What Happened To Hoggle After Labyrinth & Where He Is Now: A Weird True Story
Some puppets are preserved forever under glass cases in places like the Museum of the Moving Image. Other puppets end up having to travel a long hard road before they earn any appreciation. So it went for Hoggle, the main puppet prop in the legendary film "Labyrinth," who once was lost but — thanks to some luck and a bit of publicity — is now found. The end result is one weird, wild tale with a happy ending.
The puppet disappeared during a plane trip when director Jim Henson tucked it into a suitcase after filming was completed on the 1986 cult classic. The airline subsequently lost the suitcase containing Hoggle. Since it was no longer needed for the film, no one went in search of the missing puppet, and the mystery of where it had gone lingered for years.
Then Hoggle resurfaced at the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama in 1997. The Unclaimed Baggage Center is a store where one can buy items left behind in unclaimed lost luggage. By the time Hoggle was discovered he was in rough shape; due to age and lack of care, the foam encasing his metal inner skeleton had begun to wear away. Fortunately, however, the puppet's post-movie afterlife has been much better since.
Hoggle has been restored and is now on display
While things looked a little dire for Hoggle for a while there, it turns out that everything's all right now. The puppet was restored twice, most recently in 2022, when professionals brought him back to almost his full onscreen glory. He's now on display at the Unclaimed Baggage Museum in Scottsboro. In his case, you can find his original restored head, a puppet hand, costume pieces and a hat. There's also a "Labyrinth" poster and several books about the movie.
Other objects on display in the museum include Egyptian artifacts, freeze-dried snakes, signed sports equipment, antique instruments, and even a full suit of armor. Fans looking to hang out with Hoggle can see him every day except Sundays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Since there's been chatter about a "Labyrinth" sequel recently — one that might be taken from a sequel comic that many fans have never heard of, or a dark prequel comic that touches on the origins of the Goblin King – perhaps he'll get to leave his home in Alabama one more time to do battle with the latter.