This vicious made-up beast from the swamps of Rhinelander, Wisconsin is freaking terrifying. You readers from Wisconsin no doubt grew up with the tales of the blood-thirsty Hodag and already know how dangerous they can be. This majestic reptile will haunt my dreams for the next few months or even years.

Eugene Simeon Shepard, a hardy outdoorsman, first discovered this monster in the late 1800s. Can you imagine how scared he must have been? Shepard was exploring the forest for a logging company when this two hundred pound monster came galloping out of the underbrush and knocked him on his ass. Shepard luckily got to his feet and clambered up a tree where he had to wait for two days. The Hodag eventually got hungry and went elsewhere to hunt.

The Hodag is a large reptile related to both crocodiles and wild boars. They have massive fangs and two large horns on their heads. Hodags can grow up to seven or eight feet long and can weigh up to two hundred pounds.  They have thick, scaly hides that protect them and also help them swim swiftly underwater. There is a four inch claw on each of their eleven toes sharp enough to cut a small tree in half. Hodags primarily eat birds or fish that are found in their native swamps but have been know to eat men, dogs and even a goat or two. The natural home of the Hodag is the forest surrounding Rhinelander but they have been seen as far South as Tomahawk, Wisconsin. Despite their natural propensity for survivability there are only a few hundred Hodags alive today.

These wily little bastards are impervious to small arms fire, stomping, drowning, immolation, being stabbed, and even poison. Allegedly the only thing that can take down a Hodag is a generous amount of dynamite detonated in his immediate vicinity. It took Eugene Shepard and eighteen of the roughest lumberjacks he knew to track and slay this terrifying freak of nature. The monster devoured two of the men before they could corner and then explode the beast. The original Hodag’s fractured skull is still on display at the Rhinelander Town Hall. Rhinelander celebrates the nobel Hodag each April in their famous Hodag Carnival.