HIPPO EATS DWARF:
A Field Guide to Hoaxes
and Other B.S.
hippo
FM
Hodag
Kingdom: Animalia
Location found: Wisconsin
image The Hodag (also known as the Bovine Spiritualis) is native to Wisconsin. In fact, it is the official symbol of Rhinelander, Wisconsin where the first one was captured by Eugene Shepard in 1896. Its name comes from combining the words "horse" and "dog."

The Hodag has the head of a bull, the back of a dinosaur, and the leering features of a giant man. Its legs are short, its claws are long, and its tail is spear-tipped. It is a supernatural beast which, in its first life, took the form of an ox that belonged to Paul Bunyan. Upon its death, the ox was burned for seven years to cleanse it of the profanity of its master. But seven years was not long enough. The soul of the ox emerged from the ashes in the shape of a Hodag, exuding a foul odor. The diet of the Hodag is very simple. It only eats white bulldogs, "and those only on Sundays."

For many years Shepard displayed his Hodag at country fairs. The exhibition usually occurred in dim light, and according to malicious rumors what was actually exhibited was a large dog over which a horse's hide had been stretched, but such rumors have never been substantiated.

Jack Cory, editor of the Rhinelander Daily News, once hypothesized that the Hodag was "the long-sought missing link between the ichthyosaurus and the mylodoan" of the Ice Age.
Total Comments: 10

Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
Page 1 of 1 pages

In the late 1800s in Rhinelander WI, a man named Gene Sheppard had people believing he had discovered a creature called a Hodag in the forest. He made up many stories about the beast and built one that he kept in a cave and charged people to see. Only when someone from the Smithsonian came to investigate, did he fess up. To this day, this is the town mascot. Their police cars say home of the Hodag on them.
Posted by Anonymous  on  Fri Jan 05, 2001  at  03:30 PM

The Public Radio Station in Rhinelander,WXPR sits in a house that is next
to the old Shepard place and the Hodag is found in many places in
Rhinelander... the legend was cleaned up a bit that is all you have..
the original Hodag hoax-critter was destroyed in a fire, but not before the
Smithsonian and National Geographic sent reporters. The very first version
was a skeletal remains that we "found" in what is now the Novelette
National Forest. There is a lot more to the story than you have on the web
site.
Posted by Ryugen Fisher  on  Fri Mar 15, 2002  at  12:30 PM
Has antone reading this ever heard a version of this tale relating that Hodags have six legs. If so could you please post an author or source?

Thanks, Bill
Posted by Bill Hamlin  in  Wausau WI  on  Mon Jun 07, 2004  at  05:17 PM
Mi dog Sona caught one yesterday but unfortunately ate it whole.
Posted by clemente  in  Spain  on  Wed Dec 22, 2004  at  02:48 PM
Hey check this web site out for a link to a biography of Eugene Shepard - northern Wisconsin prankster and Hodag creator!

http://www.hodagpress.com
Posted by Kurt Kortenhof  in  Rhinelander Wisconsin  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  09:56 PM
I know that type Bill.Go to wikipedia.I also know of a type with three eyes. The following is a haiku.

The hodag,a strange creature
Displayed by Eugene Sheppard
Long Live The Hodag!!!
Posted by J the haiku master  on  Tue Oct 03, 2006  at  11:19 PM
There is a 6 legged variety.There is also a kind with 3 eyes,J.There is also a sidehill type and one that has a shovel shaped nose and catches porcupines.Can anyone else back me up?
Posted by ThisisnotadrilldropbearshaveinvadedtheUnitedstaesd  in  Drop bear HQ  on  Sun Oct 29, 2006  at  11:12 AM
The hodag displayed
by Eugene Sheppard was just
Dog under horse hide
Posted by ThisisntadrilldropbearshaveinvadedtheUSA!!!!!!!!!!  on  Sat Nov 25, 2006  at  12:11 AM
Pounces from a bush
Something grabs bulldog pulls back
Hodag dissapears
Posted by J  on  Tue Jan 09, 2007  at  12:07 AM
grinHaving been born and raised in Rhinelander, I know that there are as many Hodag stories as there are tellers. And a lot of them are tall tales for sure. Gene Shepard owned several houses in the Rhinelander area, one of which, at 25 South Pelham Street, later belonged to my grandparents. This house was located about 4 blocks from the old CNW depot and is the site where Shepard had a wooden Hodag on the porch which could be made to move by pulling chains in the basement. Tourists and travelers would walk over to the house during train layovers to see the creature. Though it was gone before my time, I remember seeing the patched holes in the basement wall and on the porch where the Hodag was displayed. There apparently was more than one Hodag also because my aunt told me that my uncle found an old wooden Hodag in a garden shed behind the house when they moved in which they proceeded to burn with other "rubbish" they wanted to get rid of. At the time it was just old junk to get rid of. It was still common to burn trash in the backyard in the 40's and I do remember the garden shed behind the house as it remained there until the house was razed. There was an old walk in vault in the living room that was lettered with Shepard's name in gold paint that they later painted over to match the rest of the room. They used that vault for a coat closet for many years after. The old house is gone for many years now but the memories of the stories passed on by the old timers lives on. It's kind of sad seeing the "new" sinister looking Hodag depictions displayed on Rhinelander city signs and advertising literature. The old images from the 50's and 60's were much nicer looking. Sometimes older is better. There was a "home movie" made sometime in the 20's depicting a reenactment of the hodag capture featuring several prominent local people at the time. I saw part of it in grade school when a girl brought it in about 1960. The film broke several times and the nun stopped showing it. It would be great if someone could find and restore it and put it on video. Though a few have tried to "steal" the Hodag, it is still uniquely Rhinelander's mascot and hopefully it shall remain so.
Posted by JB  in  Wisconsin  on  Tue Oct 23, 2007  at  12:04 AM
Page 1 of 1 pages

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HOAX HAIKU
Take one darkened room.
Add a dog in horse costume.
Voila, a Hodag!
(by AB)

Write a haiku about the Hodag, and submit it in the comments. If I like it, I'll post it above.

The definition of a haiku: a short, three line poem. The first line has five syllables, the second seven, and the third five. Examples here, here, and here.