Dennis McCann: The myth, the legend, the Hodag -- is alive!

Originally published Nov. 14, 2008

I was in Rhinelander the other day and so naturally stopped to capture a photo of the Hodag outside the Chamber of Commerce headquarters. Sure, capturing a photo of a Hodag is not nearly so good as capturing one live but lacking a Hodag license I was left to shoot only photos.

The Hodag is to Rhinelander as the showgirl is to Vegas. The elusive creature, first captured and presented to the world by noted Northwoods huckster Eugene Shepard in 1896, is Rhinelander’s pride and joy, its school mascot, even its alter ego. (Now that I think of it I'm not sure any Nevada high school uses showgirls as mascots but then we are talking Vegas, after all, so maybe.) The Hodag was a ferocious beast that was said to grow out of the ashes of a cremated lumber ox (lumber oxen had to be cremated, of course, to rid their souls of the profanity directed their way by impatient lumberjacks). Hodags were reported to be large, mean, horned, fanged, green-eyed and smelled like a combination of buzzard meat and skunk perfume.

So naturally it was a big hit with the locals when Shepard, at the behest of Oneida County fair officials, “captured” a live Hodag and put it on display. The creature was put in a dark cage in dim light and long lines of (also dim) fair-goers paid good money to see it and hear Shepard describe the capture. The Hodag proved so popular that Shepard took it on the road later, and out-of-towners would show up at his house hoping for a glimpse, apparently never noticing his sons making Hodag-like grunts and growls in the shadows. Some people just need to be tricked.

I knew all of that, and thought of it as ancient history. What I didn’t know until I returned home was that some today believe the Hodag lives (see “some people just need to be tricked,” above) and have put up a Web site (http://www.hodagsightings.com/) to perpetuate the myth, er, story. The site is “dedicated to the search for the wily Hodag,” and includes monthly updates of sightings (some in most watchable video), including a man who had a recent run-in with one. "In the ditch," he said, "I heard grunting. It sounded like somebody who easts potatoes trying to get into an old pair of Levi's. But it wasn't, it was another Hodag that I thought was giving birth..." There are also kid activities, contests and Hodag “facts,” which the site’s operators are at least honest enough to put in quotes.

Some facts: “Brett Favre can throw a football over 50 yards. A Hodag can throw Brett even further.”

“Hodags are the masters of no less than five (5) languages, most of them fake.”

“The elusive Rhinelander Hodag is fond of WI deer season due to its lack of a suitably drunk harmonica-loving crowd throughout the rest of the year.”

“Hodags are the most deadly creatures in the world, except for Chuck Norris.”

And, finally, “Hodags do not like politicians, lawyers or assessors and use their horns on these unwanted persons the most.”

Well, at least they're not all bad.