Why telling “the proper stories” is vital to understanding the Piasa

Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Society & Culture, Education, Public, Chicago, Arts, City, Radio, Curious, Investigation

4.8 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Roadside attractions aren’t always the kitschy photo op we imagine them to be. Some have a complicated history that you can’t see from the side of the road. Last episode, we took a road trip to Southern Illinois to look into a metal, firebreathing dragon. Today, we’re looking at a different landmark in nearby Alton: the Piasa. Unlike the Kaskaskia dragon, the Piasa has a centuries-old history that starts with the Indigenous people of what is now the Mississippi River. The Piasa — as most people know it — is a mythical creature painted on the bluffs of the Mississippi. The image depicts a winged figure with antlers, fangs and talons. It’s a recreation of the original image which was destroyed in the 1850s because of quarrying on the bluffs. Through the centuries, different stories have been told about the meaning and origins behind this creature, including one that is popular but fabricated. Dr. Mark Wagner, director of the Center for Archaeological Investigations at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, talks about the layered history of the mural. Logan Pappenfort, director of tribal relations for the Illinois State Museum, talks about why it’s important to uplift true cultural artifacts and says the real history behind them isn’t hard to uncover if you know where to look.

Transcript

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1:00.9	What's up Chicago? I'm Erin Allen, and this is Curious City.
1:07.2	Last episode, we looked into a question about a fire-breathing dragon, this roadside attraction in downstate Vendalia, and this got us thinking about other roadside
1:10.9	attractions here in Illinois. Sometimes there's a deeper, more complicated history behind these
1:16.1	things that you just can't see from the side of the road. That's definitely the case for this
1:21.2	one landmark downstate in Alton, Illinois, the Paiasa. It's a creature that's got deer antlers.
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