SkyMall's legacy of crazy geeky products (pictures)

SkyMall, a catalog found tucked into the seat backs on airplanes, seems to be nearing the end of its run. Its parent company, Xhibit, filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, with plans to auction off its assets. Even if the catalog goes under, it will long be remembered for its whacked-out product offerings that provided goofy entertainment on flights.

The SkyMall catalog always did have a knack for attracting geeks. You just couldn't look away, especially with items like this "Star Trek" Captain's Dog Bed, a doggie-size replica of the captain's chair from the bridge of the USS Enterprise. It's the perfect accessory for your very own Captain Bark.

If you look out at your garden and all you see is plants, then you need to spice things up with a life-size Bigfoot, the Garden Yeti statue. Found in the SkyMall catalog, the statue weighs a hefty 147 pounds and stands 6 feet high, which actually seems a little short for a Bigfoot. It's just one great example of how strange SkyMall can get.

So you enjoy taxidermy, but you don't enjoy taking a little furry life. You can have it your way with SkyMall's bizarre Mounted Squirrel Head. The product name is a little misleading, since it actually involves most of the squirrel's torso, including dangling little arms and paws. It's resin and described as "super-realistic." It's about the size of a real squirrel and may lead you to wonder why it took so long for SkyMall's parent company to file for bankruptcy when it was selling products as desirable as this one.

Go ahead, embrace your inner child as you wander around the airport. The world is your skate park when you have a Micro Kickboard Carry-on Luggage Scooter with a Bluetooth Speaker. A choice item from SkyMall's catalog, the $430 suitcase-scooter has three wheels and handlebar so you can zip around on the fold-down scooter. Just try not to pull off any tricks. This isn't the X Games; it's an airport.

The $150 KidsEmbrace Deluxe Harnessed Booster Car Seat is just one of several superhero-themed car seats available from SkyMall. The seat features Spider-Man's torso reaching out around your kid, along with two cup holders in his Spidey-fists. It's pretty much the perfect item for young superheroes-in-training. Get one while you still can.

Since SkyMall is an in-flight catalog that caters to travelers, it's no wonder it features a bevy of bizarre travel items, like the infamous SkyRest Travel Pillow. This hunk of blue weirdness inflates into a large lap pillow with a curved top so you can hold it like a baby and sleep with your head jammed into the seat in front of you. So comfortable.

When you think of zombies, you naturally think of SkyMall, right? The financially shaky in-flight catalog of weirdness offers many variations on the zombie garden statue theme, including this $100 "Zombie of Montclaire Moors." The pasty-looking creature is just shoulders, arms and a head, made to look like it's crawling up out of the dirt in your yard. It comes from statuary maker Toscano. A statue this cool shouldn't just be saved for Halloween, it should be a year-round thing.

What looks like an iPad, but is much cheaper than an iPad and does almost nothing an iPad can do? The answer can be found from the SkyMall catalog. SkyMall will still be remembered for items like this $65 iPad Wall Clock. You would have to be an iPad superfan to want this on your wall. It features glass construction and fake apps where the numbers would normally be.

The SkyMall catalog was always eager to sell a frightening variety of massage devices to its customers. From massaging shoes to personal sauna systems, it had the gamut covered. One particularly odd entry is the iDream3 Eye & Head Massager, a helmet-like device that sits on the top of your head, covers your eyes and tries to work out the kinks in your scalp and eyeballs. The gadget combines air pressure, vibration and point massage along with magnet and heat therapy. One customer review on the SkyMall site reports that the massager "does not feel good."

The bathroom can be a treacherous place to visit in the dark. Unless you have a Night Glow Toilet Seat courtesy of the SkyMall catalog. Available in blue or green, the seat is said to glow for 10 years of service, guiding you to the toilet through the darkest of nights, like a friendly fairy in a bathroom forest.

Some aunts and grandmas have been know to spy a baby and declare, "You're so cute! I could just eat you up!" SkyMall takes that thought and runs with it by offering the Lil'Sushi Newborn Swaddle Blanket & Hat Set designed to make a little one look like lunch. The blanket looks like seaweed while the hat looks like rice and fish eggs. You will have to provide your own ginger.

Remember those bouncy balls with handles you played with when you were a kid? SkyMall does. It offers an Adult Jumping Ball, no doubt destined for innocent adult hijinks. "Extreme fun guaranteed," the catalog says with great hope. It also suggests using it for office parties, which really is a pretty good idea.