'Tall-Tale Creature-ology' is a branch of Natural History dedicated to the study of fauna and flora possessing properties of a fantastic and remarkable nature. It is distinct from its close cousin Cryptozoology, which is the study of creatures that prefer to remain hidden. The Museum of Hoaxes neither denies nor confirms the existence of any of the creatures listed below.

The Rackabore is a kind of wild boar that, like the Sidehill Gouger, is highly adapted for walking on steep slopes because the legs on one side of its body are longer than on the other. While this provides it with a certain advantage on hills, the drawback is that it can only move in one direction depending on whether it is a right-handed Rackabore (with short legs on its right) or a left-handed Rackabore (short legs on its left). They cannot turn around. In addition, a Rackabore is quite helpless on flat surfaces.

The Rackabore is a descendant of the Javelina, a piglike animal indigenous to the southwestern United States. During the last ice age some Javelinas, unable to find food on the plains, moved up into the hills and there evolved legs of different length.

Rackabores are known to be extremely stubborn. Should you encounter one, don't expect it to get out of your way. The story is often told that a right-handed and left-handed Rackabore once met on a narrow mountain pass. Neither would back up. Instead they both stood there, waiting for the other to move, until both starved to death. The rubberado, also known as the bouncing porcupine, has a highly unusual form of locomotion. Instead of walking or crawling, it bounces from place to place. This is made possible by its rubbery flesh. Every time it bounces, it laughs.

Rubberado flesh makes a very tasty meal, if you can catch one. Bullets bounce right off of them. It's also advised not to serve the meat on its own as it will simply bounce around inside your mouth. Instead you need to prepare it in a stew. But be warned. Rubberado flesh imparts its resiliency to whomever consumes it. You'll find yourself bouncing around and laughing for a couple of days before the effect wears off.
Sidehill gougers are herbivores highly adapted to living on steep hillsides. The legs on one side of their body are longer than the legs on the other, allowing them to stand comfortably on sloped terrain. These creatures come in two varieties: left-handed and right-handed (also known as counter-clockwise and clockwise gougers). The legs of a left-handed gouger are shorter on the left. As a result, it can only travel around a hill counter-clockwise. Right-handed gougers are just the opposite, with legs shorter on the right. They always move clockwise. This business of always moving in the same direction is the source of the gouger's name, because they gouge a path in the side of a hill as they endlessly circle it. If gougers do try to reverse direction, they inevitably topple over.

Right-handed and left-handed gougers, it should be noted, are simply different forms of the same species and can breed together. However, their offspring often end up with mismatched legs (a long leg on their front left and a second long leg on their back right, for instance) making it almost impossible for them to move. Such hybrids usually don't survive long.

Beyond the unusual length of the gouger's legs, little is known about the appearance of this creature. Some say it's badger-like. Some say it's goat-like. One observer, a Harry S. Knight of Camp Wood, Arizona, has been quoted as saying: "A Sidehill Gouger is jest a burrowin' buffalo, sized down and growed crooked."

There have been reports of a Gouger sub-species found in the Appalachians that has fur only on the downward-sloping side of its body. The fur on its other side has been worn away by constant rubbing against the side of the hill. The skin of these creatures, being so highly polished and smooth, is sought after by handbag makers.

References to sidehill-type creatures can be found in records dating back hundreds of years. Sir Thomas Browne, writing in the 17th century, recorded a popular belief that British badgers (popularly referred to back then as "brocks") had legs of different lengths: "That a Brock or Badger hath the legs on one side shorter then of the other [which] though an opinion perhaps not very ancient, is yet very general; received not only by Theorists and unexperienced believers, but assented unto by most who have the opportunity to behold and hunt them daily." (Pseudodoxia Epidemica, 1646, Book III, Chapter 5, 'Of the Badger').

In colonial America sidehill-type creatures were referred to as "procks". Evidently a derivative of "brocks". Since then a wide variety of names have been given to these creatures, including: sidehill badger, sidehill winder, sidehill dodger, sidehill wowser, godaphro, and gyascutus. However, sidehill gouger is, by far, the most common name. Other sidehill creatures include the Rackabore, and the French Dahut. There have also been reports from Scotland of a Sidehill Haggis. The skvader is a species of winged hare indigenous to Sweden. According to legend, this unusual animal was first discovered by a hunter named Håkan Dahlmark in 1874. Eventually a stuffed specimen of the creature was put on display in the Historical Preservation Society in Sundsvall where it remains to this day.

Visitors report that the animal looks rather like a cross between a hare and a wood grouse cock. A statue of a skvader was also erected in a small park in Sundsvall in 1994. Although the skvader is much beloved in Sweden, the term itself is often used colloquially to mean "a bad compromise."

The Skvader belongs in the same family of tall-tale creatures as the jackalope and the wolperdinger. The exact nature of the Snipe is shrouded in mystery, as it is very rare to observe one up close. They are believed to be a variety of shy flightless bird. However, they should not be confused with the Snipe that is a kind of long-billed bird (capable of flight) found in wet, grassy areas. Although the two share the same name, they are different creatures, and it is only the flightless Snipe that is of interest to tall-tale-creature-ologists. (Though it is worth noting that, like the flightless Snipe, the long-billed kind of Snipe is notoriously difficult to hunt, and its name serves as the origin of the word 'sniper' because it takes a very experienced shooter to hit one.)

Snipe hunting is a popular activity at American summer camps. Often older, more experienced campers will volunteer to show younger campers how it is done. The hunt usually takes place at night in a location such as a forest or a cornfield. The Snipe is trapped inside a bag which, traditionally, a younger camper is given the honor of carrying.

There are two basic methods of trapping the Snipe. In the first method the Snipe hunter is sent out into a forest or field carrying the bag and a flashlight. He is instructed to imitate the call of a Snipe. When the Snipe hears the call it will come out of hiding and jump into the bag. To get the call just right, the Snipe hunter should ideally practice it for at least a week before the big hunt.

The second method is to go out as a group. When the more experienced hunters sense the presence of a Snipe they will leave the novice hunter alone "holding the bag" as they fan out to flush out the Snipe and, hopefully, cause it to run into the bag. Unfortunately there have been occasions, so I have heard, when the flushers, having failed to find a Snipe, proceed directly back to camp, forgetting to tell the guy holding the bag that the hunt is over. Snouters (also known as Rhinogrades or, more formally, Rhinogradentia) are a class of animals once found on the Hi-yi-yi Islands in the Pacific. These animals had evolved to use their noses for virtually every imaginable function. For instance, the Sniffling Snouter caught fish with the long delicate threads that emerged from its nostrils. The perfumed Honeytail Snouter stood rigidly upright on its thick nose and caught insects with its sticky tail. The Suctorial Snout Leaper used its long, flat nose to spring itself backwards great distances.

Snouters were first discovered in 1941 by a Swedish naturalist who, while fleeing from the Japanese, became shipwrecked on the Hi-yi-yi Islands. But they received their fullest scientific description in a monograph, Bau und Leben der Rhinogradentia, published in 1957 by the German naturalist Harald Stümpke.

Unfortunately, soon after Dr. Stümpke described the Snouters, the entire Hi-yi-yi island chain sank into the ocean as a result of an earthquake triggered by atomic-bomb testing. When the islands sank, they took with them all trace of the Snouters, except for the sketches which Dr. Stümpke had commissioned an artist to make of them. (Note: recently some amazing color photographs of the Snouters have surfaced.) Dr. Stümpke, who had returned to the islands to conduct further research, sank with the Snouters.

Due to the complete extinction of the Snouters, and the eradication of their only habitat, rumors have arisen to the effect that both Dr. Stümpke and the Snouters never existed. They are alleged to have been the whimsical creation of Gerolf Steiner, a zoology professor at the University of Heidelberg, perhaps inspired by Christian Morgenstern's 1905 poem "Das Nasobem" (about an animal that walked on four snouts). It is not known if there is any substance to this rumor. The Tasmanian Mock Walrus (TMW) is a whiskered, four-inch long creature that purrs like a cat, has the temperament of a hamster, and resembles a walrus. (It has also been noted that it resembles a naked mole rat.) It never needs to be walked or bathed, can be trained to use a litter box, and eats cockroaches. A single TMW can rid a house of roaches. However, it will also eat cheese and Vegemite. For this reason it is highly sought after as a pet.

The TMW is indigenous to the lake region of Tasmania. But during the early 1980s a number of these creatures were smuggled into Florida where they quickly became a popular form of pest-control. A secret breeding program multiplied their numbers. However, it was and remains illegal to import the TMW, a ban that pest-control companies have vigorously lobbied for, fearing that the TMW might undermine the cockroach-extermination business. Government officials have also expressed concern about the possible impact upon the delicate Florida ecosystem should TMWs be imported in massive quantities. The TMW controversy was reported in the Orlando Sentinel on April 1, 1984.
These little squirrel-like creatures inhabit the trees of New England, living on berries and fruit. Since their skin is bark-colored, they're almost impossible to see. In addition, they wrap themselves tightly around tree-trunks, concealing themselves further. But they're quite easy to hear. Walk around in the woods and it's almost impossible not to notice their high-pitched cries. When a strong wind is blowing they get especially excited and squeak at each other even more loudly. At such times, the locals are fond of saying, "The tree squeaks are making quite a racket today." Tree Squeaks are usually quite placid and pose no threat to humans. However, after extended dry spells they have been known to become aggressive. The Tripodero lives in areas of dense brush and undergrowth, hunting for birds and other small animals that are its main source of food. When it sees some prey, the tripodero slowly extends its legs, just as the legs of a photographer's tripod can be extended, thereby raising its body above the brush. When it has a clear line of sight, the tripodero then shoots a mud pellet (a supply of which it stores in its left cheek) out of its blowgun-like snout. It rarely misses. Once the prey is stunned, the tripodero can consume it at its leisure. The tripodero is usually reported as having two legs, rather like a bird, and a kangaroo-like tail that it uses to balance itself while aiming. However, four-legged varieties of the Tripodero have also been seen. These lack the long tail. When its legs are not extended, the Tripodero can move quite rapidly through the brush. The upland trout is a species of flying fish that is scared of water and lives on land, preferring to build its nests high in trees. When cooked, it has a delicious flavor. Therefore it is prized as a delicacy by experienced campers. Often such campers will send their less experienced companions out into the woods to search for Upland Trout nests.

There is evidence that trout are not the only aquatic animal to come in 'Upland' varieties. In 2006 the body of a beluga whale was found in Alaska, 1000 miles inland, along the bank of the Tanana River. With few other explanations forthcoming as to how the whale might have got there, we might theorize that it was an Upland Beluga. Similarly, also in 2006, two hikers found the body of a 4-foot Leopard Shark lying in the Mojave Desert, far away from any source of water. How it arrived there was a mystery. Was it, perhaps, an Upland Shark?