The power of imagination: Museum exhibit explores the origins of mythical creatures

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A triceratops skull may have served to generate tales about a griffin, a mythical creature with the body, tail and back legs of a lion, eagle’s talons as its front feet, and the beak-like head and wings of an eagle. submitted

MUNCIE — Nothing works on the imagination like the idea of mythical creatures: mermaids, unicorns, dragons, giants. An ongoing exhibit at the Minnetrista Cultural Center in Muncie jumps in with both feet, not only exploring worldwide myths but tying them to science-based explanations.

“Giants, Dragons and Unicorns: the World of Mythic Creatures” features a variety of large and colorful models of a mermaid, a unicorn and the giant squid known as the Kraken. Each display within the exhibit addresses the myth, details possible sources behind the legends and includes artistic relics adorned with the fantastical creatures of the legend.

The display teaches us that the myth of mermaids, for example, dates back to ancient times in Europe. Mermaids, creatures with the torso and face of a woman and the tail of a fish (instead of legs), are depicted as either seductive and dangerous or as an omen of good luck depending on the culture.

A rotatable globe in the center of the room gives locations of the surprising number of countries where mermaid stories appear in folklore. Mermaid legends are found in Thailand, Greece, Australia, Japan and Brazil. An illustration from the 1483 Nuremberg Bible includes a mermaid in the waters surrounding Noah’s ark. We learn that in the ocean off the coast Haiti, Christopher Columbus reported seeing mermaids, which historians believe may have been manatees. He recorded in his journal: “They are not as pretty as they are depicted, for somehow in the face, they look like men.”

The legend of the Kraken, a giant ship-crushing squid, had been a part of worldwide folklore long before its terrifying appearance in “Pirates of the Caribbean.” The exhibit features, among other things, a life-sized giant squid eyeball that you would NOT want to come face-to-face with. Reports of sea monsters have been around ever since humanity took to sailing the seas. The legend of the Kraken, a word that comes from the Norse word ‘kraki,’ meaning ‘like a boat hook or an anchor,” may have evolved from pieces of the real-life giant squid that have washed up on shore or been found stuck to whales.

A colorful dragon mask, the kind often used in parades, draws visitors into the dragon section of the exhibit. The narrative teaches visitors that dragons are perhaps the most easily explained of the mythical creatures through the discovery of dinosaur bones. Another rotating globe details that dragons are found in the folklore of European and South American cultures but are most prevalent in Asian cultures. A triceratops skull model, we learn, may be the impetus behind the legend of the griffin, a mythical creature with the body, tail and back legs of a lion, eagle’s talons as its front feet, and the beak-like head and wings of an eagle.

The icing on the cake of the exhibit includes Hoosier connections. Several Indiana towns boast mythical creatures of their own. In 1949, a farmer in Churubusco claimed to have seen a snapping turtle “as big as a dining room table” on his property. The story brought hundreds of fishermen to the area in a search for Oscar, the name given to the turtle. The turtle was never found, and the farmer sold the property — including the lake where the turtle allegedly lived — in 1990. However, the mystery remains unsolved.

Other Indiana mystery creatures include sightings of Big Foot, UFOs, the Loup Garou (a French term meaning werewolf) and mud mermaids along the Ohio River.

“Giants, Dragons and Unicorns: the World of Mythic Creatures” runs through May 9.

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The “Giants, Dragons and Unicorns: the World of Mythic Creatures” exhibit shows through May 9 at the Minnetrista Cultural Center, 1200 N. Minnestrista Parkway. The museum is closed Monday and Tuesday. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for children. Visit minnetrista.net for more information.

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