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what IS a hodag?

First discovered by prominent Rhinelander resident Eugene Simeon Shepard, the Hodag has been an integral part of Northern Wisconsin history for over one hundred years.

While nobody has precisely pinpointed the first sighting of the Hodag, archived news reports from the early 1890's indicate that in 1893, an important discovery was made that would grow to define the Rhinelander area.

Gene Shepard's discovery, the Hodag, had "the head of a frog, the grinning face of a giant elephant, thick short legs set off by huge claws, the back of a dinosaur, and a long tail without spears at the end". Hearing of the fearsome beast, a ragtag band of vigilante Rhinelander area residents assembled and set out on an epic voyage to capture this menacing "Hodag".

It was reported that the vigilantes found it necessary to employ the use of dynamite to deliver the final blow in the pursuit of the first rampaging Hodag. In a news photograph depicting the remains of the charred beast it was described as "the fiercest, strangest, most frightening monster ever to set razor sharp claws on the earth."

In 1896, Shepard was at last successful in his effort to capture a Hodag alive. This Hodag went on to become the star attraction at the first Oneida County Fair, and drew curious visitors from the entire state of Wisconsin and beyond. Thousands of people traveled long distances to Shepard's Rhinelander home to catch a glimpse of the fearsome Hodag in the reinforced shack on Shepard's property that had been retrofitted to become the temporary abode of this famous Hodag.

Over the years, Rhinelander and the Hodag have remained intertwined, and the Hodag remains an elusive and quick-witted quarry as it stalks the Northwoods timber stands in it's perpetual search for white bulldogs.