Hodag
A horned, spined beast of Wisconsin and Minnesota loggers' tales, and a hoax the logging camps played on newcomers.
Meaning
William T. Cox's Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods (1910) says woodsmen described it in many ways, some claiming it was covered with horns and spines. His own version was the size of a rhinoceros and hairless, with a spade-shaped bony growth on its nose that let it see only straight up; it lived on porcupines, digging round a spruce where one sat in the branches, cutting the roots until the tree tottered.
Origin and history
A postcard published by the North Wisconsin Post Card Company of Rhinelander tells how the joke was played. On a new crew's first night in camp, a man went out into a nearby swamp and made the most terrifying noises, and the newcomers were told it was the hodag. "Many a tale was spun by the loggers about this mythical animal", the card says, "and a great number were taken in by the hoax."
See also
Kraken, Sea serpent, Loch Ness Monster, Champ (Lake Champlain monster), Bigfoot (Sasquatch), Yeti (Abominable Snowman).
Sources
- Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods (William T. Cox, 1910), William T. Cox, Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, with a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts (Washington, 1910), Internet Archive, The Hodag; The Hodag (continued)
- The Hodag from Rhinelander, Wisconsin (postcard, North Wisconsin Post Card Co.), Postcard, The Hodag from Rhinelander, Wisconsin, North Wisconsin Post Card Co., Rhinelander, Internet Archive, reverse
Last reviewed September 28, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research