Long Live the Hodag: masterful marketing lures thousands to the north woods

This past Saturday, I attended the 21st annual Rhinelander Art Fair on the Courthouse Lawn. It was a pleasant, small-town gathering featuring 120 vendors peddling unique and handmade arts and crafts, primarily of the north woods cabin genre. Sunny skies, traditional music from the community band, and a sweet aroma from the sugar-covered pecan booth filled the morning air. My mom picked up a few all natural lavender soap bars, and my dad chose a small, carved wooden vase and a big bag of salty kettle corn to satiate his mid-morning hunger. As we drove through the streets of Rhinelander, I noticed that several of the local businesses were named after something called a “Hodag”. There’s Hodag Lanes, Hodag Express Lube, and the Hodag Gallery, just to name a few. The town also sponsors the very popular annual Hodag Country Music Festival, and the high school’s mascot is—not surprisingly—a Hodag. I wanted to know more about this ubiquitous, dinosaur-looking creature and how so many things in this small, northern Wisconsin community came to be named after it.

Apparently the Hodag was first spotted by frontiersman Eugene Shepard (1854–1923) in the small lumbering community of Rhinelander in the fall of 1893. The ferocious animal was described as a “185 pound, seven-foot-long, lizard-like beast.” It had a huge head with long horns, sharp fangs and piercing green eyes. Covered in black hair, the four-footed creature was short and muscular with large spikes protruding from its spine. The Hodag’s horrible breath was a “combination of buzzard meat and skunk perfume.” Shortly after his discovery, Shepard assembled a hunting party to capture the beast. When the viscious animal tore the party’s hunting dogs to shreds, and threatened to take their own lives, the men cornered the beast and killed it with dynamite. The Hodag’s remains were then proudly displayed in Rhinelander, but many were disappointed that it had not been captured alive.

The townspeople’s wishes were granted three years later, only days before the first Oneida County fair. Determinedly, Eugene Shepard set off to capture a live Hodag. After trapping the beast in its den, a group of hunters drugged the beast to an unconscious state and dragged it back to town. Shepard made the Hodag the fair’s main attraction and charged curious fair-goers a dime to see it and hear its story of death and destruction. Thousands of people eventually saw the monster as Shepard toured countless county fairs and offered private showings from his home in Rhinelander.

Eventually, Shepard’s Hodag was revealed as an elaborate hoax. Its body was simply a carved stump covered with an ox hide controlled by wires. Despite the discovery, tourists continued to flock to Rhinelander to see the man-made Hodag. Although the original creation was destroyed in a fire, the mythical creature’s continued popularity, even through today, made Rhinelander known as “the Hodag city.”

Interestingly, although Shepard was well-known for his trickster ways, his Hodag creation was much more than a practical joke. At the time of Shepard's first apparent sighting, the fate of the small town of Rhinelander was very much in jeopardy. Like many towns in the area, Rhinelander had been built upon the lumber industry. With its forests nearly cleared, and no prospect of alternative industries, the most elite citizens collaborated to determine a way for Rhinelader to sucessfully forge a future. What the city needed most was a way to attract agriculture and tourism. Shepard, the “most flamboyant and popular entertainer” of the city took on the challenge, geniusly crafting an elaborate marketing scheme that helped his small northern Wisconsin frontier town to not only survive, but flourish. By the early 1900’s, people all over the country had heard about or even seen the Hodag, and consequently, the small town of Rhinelander. Later in his life, Shepard further explained:

By no means is all the progress to be credited to the Hodag, but the Hodag did his bit! Not only hundreds but thousands of people came to view the Hodag…and not one of them went away without having learned a little more about northen Wisconsin, and it is safe to guess that each one of those thousands told others what they had seen and heard. In this way the beauties, opportunities, and resources of northern Wisconsin spread, and many who came out of curiosity only have come to make their home with us. Long live the Hodag!

What a fun tale from the north woods! All thanks to a crafty man and his elaborate trickery, the legend of the Hodag and the small town of Rhinelander live on. And amazingly, the beast's sightings continue to this day! To view these fascinating stories and videos, check out www.hodagsightings.com.