Old City Hall Epic Creatures -- Wichita KS
N 37° 41.082 W 097° 20.282
14S E 646544 N 4172132
Two different but similarly fearsome creatures leer over those who dare to approach the former City Hall in downtown Wichita KS.
Waymark Code: WMH16H
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 05/05/2013
Views: 6
These horrible creatures are easily missed in all the wonderful details of this Romanesque courthouse.
They are pressed into the corners of the clock tower, which rises over the 4-stories of the courthouse offices. They seem to be actually emerging from the stone --
Each creature is different. The one on the north presents a scary skeletal appearance, with prominent ribs. The one to the south is fat, with a bulbous bulging abdomen. Both leer fiercely and menacingly, showing off their sharp teeth. Both have bat wings and lion feet.
Blasterz have an internal discussion about whether these are demons, dragons, or gryphons. Since one of the roles of gryphons through history was to guard against "secret slander" (see here (
visit link) these very well could be gryphons.
However, gryphons usually have eagle-heads and eagle wings. These two creatures have distorted animal heads -- one may have a beak, but is so weathered it is hard to tell. The other has an animal visage.
Another point against them being gryphons is that they both have bat-wings, which are more common to demons and dragons. If we could see the tail, we could call them dragons. But with the back half of the creature hidden, we can't conclusively identify these as dragons, although they have many dragon-y features.
Whether dragon, demon, or gryphon, these two are epic creatures of fearsome appearance.