ST. JOHN ? A red brick building on the west side of the square in downtown St. John contains a world of mysteries.

The signs on the building read “Hood’s Haven” and “Technatorium.” The only clue to what might be inside is a chemistry beaker painted on the storefront’s sign.

Inside is the St. John Science Museum, an interactive museum of sorts. James Hood, the owner who is also a curator, demonstrator and actor, calls the place a “technatorium” because it’s more than just a science museum. In fact, it almost seems like a well-stocked high school physics laboratory.

That part is easy to explain. Hood taught science at St. John High for 31 years.

The rest is not quite so easy to describe. It’s a true you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it sort of place with something new to look at whichever way you turn.

‘Real basic’

A series of low workbenches line the walls, covered with motors, coils, light bulbs and batteries. The benches are divided into about 20 stations, each devoted to a different concept of electricity, light or sound.

Hood, the 81-year-old owner, is a throwback to the old days, which in this case means “before computers.”

“I am computer-illiterate,” he said. “I just don’t get a kick out of computers.”

He runs his museum as he ran his classroom before retiring in the 1990s.

When school groups from surrounding towns visit the museum, he makes sure to point out that science, especially electricity, is based on simple scientific and mathematical principles.

A metal plate, piece of glass and sheet of aluminum foil show the construction of a capacitor, an electrical component that stores an electrical charge.

“This is the way I taught all this stuff,” he said. “It’s just real basic.”

Teaching methods

Dressed in blue overalls, the front pocket crammed with an assortment of pens, laser pointers and screwdrivers, Hood moves around the museum, connecting wires and flipping switches.

He’s always ready with a story or an explanation.

One station features a loudspeaker to teach about amplification and an electrical grid. Hood points at the components of the grid, showing the path the electricity takes from the power source to the speaker.

To better prove his point, he picks up a yellow telephone receiver and says in a scratchy voice projected over the speaker, “And that is the beginning of modern electronics.”

To show what sound waves look like, Hood plays a violin and a slide whistle. The waves are picked up by an oscilloscope, which displays them on a round, green radar-like screen.

And to help students visualize invisible magnetic fields, Hood uses a clear tube of iron shavings, placed between the positive and negative poles of a magnet, allowing the shavings to move toward the poles.

“You get little kids in here, and they can see there’s something going on,” he said. “I think this is missing in teaching the basics of science these days. This stuff is about getting kids excited about science.”

Hood constructed almost all of his experiments from scrap lumber and discarded electronics equipment. Old crank-style telephones now teach how power plants generate power. The giant red canister of a shop-style vacuum cleaner is now a hydrogen-powered engine. Parts and pieces of microwave ovens, refrigerators and television sets are scattered throughout.

‘A place to meet’

“Hood’s Haven” is not just a science museum, however. The front of the building houses a small coffee shop where local residents come in to drink coffee, eat doughnuts and visit with one another in the mornings.

“The drug store here in town closed awhile back,” Hood said. “Now we serve the purpose of giving people a place to meet and drink coffee.”

A World War II veteran, Hood survived a plane crash when a B-24 he was flying in was shot down over the North Sea. Pictures of veterans and those who died in war cover the walls in the front part of the building. There are two Purple Heart medals on display as well: one is Hood’s, and the other is his brother Cecil’s, who died in the war.

It’s also a tribute to the interests of his family. Hood said his grandson has contributed to many of the exhibits. The results from one of their rocket experiments are posted on the refrigerator next to the coffee area.

Joyce Hood, James’ wife of 47 years, helps with the museum, keeping track of the timing on a hydrogen fuel cell and picking up metal rings that James shoots across the museum in a variety of ways.

“I’m up here whenever he needs me,” she said.

The Hoods estimate that about 200 people visit the museum each year. Guest book entries contain names of travelers from Florida, California and cities and states in between.

James said he was working on new ways to promote the museum, including distributing fliers at the Kansas State Fair.

“Wichita has its Exploration Place, Hutchinson has its Cosmosphere, and St. John has its humble little science museum,” he said.