PPHM welcomes community to world of fantasy in new exhibit 'Giants, Dragons and Unicorns'

The Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum (PPHM) invites the community to explore a world of fantasy with their new exhibit, "Giants, Dragons and Unicorns: The World of Mythic Creatures."

Stories of mythical beings have been with us for thousands of years. These legends, which were sometimes inspired by fossils or living animals, continue to inspire us today. This exhibit, open now until March 25, 2023, traces the natural and cultural roots of some of the world’s most enduring mythic creatures.

Heather Friemel, Associate Director of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, said in a news release: “This exhibition is a great pairing with our 'Objects of Enchantment' exhibition which opened earlier this year. This gives PPHM a chance to combine a traveling exhibition along with items from our permanent collection. We are able to relate mythic creatures in everyday objects from prehistory to today.”

Organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, "Giants, Dragons & Unicorns: The World of Mythic Creatures" features unique cultural objects to highlight the surprising similarities and differences in the ways people around the world envision and depict mythic creatures. The exhibition includes models and cast fossils of prehistoric animals to investigate how they could have (through misidentification, speculation, fear, or imagination) inspired the development of several legendary creatures. For example, visitors will discover how narwhal tusks were believed to be magical remnants of unicorn horns; how dinosaur fossils may have been mistaken for the remains of griffins; and how tales of sea monsters may simply have been fisherman’s tales of real creatures, such as the oarfish and giant squid.

"Some things that this exhibit allows the audience to know is how we made connections to things we were unfamiliar with. For example, when the rhinoceros skull was originally viewed in ancient times, they didn't know what it was, and the myth of the unicorn was born. In other places in the world, the rhino skulls became the myth of a dragon, so it's interesting to look at these items with the knowledge we have today and see how they relate to these myths like unicorns and dragons," said Buster Ratliff, director of operations at PPHM.

Exhibition highlights include a stunning vibrant sculpture of the African water spirit Mami Wata; a replica “Feejee mermaid,” of the type made famous by showman P. T. Barnum, created by sewing the head and torso of a monkey to the tail of a fish; a “life-size” model of a European unicorn; and a dramatic model of a kraken, whose tentacles appear to rise out of the floor as if surfacing from the sea.

"Giants, Dragons & Unicorns: The World of Mythic Creatures" also offers numerous interactive stations throughout the exhibition. Visitors are invited to participate in activities like rearranging scale models of mammoth bones to look like a giant human skeleton. In an engaging digital interactive, visitors can build their own dragon and watch as it comes alive in a virtual environment. The exhibition also includes several video interviews with experts in various fields discussing the significance of mythical creatures and their possible real-life counterparts.

"This exhibit allows us to also highlight some approximately 30 items that our museum has that can be showcased in this exhibit as well. ... This exhibit brings these myths into reality and allows us to learn more about these individuals' culture and reality through these items and stories. It is fascinating that things we think are commonplace were once viewed completely differently, to create the world of fantasy that we have today in movies and myths," Ratliff said.

"Giants, Dragons & Unicorns: The World of Mythic Creatures" is divided into several main themes, including sea monsters; mermaids; giants, griffins and unicorns; and dragons.

Sea Monsters: The exhibition examines sea monsters and other mysterious creatures that inhabit the depths of the ocean. When European explorers set out on voyages of discovery in the 1400s and 1500s, they were sailing into uncharted waters. Sea monsters were a concern for them, and frightening rumors ran rampant. The stories they brought back were a mix of accurate observations, honest mistakes and outright tall tales, with no way for naturalists to separate fact from fiction. Highlights include a dramatic model of a kraken, with enormous tentacles and a head rising up from the floor of the exhibition, and a digital interactive station demonstrating how real marine animals could be mistaken for mythical sea monsters.

Mermaids: One of the most popular mythic creatures in many places is the half-human, half-fish mermaid. Mermaids in Europe, Africa, and the Americas all carry combs and mirrors and were thought to be beautiful, seductive, and dangerous — like the sea itself. Highlights include a vibrant sculpture of Mami Wata, one of the most popular and powerful African water spirits; with beautiful carvings of Sedna, from one of the best-known stories of the Inuit people of the Arctic regions of Canada and Greenland.

Giants, Griffins, and Unicorns: Many mythical creatures appear to have body parts from ordinary animals combined in unusual ways. A few experts believe that the legends of the griffin, an extraordinary creature combining body parts of eagles and lions, originated in the sands of the Gobi Desert around 2,000 years ago when Scythian miners stumbled upon the fossil remains of the four-legged, beaked dinosaur Protoceratops. Other creatures look like familiar animals but have extraordinary and magical powers, such as the European unicorn, a horse with a magical horn thought to counteract poisons, and the Asian unicorn, which is depicted with one or multiple flesh-covered horns. The enormous bones of mammoths, mastodons, and woolly rhinoceroses found by Ancient Greeks may have inspired tales of giants. Highlights include a “life-size” model of a majestic European unicorn, an interactive table that invites visitors to rearrange scale models of bones to form a mammoth skeleton or a giant human skeleton, a touchable narwhal tusk, a touchable cast mammoth bone, and a skull of the dinosaur Protoceratops.

Dragons: Stories of serpent-like beasts with fabulous powers inspire awe around the world. In Asian tales, dragons ascend from the sea, lakes, and rivers, up to the sky, bringing rain needed for cultivation. In stories from Europe, dragons can slaughter people with their putrid breath, or spit fire and set cities ablaze. The earliest dragon legends date back thousands of years, and the creature still haunts our imagination today. Highlights include a 17th-century European natural history book; a wooden carving of the Aztec flying serpent Quetzalcoatl; the head of a Chinese parade dragon and an accompanying video, highlighting the Chinese tradition of the dragon dance at the Lunar New Year; a fun photo opportunity with three dragons; and a recreation of the “Feejee mermaid” inspired by P. T. Barnum’s infamous hoax, which joins sculpture and castings from a monkey skeleton.

This exhibit and its paired exhibit "Objects of Enchantment" can be viewed during museum hours, Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the museum closed Sunday and Monday. Admission can be purchased in person at the museum or online at https://www.panhandleplains.org/p/plan-your-visit/hours-and-admissions .

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: PPHM explores world of fantasy with 'Mythic Creatures' exhibit