The Happy Hodag

The Hodag is a creature from Wisconsin folklore and originated in Rhinelander, Wisconsin when prankster Eugene Shepard created the tall tale of the beast in 1893. The town hunted a monster with the description, "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 with spears at the end." There was a media frenzy, which prompted the Smithsonian to announce they intended to travel to Rhinelander to study the new species: Hodag. Shepard then had to admit that it was all a hoax. The Hodag has since made a lasting presence in the Rhinelander community, appearing in businesses, as the school mascot, at the local park, and even in Paul Bunyan folktales.This print depicts the Hodag in his happy and relaxed form, away from mobs of humans intending to bring back his body as proof of his existence. Rolling around in a field on an early fall day, in front of a long forgotten house, whose owner may or may not hav