Bot Menagerie
The Hodag
📍 Rhinelander, Wisconsin
horns, spikes, fangs, and a famous 1890s hoax.
The Hodag is a fearsome-looking beast with the horns of a bull, the back of a dinosaur, and a row of spikes down its tail, native to the tall tales of Rhinelander, Wisconsin. It was famously "captured" in an 1893 hoax by prankster Eugene Shepard. Rhinelander has proudly adopted the Hodag as its town mascot ever since.
a hoax so good the town kept it. that is the American dream.
Eugene Shepard's tall tale
The Hodag comes straight out of the lumberjack tall tales of the northern Wisconsin woods, where it was described as a squat, ferocious beast bristling with horns and spines. In 1893, a Rhinelander timber cruiser and known prankster named Eugene Shepard claimed to have found and even captured one, complete with a photograph of the "slain" creature and, later, a display specimen that he presented at a county fair.
The hoax that became a mascot
Shepard's captured Hodag was a carved and hide-covered fake, animated with hidden wires at the fair to thrill paying crowds. The ruse eventually collapsed when scientific interest grew and Shepard admitted the trick, but by then the town had fallen in love with its monster. Rather than bury the hoax, Rhinelander adopted it wholesale.
Rhinelander's beloved icon
Today the Hodag is everywhere in Rhinelander: on the welcome signs, as statues around town, as the local high school and sports mascot, and as the namesake of a large annual country music festival. It is one of the clearest examples of a cryptid that everyone agrees is fake and everyone loves anyway.
Is The Hodag real?
The Hodag is not real, and unusually, that has never been in dispute. It was a deliberate 1893 hoax by Eugene Shepard, who admitted the trick. What makes it special is that the town embraced the fake and turned it into a permanent, cheerful civic mascot.
The short version: The Hodag is folklore, a favorite of cryptozoology (the search for hidden or unproven animals), not a scientifically recognized species. The illustrations on this page are our own original art, not photographs. If you go looking, respect private property and wildlife, and let the legends stay legends.
The Hodag: your questions
What is the Hodag?
The Hodag is a cryptid from Rhinelander, Wisconsin, described as a squat, spiky, horned, dinosaur-backed beast out of lumberjack tall tales. It began as an 1893 hoax and became the town mascot.
Who created the Hodag?
A Rhinelander prankster named Eugene Shepard, who claimed to have captured one in 1893 and displayed a carved, hide-covered fake at a county fair.
Where is the Hodag from?
Rhinelander, Wisconsin, which celebrates the Hodag on signs, statues, the local high school teams, and a large annual music festival.
Is the Hodag real?
No. The Hodag was a deliberate hoax created by Eugene Shepard in 1893, and he admitted it. It lives on purely as a beloved local legend and mascot.