The Hodag
During the great Wisconsin timber boom of the late 1800’s, Eugene Shepard of Rhinelander was a land developer, a lumberman, a surveyor, and a Timber Cruiser - a set up man for lumber companies who goes into tracts of virgin timber and estimates their value based on potential harvest, quantity of various kinds of trees, topography, available mills and potential mill sites. He gathers all available survey data and maps and then engages the crews and equipment needed to harvest timber. Gene Shepard was also a practical joker of the first rank. His hoaxes were numerous. One involved the discovery of scented moss deep in the pines along a hidden glen. When word got out, tourists flocked to the scene. Everyone wanted a piece of this exotic north woods treasure until someone noticed that the smell emanating from the moss resembled a popular lilac scented perfume that Shepard had been buying by the gallon from a local pharmacy.
From The New North, May 30, 1901.
Of all his pranks and tall tales, The Hodag was Eugene Shepard’s enduring masterpiece. As described by Shepard, the Hodag was a distressingly ugly creature with horns like a male stag beetle, stegosauran spine plates running down its back, short sharp teeth and a spiked tail. According to Shephard,It was so aware of its own ugliness that it would fall into fits of bitter lonely weeping. It did not liked to be laughed at, was afraid of lemons and subsisted on a diet of white bulldogs. Indeed,said Shepard, the scarcity of Hodags was due to the scarcity of white bulldogs in the Rhinelander area. The great beast has become the most beloved mythical creature in the state of Wisconsin. Other well known state creatures - The Beast of Bray Road and the Ridgeway Ghost come to mind - are dark, unsettling and definitely not loveable, The Hodag, first exhibited by Shepard at the Oneida County Fair in 1896 and last seen in 1898, has became a major statewide celebrity with something of a national reputation. He was a guest monster in episode 5 in the second season of Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated, he’s the symbol of the city of Rhinelander, the surrounding region and it’s high school mascot - we all know the Rhinelander Hodags, if you are from Rhinelander, you’re called a hodag. The University of Wisconsin ultimate frisbee team are called the Hodags, there is a happy the hodag plush toy, a hodag fantasy wargame figure, a major country music festival near Rhinelander is called the Hodag Country Festival, there are coffee cups, t -shirts, hats, coasters, all manner of swag - even a cookie cutter. In the crowded field of Wisconsin’s monsters, myths and legends, the Hodag is King.