you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. >> it's a collection most any girl would die for... >> it's almost too much barbie for a girl. >> ...a houseful of dolls from all over the world. >> you couldn't even walk into the room. there were thousands. >> so what makes this inheritance so strange? [ clockwork music playing ] say hello to the heir. >> "mother, why -- me being a boy, why was it dolls?" >> she had a dying wish. >> "please don't throw these dolls away. find a home for them." and that's what i want to do. >> but does the man have a plan? >> they call me the "doll boy." [ laughs ] >> how's that working out for you? >> i thought, "you can call me whatever you want. i've got a pretty good inheritance here, boys." [ door creaks ]

[ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and i'm driving into portales, new mexico, along the texas border and near the cannon air force base. you know, the welcome sign here says it all -- "17,000 friendly people (and three or four old grouches). i'm here to meet a man whose strange inheritance certainly called for that kind of sense of humor. >> my name is john wall. my mother, irene wall, passed at 90 years old. she had left me with a very large collection that meant a lot to her, but i didn't know what to do. >> great. so nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. welcome to my home. well, so, what do think of all

these dolls? >> wow! >> this is kind of the way it was in my mom's house, only there were so many more. >> johnny, i feel like i'm 8 years old again with all these dolls. >> well, i have the reputation around here as the "doll boy" but i don't know anything about them. >> looking around, you have earned that reputation. what are you going to do? >> the goal of my mom's and mine was to find a home for them, and that's what i want to do. >> the collection meant the world to john's mother because of the world she grew up in. >> december 7th, 1941. a date which will live in infamy. >> when the u.s. enters world war ii, 20-year-old irene jennings is teaching high school in her hometown of dora, new mexico. she's barely older than her students.

>> this is when she graduated from new mexico state university. >> now, for the time, graduating from college is very important for a woman. >> very important back then. very few got to be there. >> of all the inheritances i've learned about, your family has suffered so much pain. it started with your mother's brother. >> yes. >> tell me about him. >> he was drafted after pearl harbor, and they were sent to the philippines. >> irene's brother vernon is one of more than 60,000 american and philippine soldiers captured by the japanese on the bataan peninsula. they're forced to march 80 miles in scorching heat without food, water, or medical care. thousands die of exhaustion. some are executed by the japanese. did your mom think that her brother was going to come home? >> they always had hopes. >> many of the boys in irene's classroom are eager to sign up

and fight. their way of assuring her that they will return is to promise to bring her something back. like a doll, maybe. your mom was such a beloved teacher that they brought her these dolls. >> even back then, mother was known to be a doll lover, and the students would bring them to her. >> the returning vets do bring irene dolls from all over the world. rare geisha dolls from japan, lifelike celluloid dolls from germany, and beautiful duchess dolls from france. for irene, whose hardscrabble youth left little time for fantasy, her foreign dolls open a window to the big wide world. >> my grandparents were sharecroppers. toys was not one of those luxury items they had a lot of. and i think once she become financially able, she had those feelings that, "i love dolls, and i think that's what i would like to collect."

>> when the war ends in 1945, irene finally gets a letter saying her brother vernon died in captivity. >> he had died during this death march deal, and was buried in the philippines. >> in a twist of fate, this tragic news brings irene in contact with the man she would eventually marry, a man who nearly starved to death in a japanese prison camp. >> when my dad came home from the service, he felt he owed it to the families of roosevelt county to go around and talk to them about their loved ones that they lost. and my mother's brother was one of them, and then that's where they got acquainted. >> as she collected all these dolls, what did your dad say? >> my dad let my mother have a lot of reins. irene was a very keen woman. >> john wall jr. is their only

child. he grows up, marries a hometown gal, starts a family of his own, and gets a job as a groundskeeper at new mexico state university. over the years, irene's ever-growing collection is a marvel to her great-niece lori davis. >> every year we went over there, there were more dolls in her house. >> there was campbell's soup dolls, flintstone dolls, dolls like shirley temple. >> irene invests thousands of dollars into collecting a wide variety of dolls. then, in 1977, her husband, john sr., dies of respiratory failure at the age of 63. irene's obsession with dolls only grows after her husband's death. that worries her little sister juanita. >> i'd say, "irene, do you know what a mess your house is in?" and she'd say, "it's my house." >> juanita asks her daughter

emma and her granddaughter lori to go to irene's house and conduct a head count. a census might be more like it. are their hundreds of dolls? a thousand? many thousands? >> i was shocked, and i know lori was... >> oh, my gosh. >> ...really shocked. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. the world's priciest doll is the $6 million clockwork l'oiseleur doll. what makes it so special -- it was owned by marie antoinette, it was the barbie prototype, or because it has thousands of moving parts? the answer in a moment.

my twin brother jacob has an autism spectrum disorder i remember one moment after being at school all day and i remember him getting into the car just balling... and saying: "mom, i have no friends" "why don't i have any friends?" it broke my heart. ♪brother let me be your shelter♪ ♪never leave you all alone that was the moment when i realized that i needed to do something about this. i needed to make a difference in his life. go! and i knew that if i could help him find a friend, i could help teach other people that including people with differences is the right thing to do. ♪bring it home ♪brother let me be your shelter♪ that was the inspiration behind my non-profit "score a friend"

educating people to include the people with differences is so important because when jacob's included he feels like he can succeed in life and he feels like he actually has a purpose. ♪..home >> so, what makes the $6 million clockwork l'oiseleur doll so special? the answer is "c." the four-foot tall french doll is also known as the bird trainer, and has more than 2,300 gilt or steel parts. >> john wall's mother, irene, had always promised to leave him with a strange inheritance -- her extensive collection of dolls. maybe promise is the wrong word. threaten is more like it. didn't you ever wish your mom bought half as many dolls and put the other half in a bank account for you? >> oh, yes. it would have been sure enough easier. but, then again, maybe she wanted my inheritance to be a

bit of a challenge. i don't know. >> by 1990, no one knows exactly how many dolls irene's collected in her house in portales, new mexico, and she shows no sign of slowing down. irene's younger sister juanita enlists her daughter emma and granddaughter lori to visit aunt irene and, while they're there, find out just how many dolls she has. >> i was shocked, and i know lori was... >> oh, my gosh. >> ...really shocked. the first room we tackled, you had to suck up, yes... >> [ laughs ] >> ...to walk around. >> right. >> we knocked some dolls off while we were counting. >> i was like, "oh, my gosh. i don't know if this is collecting or hoarding." i've never seen anybody with that many dolls. >> emma and lori are flabbergasted to see dolls packed like sardines occupying every room in the house. >> we're counting one by one, and we're just overwhelmed.

>> the final tally for irene's collection? over 5,000 dolls! it's time for an intervention. >> enough was enough on the doll collection. i had to sit down and speak with her about the matter. and it was hard. >> irene is fiercely opposed to just throwing away her lifelong collection. next-door neighbor suzy nuchols comes to the rescue. >> i do a lot of ebay, and so he knew that because we're neighbors, and we just decided, "let's do it." and we went to his mom's house, and it was full of dolls. everywhere you looked. and so we started just looking them up and just getting an idea. >> one of the first things they learn on ebay -- irene wall isn't the only one obsessed with dolls. >> there are some people that are on there continuously watching these dolls. it's amazing. >> dolls are scooped up by buyers from all over the world. one of irene's favorites, a german celluloid doll -- likely a gift from a returning

world war ii vet -- is bought for $225. john and his wife lynn are mesmerized by the bidding process. >> it sometimes would get down to the last five minutes, for sure, then those prices would just run through the ceiling. and lynn thought it was kind of like playing the slot machine. >> over the summer of 2007, they sell about 60 dolls to online bidders for a total of $15,000. >> and mama was happy. >> i could tell by the look in her eye, the amazement, was, "i told you so." >> but out of 5,000-plus, it's not even a dent in the collection. then, in april 2010, john's beloved wife, lynn, passes away at the age of 57. 18 months later, his mother, irene, dies, too, at 90. >> i lost mother, and i lost lynn to... phew!

[voice breaking] ...cancer. and that's the hardest thing i've told people you'll ever lose... is a wife and a mother. >> his children are grown up and on their own, leaving john with more than 4,000 dolls to sell to keep his promise to his mom. now john gets help from a second lady friend. patty beggs, who, like john, has also suffered the death of a spouse. >> did john ask you for help? >> oh, no. we just was there for each other, and he needed help. i don't know if he asked or if i volunteered, but we just started doing it. i mean, we had to do something with them. >> between suzy and patty, it just seems as if women like coming to john's rescue. >> [ laughing ] >> those dolls ended up helping you out in those young days. >> and evidently it did. i was around some awfully nice girls in my life. >> in 2011, john and patty

actually start dating. with patty's help, john rents a storefront in downtown portales from thanksgiving until christmas, and calls it the dollhouse. the dolls sell like hot cakes, some for $1, some for $10. >> it went really well. we had lots of people in, because everybody wanted to buy the dolls, hear the story. >> and meet john? >> but he was mine at that time, so they couldn't have him. [ laughs ] >> i like that. you must have a reputation around town? >> they call me the "doll boy." [ laughs ] >> how's that working out for you? >> once everything started going, with both ebay and the dollhouse, i thought, "you can call me whatever you want. i don't care. i've got a pretty good inheritance here, boys." >> and john does make a tidy sum -- $5,000 on the store. add that to the $15,000 from ebay, and he's liquidated the bulk of his mom's doll

collection for $20,0000. but his job isn't over. john still has close to 1,000 dolls stacked in his barn that he's yet to unload. >> will selling the doll collection help your life? >> it will help me to know that i've fulfilled what my mother asked of me. >> well, if that's what's important to you, johnny, i want to help. >> oh, i would love that more than anything. there is a few of them out there you might like to see, too. >> oooh! >> do you like barbies? there are 19 boxes of solid barbies. >> barbie?! >> yes! >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. which of these toys sold for the highest price at auction -- was it the 1963 g.i. joe prototype, a diamond barbie, or a gold-plated nintendo wii? the answer in a moment.

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since we're obviously lost, i'm rescheduling my xfinity customer service appointment. ah, relax. i got this. which gps are you using anyway? a little something called instinct. been using it for years. yeah, that's what i'm afraid of. he knows exactly where we're going. my whole body is a compass. oh boy... the my account app makes today's xfinity customer service simple, easy, awesome. not my thing.

>> so, which of these special-edition toys sold for the highest price at auction? the answer is "b," the canturi diamond barbie, which sports a four-carat pink-and-white diamond necklace. it sold for over $300,000 in 2010. >> john wall's mother leaves him a strange inheritance -- more than 5,000 dolls from all over the world. now he's taking me out to his barn to show me the last of his mother's collection, and what he believes may be the cream of the crop. john's hopeful the rest of his mother's dolls are worth one more big payday. >> close to 500 of these

barbies, still in their original boxes. >> johnny! i knew there'd be one just for me. seriously? sagittarius barbie! i am a sagittarius. you know what? earrings -- check. evening gown -- check. beautiful silky hair -- check. this is me! >> it's everything, yes. >> and you have almost 500 of these barbies? that's almost too much barbie for a girl. >> yes. >> and i know someone that may be able to tell us what it's worth. to help john out, we contact tim luke of the treasure quest appraisal group based in south beach, florida. here's tim. he's the former director of the collectibles department at the famed christie's auction house in new york. >> i understand you've got a great collection. >> tim has agreed to help appraise john's strange inheritance. you looked at all these barbies. i really need your opinion. >> well, barbie's a cultural icon. i think that today you see a lot

of people that are in their 40s and over, that's the demographic that is really holding onto this. it's that nostalgia. >> barbie's dream house! >> in 1959, the first year of production, mattel sold more than 300,000 barbies, and a first edition can go for about $8,000 today. >> suntan barbie. >> yes, her features are a tad unrealistic, but she's a strong female character, beautiful, powerful, and rich. and that's what attracts collectors. how do you tell what year a barbie is made? >> well, the very first year that they came out, mattel had to recall and change. they had to soften her features because she looked too much like a, um... "lady of the night." and the mothers... >> oh, my! >> yeah. the mothers, they just -- uproar because of the eyeliner and shadow. and the number-ones will have a hole in the foot, both feet, because there was a stand that barbie came on. >> there are ken dolls here,

too. >> [ laughs ] >> is ken more valuable than barbie? >> no. he doesn't even rate. >> i'm thinking, "and they call john 'doll boy'?" sounds like tim's just the guy to tell us what john's collection is really worth. >> my mother's thoughts were that it was worth over $25,000 for that barbie collection alone. >> johnny, the most important thing is to fulfill mother's wish. will it be the payday john is hoping for? that's next.

i want some more what's he doin? but, he can't look at him! it's just not done! please sir. i want some more more? more? more? more?

please sir he has asked for... thank you what? well he did say please sir yes he did and, thank you yeah. and thank you he's a wonderful boy (laugh) a delightful boy (all boys): thank you, thank you, thank you. this time of year, what do you give? when it's your extra concert, game or special event tickets to vet tix, you're giving our nation's service members and veterans an amazing experience they'll cherish forever. this holiday season, don't just give... vet tix. give something to those who gave. for more information on how you can make a difference

right now, go to vettix.org. here'sthe first ones.y ones. the 'hey', i look good with this' ones. the black, brown, red, and grey ones. the itchy ones. the ones grown by dad. the ones grown for dad. the 'i nearly didn't do it this year' ones. and the absolutely filthy ones. they all raise awareness. raise funds. start conversations and save lives. 'cos whatever you grow', will save a bro' learn more at movember.com >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> here's tim. john wall is hoping doll expert tim luke can give him some good news about the value of his remaining inheritance -- about 500 mint-condition barbies, all in their original boxes. of the 5,000 dolls his mother collected, this is the bulk of what's left. tim, we went through all these

barbies. there's plenty of them. you have to have an opinion. >> the downside is that most of them are from the '90s. >> but they say collector. >> they do. [ sighs ] and don't be seduced by the box. >> so, let me stop you there. you're saying that this barbie, this is a reproduction. >> this is the 50th anniversary, but this came out in the '90s as a celebration of the 50th anniversary. not as valuable. >> johnny told me he thinks $10,000 to $15,000, maybe $25,000 for all of this. how off the mark is he? >> i think he's close to the lower end. >> tim thinks john can still make about $10,000 with a good strategy. >> i think the best way to do this is to put these on ebay, because it's worldwide. somebody may only need one item for their collection, and they're gonna pay a premium for it. >> hello. >> time to share the expert opinion with the heir. >> your mother had such a wonderful time putting this all

together. what i suggest is that you put these on ebay. they're all salable, and they could all do well. >> john takes the sober appraisal of $10k like a man. what do you think mother would say? >> well, she'd say, "we got to do what we got to, baby." >> [ laughs ] >> you know, "let's move with it." >> i'm here. i got my checkbook. i would like to take the last of that series, the sagittarius. i'm thinking i'm going to offer $100. >> i think that's very fair. but if you wanted to step up and offer him $200... >> hell no! i'm not overpaying. [ laughter ] >> hey, we'll have an auction. wait a minute. we'll do an auction. i know. i'm looking out for my client here. >> oh! before i go, i get my barbie sagittarius, and i ask john if he plans to save any of his mother's other dolls. he says just a few, in particular those fragile japanese dolls from world war ii, a reminder of how

his mother started collecting them in the first place. >> i kept going back to what my mom told about them, to please respect it as an inheritance. i've did everything i can to do it in a way that is respectful to her wishes. >> and here's a note to those of you who might want to start a barbie collection of your own -- to tell when a vintage barbie was manufactured, you have to... well, you have to take a look under her dress. in the back. in the early days, when barbie was made in japan, the year each model was created got stamped on her right buttock. now that's a pretty private hiding place, proving that barbie's age is really no one's business but her own. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a "strange inheritance" story

you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it! send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. >> a menagerie of exquisite specimens... >> leopards, lions. >> ...skinned, stuffed, and mounted by a master. >> he was a different guy, different cat. >> not everyone can take something that's dead and make it look like it's alive. >> elk, moose, deer, goats... >> you're walking into someone's lifelong obsession, their commitment, their passion. >> ...antelope, waterbucks, duikers, dik-diks. these lions are from "night at the museum." >> that was a big get. [ lion roars ] >> whoa! >> can his sons get this legacy to pay off? or did they inherit a dying business? >> nobody has an inheritance like the one that we've been bequeathed. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ]

[ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm surrounded by millions of acres of pristine forest near vancouver, british columbia. i'm on my way to meet a family who inherited a legacy that evokes the very spirit of this wilderness. they're also left wondering how to preserve it. hi, brian. >> hi. >> how are you? i'm jamie. >> good. nice to meet you, jamie. >> nice to meet you, too. >> come on. check out the stuff out. >> love to see the house. thanks. what?! oh, my god, brian. what is going on? oh, my gosh! this is your house? i can't believe it. it looks like a zoo. >> my name's brian kulash. in 2010, my dad, steve kulash, passed away and left us an

inheritance with noah's ark implications. >> brian tells me that he and his brother stacey inherited this menagerie from their dad, a taxidermist named steve kulash. a series of calamitous events, including the one that caused their father's death, have stunned the brothers. they struggle to carry on his legacy. kulash, born in 1938, grew up on the family farm in nelson, british columbia. how did he get introduced to taxidermy? >> he sent away for mail-order taxidermy books. and he started by doing chickens and rabbits and stuff around the farm. >> it sets him on a journey that will take him far from the farm, which he leaves when he takes a job as a welder in vancouver. that pays the bills, but taxidermy remains his passion. in 1959, he marries rachel collins, and they raise three strapping young lads --

steve jr., brian, and the youngest, stacey, who i'm told has an even bigger surprise for me 40 miles outside vancouver. what?! >> welcome to the ark. >> what stacey calls "the ark" is a drafty old barn stuffed with the kulash brothers' strange inheritance -- more than four decades worth of their dad's taxidermy. ark is right. oh, my goodness. you do look like you have two of everything. this is incredible. at first, steve kulash fashioned works like these in the basement of the family home. he began with game from his own hunting trips, but soon other hunters brought by their trophies, too. >> when people seen the quality of the work that he was doing, they all started to come to him. >> did mom ever say, "if you bring another animal in this house, i'm gonna kill you"? >> uh, i did hear her say that before, but she would always soften her stance at a bit of coaxing.

>> show me a really fine example of your dad's work. >> his ibex mount is one of his best works. >> why? what makes it great taxidermy? >> he paid a lot of attention to the shape of the eye, the muscles that would make the eyes blink, and tissue. you have to have an artistic eye. not everyone can take something that's dead and make it look like it's alive. he was an artist. >> like so many artistic types, steve dreams of actually making a living from his life's passion. in the late 1960s, he pulls the trigger, quitting that welding job and betting his family's future on his skill as a taxidermist. >> i remember going with him to empty his locker. and he had said, "i'm just gonna break free and do my own thing." >> he rents a storefront and opens steve kulash taxidermy. brian pitches in when not working as a meat cutter at a grocery store in vancouver

while stacey works full-time at his dad's shop and learns his craft. >> birds of prey are my favorite. they look menacing even when they're standing still. >> his dad taught him anyone can learn to stuff a bird, but to turn a lifeless pile of feathers into this, it's about the expression, the pose, the articulation of muscles and limbs. stacey demonstrates the skills he learned at his father's side. >> so, now i'm separating the feathers along the breast plate and stomach area. the entire leg bone stays in, attached to the skin. and then you wrap cotton around the legs to make it look like it has flesh again. before, they just used to inject formaldehyde in the little fleshy part of the -- this part of the wing. >> from start to finish, each piece can take days of painstaking work. >> he would go at 9:00 in the morning, and sometimes he wouldn't come home till 8:00 at night. >> steve's dedication pays off.

soon, his shop is attracting customers from all over north america and beyond. what kind of money can you make doing taxidermy? >> a good sale that we had was $150,000 when we sold two containerfuls of animals to japan. >> his storefront on kingsway was a vancouver icon. and certainly, when you walked in, you realized you were walking in to someone's obsession. >> rachel poliquin, phd, is author of a scholarly history of taxidermy called "the breathless zoo." >> what i've done with taxidermy is to explore if it has any relevancy in today's world, what is its history, what is its meaning. great taxidermy is when you think that the creature might just reanimate in some way. >> reanimate is right. see those lions with ben stiller? steve kulash goes hollywood after the break.

[ lion roars ] >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. what's the oldest museum taxidermy display? an owl in greece, a dodo in china, or a crocodile in switzerland? the answer in a moment. [female narrator] each day, 43 children are diagnosed with cancer.

[mom] the doctor sat down with me in a room and that's when i first heard nephroblastoma. [narrator] today's treatments are harsh and many haven't improved in decades. they kind of tell you when you go in that we are going to bring your child to the brink of death and then bring them back. my hope for the near future is to be able to take these immune therapies and to make it a first line approach. because as more and more of these children survive into adulthood we are seeing more complications. [mom] it can affect their heart; it can affect kidneys, and liver. it can affect their hormones and stunt growth. it's almost like premature aging because of all the exposure to these drugs in the past. [narrator] together, we can find safer treatments

for kids fighting cancer. [john wagner, md] the science says we have more hope than ever before, but we can only promise one thing, and that is we keep trying and that we'll learn from it. and, the children's cancer research fund allows us to do just that. ♪believe we're still worth the fight♪ ♪you'll see there's hope for this world tonight♪ ♪i believe, i believe ♪yeah ♪rock guitar >> so, what's the oldest museum taxidermy display? the answer is "c." a crocodile

in the national history museum in st. gallen, switzerland. dates from 1623. >> by the mid-1970s in vancouver, steve kulash has established a thriving taxidermy business and himself as a legend in the field. >> he was a different guy, different cat. >> at the same time, tragedy stalks the kulash family. in 1981, steve's wife, rachel, dies of cancer at age 38. seven years later, steve jr. drowns in a boating accident. >> the death of my mother and my older brother crushed him. it just made him be closer to us, cause we're all he had. >> wow, how did your family manage after that? >> we just dug ourselves into our work and just kept going. >> yeah, i think that looks good. >> indeed, long hours at work

prove to be therapeutic. >> and then you're going to open it a bit, right? >> as his reputation grows, new clients come calling... [ shop bell rings ] ...some from vancouver's burgeoning film industry. >> his first prop was the "grizzly adams" movie. >> "grizzly adams" -- his first big break. >> and it just snowballed from there. >> they would commission us to make a 10-foot by 4-foot-thick grizzly bear for "macgyver." >> then another action figure places an order. >> for the first "rambo" movie they wanted to rent for the sheriff's office. >> speaking of movie rentals, do these felines look familiar? if so, you're probably one of the tens of millions who bought a ticket for the 2006 hit film "night at the museum." yep, steve kulash was the one who made them movie stars. they're the "pride" of his collection. >> here's the hall of african mammals.

>> he found them and stuffed them. and then, digital artists made them attack ben stiller. [ lion growling ] down boy! >> did you catch 'em? >> all by myself! >> so, following his passion is paying off for kulash. >> do we have schnapps? >> yeah. >> a job he loves, and the freedom and money to take hunting and fishing trips -- and safaris -- all across the globe. >> [ speaking foreign language ] >> my dad could speak a few languages, loved to travel the world. this is my dad on one of his hunts for mountain lion. >> that could be my favorite picture. i'm 50 and he was 70. [ dogs barking ] when we went hunting, i still couldn't keep up to him. >> steve's friend herb karas shared many of these adventures. >> he could handle himself up a mountain or down a mountain, or stay overnight in the woods

if you had to. >> very nice. >> yeah, very good luck you have today. >> yes. >> in 2009, kulash gets recognition not just as a master of taxidermy, but as a bona fide artist. his work is featured in a museum show of animal art called "ravishing beasts." rachel poliquin is the exhibit's curator. >> steve's taxidermy was great. it reflected who he was and it had a certain charisma and passion to it. >> the following year, kulash is preparing to pursue one of his other passions -- an international hunting expedition. >> then one night in march 2010, his son stacey, who lives in the basement of the family home, is awakened by the smoke alarm. >> i opened up my bedroom door, there was a five-foot fire. >> as stacey runs next door to phone the fire department, his dad makes a fatal mistake. >> he went and tried to put the

fire out himself when he could have just walked right out the front door. >> could you see? could you breathe? >> i tried to get him out of the basement, but there was too much smoke. i couldn't get back down there. >> steve kulash gets trapped amid piles of boxes and equipment. [ siren wails ] >> a while later they told us that our father passed away. >> he leaves behind the business where he'd worked side-by-side with his sons, filled with nearly 200 mounted animals. that's not including the metaphorical elephant in the living room. can a taxidermy business really thrive in the 21st century? and if it can, is stacey kulash the right guy to do it? did you ever say, "i know i can, i know i'm good, but it's not for me"? that's next. >> here's another quiz question

for you. the answer in a moment.

>> so, what animal was first thought to be a hoax created by a rogue taxidermist? the answer is a -- the platypus. in 1798, when british explorers sent home the first pelt of the australian mammal, scientists thought it was a hoax and that a taxidermist had sewn a duck's bill onto a mammal's body. when more pelts arrived in england, they acknowledged it was real. but if you're wondering about rogue taxidermy, don't change that channel.

>> four years after their father's death, brian kulash and his brother stacey are struggling with their strange inheritance -- a taxidermy business, plus hundreds of creatures crafted by their father, a legend in the field. they face one big complication when they lose their lease on the shop their dad occupied for more than 40 years. almost 200 mounted specimens, plus eight freezers full of skins, have to be moved to a barn outside vancouver. if someone came along and said, "i have to have them all"... >> definitely. >> how much would you want for everything you have right now? >> $270,000. >> that's not exactly just a round number. you've thought about it. >> yes. [ laughs ] >> the brothers insist that their dad's work would go for at least that much back in the day. will it get that now? stay tuned. >> let's flip it over and inspect it to find if there's any stray threads anywhere. >> okay.

>> meanwhile, like his father did, stacey kulash gets calls from hollywood. >> two months ago i was working on a life-size beaver for a movie with leonardo dicaprio. i had to make it so that the belly could be reopened so that the actor could be skinning it on camera. >> good work, if you can get enough of it. >> at the end of the day it's always about the dollars. you can't pay your bills on good intentions. >> did you ever say, "i know i can, i know i'm good, but it's not for me"? >> well, this is what i trained for for over 30 years, so i'm just gonna keep on doing what my dad taught me. >> it's only between stacey and i, so we're in solidarity because we're brothers. i'm a meat cutter, but i've recently retired and i need to regroup my family and push this to as far as we can go. >> and that may mean going pretty far out there -- to the

land of jackalopes, "pegasus squirrels" and whatever you want to call this creepy creature. >> i took the back vertebrae of a fallow deer and i made a walking cane with it. >> taxidermy going rogue! that's next. ?

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♪and the world's gonna know your name, yea♪ >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> nobody has an inheritance like the one that we've been bequeathed. >> it almost seems like brian and stacey kulash's strange inheritance came a few centuries too late. >> taxidermy really has its origins in a post-columbus era of exploration, when people were going out around the world and discovering new lands. >> scholar rachel poliquin says in the 1800s, taxidermy really took off in the u.s., canada, and europe, growing from a scientific pursuit into a very

common element of home decor. >> in the 19th century, there's the age of colonial hunting, and then it gets into that whole other desire to display your manliness. >> throughout much of the 20th century, hanging one of these heads on your wall was still the cat's meow. >> it was either the largest one you'd ever seen, it was the hardest to kill. it really becomes this souvenir and this point to tell the story about yourself and about your encounter with the animal. >> that's one reason steve kulash's talent was in high demand... >> i learned being by his hip from when i was 6 years old. >> ...a talent his sons inherited. >> you think i can handle the real thing? >> possibly. >> should we give it a try? >> we're gonna glue some eyes in on this mannequin for the next project i'm working on. >> yeah, there's a whole selection of eyeballs. this is one of the ones that we'll be using. that's the way that the eye wants to go on.

>> a little glue? >> right along the rim. >> okay, with my luck it'll be cross-eyed. >> [ laughs ] >> so it would go right here? >> yes. perfect! >> here's looking at you, kid! poliquin says traditional taxidermy is now less popular for a host of reasons. a cultural shift toward conservation over conquest has redefined the art form. still, poliquin sees hope for the kulash boys. >> there has been a revival in taxidermy recently. i think it is -- ultimately becomes a very individual process of how you go forward. >> so, what do you do with that taxidermy business you inherited, in an era when many people see a mounted head and think "comic strip gag"? if you're the kulash brothers, you plant tongue firmly in cheek, and branch out into a new hipster movement called "rogue taxidermy." >> rogue taxidermy is certainly becoming its own art form.

it's putting bits of animals together. there is the carnival nights contest, in brooklyn, where people bring in their strange, rogue taxidermy pieces. >> we've actually done some hipster taxidermy ourselves. that was a fantasy mount that i did for a tv show. i used a squirrel skin and pigeon wings. >> adorable. >> oh, it was funny. >> i guess. >> the jackalopes were done for a café-type restaurant called the cactus club. the antlers are from a white-tailed deer. >> some of stacey's creations go beyond fantasy to the macabre. >> i took the back vertebrae of a fallow deer. and it had like a miniature human skull on the very top of it that was chrome, and i made a walking cane with it. that sold for $650. >> not your father's taxidermy. >> you do whatever you have to in taxidermy to keep your doors open. >> which doesn't mean brian and stacey are discounting their

dad's legacy. they still intend to unload that noah's ark menagerie they inherited for a pretty price -- if not in one big boatload, then two-by-two, or at least one at a time. >> we had a lady that came and bought a tiger from us. the tiger was $18,000. [ register dings ] >> a promising start, but a drafty barn in the middle of nowhere is not exactly a customer magnet. you need a new place? >> yeah. >> they're saving to open up a new shop, confident that their strange inheritance still has a future. >> it's only between stacey and i, and so we're just trying to carry on and keep our name going in this business. >> as author and curator rachel poliquin observes, death makes taxidermy possible. it seems fitting this strange inheritance will long preserve the bond between a departed dad and his devoted sons. >> he is legendary. he taught me his whole life -- little things, big things.

he always had something to offer. >> my father was basically my best friend. >> we're hoping to still dominate and be on top, where we should be. >> kulash rules. >> you know it. >> in his day, steve kulash stuffed a lot of trophy animals, but his old buddy herb karas once found him hard at work on a cat, as in kitty cat. "you mounting pets now," herb asked. well, steve explained that the animal belonged to a neighborhood woman and had been her beloved companion for 15 years. herb says steve was carefully adjusting the whiskers to give kitty the perfect feline expression, gazing lovingly at her owner. what a guy. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a

"strange inheritance" story you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it! send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com. have a great weekend, everyone. [♪] gregg: good evening, i'm gregg jarrett sitting in for the vacationing lou dobbs. president trump ending the week with another jab at the absurdity and hypocrisy of the radical dimms, calling their impeachment hearings the most unfair in american history. the president exasperated by nancy pelosi's refusal to send articles of impeachment to the senate, agree qught analysis from yours truly that pelosi's stall tactics are exposing the weakness of the democrats' case.