By Christopher Borrelli | Tribune reporter
That dank musk.
As you tiptoe into "Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids," the new exhibit at the Field Museum about the history of imaginary beasts and why we believe in them, what hits you is the musk?the stank of dampness, which may or may not be intended. Either way, the smell works. So does the dim light, the sound of far-off creaks and groans that rise around you.
Stretched ahead, in room after room, like a Hopper show for Godzilla fetishists, are taxidermied monster birds that never existed and miniature mermaids boasting the head of a monkey and the tail of a fish. If I were a 9-year-old boy, my head would explode with excitement?being quite a few decades older, it almost happened anyway. As a lesson in mass psychosis, it's fascinating. But as a pure survey of classic monsters and the fraudulent claims to them, it's not to be missed.
With that in mind, what we have here are stories of the bizarre and enormous. But wait! Be cautious where ye dare to tread! For we have inserted four embellishments of our own making?tales a bit taller than the others. Can you spot the fabrication?
As Legend Has It ...
The Nasca tribe of South America worshiped a giant killer whale that toted around a human head. However, the Nasca also vanished around 700 A.D.?and no one knows why. Even more mysterious is the elusive sea bishop, said to prowl the shallows off Denmark. It has the body of a Catholic clergyman (in a full ornate robe and towering hat) and the tentacles of a giant squid. It was sometimes called a sea monk, and the Germans captured a few (or so they say). In the 1400s, European explorers sailing into literally uncharted waters claimed to be visited at night by a 100-foot-tall shrimp; it would offer directions to frustrated sea goers, then intentionally point them in the wrong direction. Speaking of explorers: Christopher Columbus claimed to see many sea monsters, but was most disappointed by mermaids?in a dispatch back to Spain, he declared them "Not as pretty as depicted."
Just Kidding ...
About the shrimp. Among the highlights of "Mythical Creatures" are the rare 16th Century books of a Swiss naturalist who depicted enormous squid as Catholic clergy in long cone-shaped hats. Mistaken identity and exaggeration comes up quite a bit: Reports of elusive sea monsters are shown (in pictorial evidence and interactive booths) to hem closely to images of whale pods and long thin fish, their humps rising and falling through shifting waves. Columbus' ugly mermaids were probably sea manatees, and it's possible the Nasca's killer whale was exactly that?the Nasca indeed vanished mysteriously, though the show includes a pair of its killer whale-inspired pottery. Split into four sections?air, water, land and dragons?"Mythic Creatures" feels most tangible and relatable discussing sea monsters. As you enter the exhibit, enormous tentacles rise from the floor and reinforce the point that our brains?frightened by the unfamiliar?would probably sketch in everything that slithered beneath the waves.
As Legend Has It ...
Arabic myths claim an enormous chicken-eagle bird that flew and had legs the size of tree trunks; it would hurl rocks at travelers, live in the mountains and hunt elephants. Of equal stature was the Irish giant Finn MacCool, so large he constructed a rocky causeway to Scotland, just so he could beat up a rival Scottish giant. As for Mongolian legends: There's the world traveler who met a giant female Bigfoot creature called an alma. He romanced the alma. He brought her home to meet his village. She gave birth to a half-man half-Bigfoot son, who grew up to become a noted scholar and live in a monastery. Another Mongolian myth: A great skunk ape would periodically lumber down from the mountains and demand that one unlucky village wash it in the blood of 15,245 miniature donkeys?the precise number representing the number of hairs on a skunk ape's face.
Just Kidding ...
About the skunk ape. Sort of. "Mythic Creatures" is so rich in man-ape lore I lingered over it a while, long enough to learn of a Florida Skunk Ape, said to haunt the Everglades (but not said to demand a blood sacrifice, yet). Even more compelling is evidence that tales of Bigfoots?Bigfeet??propagate around the world because the fossil record of an imposing 800-pound man-ape named Gigantopithecus dates back as recently as 30,000 years ago. Some scientists believe pockets of these rare apes hung on much longer. Which brings us to the exhibit's showstopper?a believable replica of a Giganto, appearing only a rung or two removed on the evolutionary ladder from Paul Giamatti. Scant evidence of something is a recurring theme in "Mythic Creatures." That woolly rhinoceros skull? Kept in an Austrian town for many years as proof that dragons once menaced the surrounding hills. As for the mythic Roc of Arab legend: A 10-foot-tall bird once lived on Madagascar, but went extinct in the 1500s. The exhibit features a full-scale feathered replica?and a (surprisingly explicit) narrative painting about Mongolian Bigfoot sex.
As Legend Has It ...
The Japanese claim some of the most compelling tales in "Mythic Creatures." For instance, the iconic pop invention Hello Kitty is actually the softening and distortion of an ancient Japanese myth about a monster named Kitano; it stalked the coast of Japan and resembled a house cat, but if petted would climb in a child's ear and plant eggs. The legend spread after a bug rash swept the country in 45 A.D. Speaking of children-murdering Japanese myths: Kappa has the back of a turtle and the face of an ape and lures children to their doom by asking them to pull his finger. He also enjoys eating cucumbers. And the mischievous Tengu is a Japanese goblin who would punish prideful locals and sometimes make fun of their clothes. In 1860 the government posted signs in a number of wooded areas asking any nearby Tengu to relocate briefly while the shogun was in town on business.
Just Kidding. ...
About Hello Kitty. But one of the savvier insights in "Mythic Creatures" is the way cultures inevitably cuddle-ize their ugliest fears. What was the Loch Ness Monster became better known as "Nessie." In Mexico, the vampirish Chupacabra and dog-like Ahuizotl (boasting a hand on its tail that drowns children) have been softened somewhat into brilliantly-colored cartoons (represented in the show by action figures and cartoons and a papier-mache Chupacabra statue resembling a bad acid trip). Tengu, meanwhile, is the rare mythic beast that's more man than beast, and a moralist?he only taunts the pompous. And Kappa has evolved from child killer to a boy-like turtle pal of sorts (check out the cute ceremonial Kappa masks)?and kind of simple-minded to boot. He holds water in a dent on his head. Bow to him. If he bows back, he loses his water and then his powers.
As Legend Has It ...
Not all mythical creatures are menacing or evil. Dragons in East Asian legend were often heralded as rainmakers. In the late 1920s a Scottish tribe claimed a unicorn named Zafir appeared every June for years and begged for fresh haggis, and did laundry in return. The Bali lion thingy Barong Ket is invisible and fierce yet serves as a village guardian against the witch of chaos, Rangda. Also, according to ancient Inuit tradition, a mermaid washed up sick on shore and was pushed back into the water by a kindly fisherman. Later the mermaid returned and gave the man a gramophone, a gun and a sewing machine.
Just Kidding ...
About the Scottish unicorn. Among the exhibit's artifacts is a smooth 1964 gray stone sculpture of the appliance-giving mermaid being pushed out to sea, and a remarkable full-size Barong costume from the early 1900s made of antlers and buffalo hair and wood and bits of metal. It would not look out of place in "Godzilla vs. Megalon"?beneath the costume, one dancer worked the tail, while another gnashed the teeth. And in the very last room: a 17-foot long replica of a dragon, wings extended, body curled into an ominous crouch?and bearing an alarming resemblance to the cuddly fire breather from "Shrek."
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