Death by Natural Causes explains how nature kills us

The Houston Museum of Natural Science has brought back one of its most popular exhibits of all time: Death from natural causesVisitors should see it as soon as possible because no one knows how long it will remain on display before it goes on tour to other museums.

First opened in 2018, Death by Natural Causes was an instant hit. The exhibition explores all the ways humans can be killed by the natural world, from disease to lightning strikes to hippo attacks. It’s all presented in a sinister, amusing way that feels like it was planned by the Addams Family.

As always, HMNS goes above and beyond when it comes to video and interactive elements. Fun elements like an animatronic fortune teller that calculates your life expectancy, but there are also new features. A large blank book displays animated death facts projected from above as visitors flip through it.

“The mood is Victorian, so we wanted to keep the digital elements as close to that as possible,” says Nicole Temple, vice president of education, who gave us a tour of the exhibit as it was being completed.

Another popular activity is the ability to paint digitally with pigments that often contain deadly or toxic elements. Vincent Van Gogh’s work is prominently featured here. The legendary artist’s signature color palettes and notorious mental illness may have something to do with the toxic natural elements in his tools.

“Van Gogh’s paintings contained a lot of lead,” Temple says. “Exposure to lead causes halos, which may explain Starry Night. He also used digitalis, which yellows vision, and you see that in the colors of Bedroom at Arles.”

There aren’t any dramatic changes to Death by Natural Causes, but there are some fun little ones. A funeral carriage on loan from the National Museum of Funeral History is parked outside the entrance. The layout has been reconfigured to be slightly less claustrophobic and more fluid. A few other stuffed animal statues can be spotted around the exhibit if you look closely, including a small opossum.

“They discovered that opossums had a special peptide that allowed them to get rid of copperhead snake bites, but then World War II broke out,” Temple says. “They eventually resumed their research and are now working on creating a cheap, easy-to-use antivenom. They might finally be able to cure snake envenomation.”

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Hello, you (insult deleted)

Photography by Jef Rouner

One major change worth noting is the updated audio tours. The current system uses a website to access them, which this reporter has never been able to get working properly. Temple says the museum will roll out a new app dedicated to audio tours in the coming weeks.

That’s a good thing, because it seems like the audio tour has some jokes. In the section on animal attacks, Temple says there’s a whole story about how Johnny Cash almost died because of a grieving ostrich.

“He had some on his ranch and went to check on them after a big freeze,” she said. “He found one frozen to death and got between the body and his companion. His companion said, ‘You don’t touch my girlfriend,’ and kicked him. The only reason he wasn’t disemboweled was because the claw caught on his belt buckle.”

And yes, COVID appears alongside several other bacteria and viruses that have killed large numbers of people. The exhibit points out that the United States has one-seventh the number of COVID deaths, despite having only 4.23% of the world’s population. It’s a sobering and frustrating note to end the exhibit on, and a powerful reminder of why we need to talk about death openly and honestly. Maybe if more people did, they wouldn’t have called the plague a hoax and taken horse dewormer.

Recent events aside, Death By Natural Causes still retains its whimsical edge and tendency to explain the misinformation surrounding misfortune. Check it out while you can. Like death itself, no one knows when it will end, but Temple says it will at least be open to the public until the end of the summer.

Death by Natural Causes is open daily at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, 5555 Hermann Park. Tickets available at HMNS.org. $20-35.