Street carrying and folding the fabric eye as they fled," police said in a statement. They were last seen crossing Broad heading towards North Robinson Street.
