Talk:Hodag

Discussion

Note: I'm not sure if the Hodag is an exclusively Wisconsin creature, or can be found elsewhere in the upper Midwest. I'm pretty sure about its origin being in northern Wisconsin, though. -- John Owens 23:02 3 Jun 2003 (UTC)

The quotes are from late 19th century newspapers, so copyright shouldn't be an issue. Unfortunately, the earliest illustrations I can find would be from a 1928 book, though. -- John Owens 06:35 4 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I am tempted to demote the cave and sidehill dodge sections to brief mentions as "variants," or somesuch, and expand the coverage of the Shepard hodag. I haven't found any references other than Wikipedia to either of these creatures. By comparison, the "black" hodag has an extremely high profile (on the home page for City of Rhinelander, on the home page for Rhinelander Chamber of Commerce, on the logo of local country music festival). Googling "Hodag" leads to a list dominated by Rhinelander-area organizations and businesses. Thoughts, anyone? --Inonit 13:45, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

How many kinds?

In the Black Hodag section it says "It is also the largest and most ferocious of the three kinds known, ...", yet the article lists four kinds of Hodags. Someone who knows something about these things, please fix that up. Also, growing up in Wisconsin, I learned a completely unrelated meaning for "hodag", to wit, essentially a cross between a hoagie and a hamburger. Maybe they were originally made from hodag meat? ;-) Tomer^talk 21:44, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

I also grew up in the Area (Antigo...the lesser city of the two ;o) but never heard of a hodag used to reference the food. It was always in the context of the Rhinelander region.

Sightings

I added the sightings section. I've seen the Hodag at the Mall of America, but that was several years ago, so might need a confirmation. Growing up in the region, I also recall seeing a hodag near the intersection of HWY 45 and HWY 8 in WI near here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rhinelander,+WI&ie=UTF8&ll=45.579685,-89.195766&spn=0.148744,0.311394&om=1

A photo would be great to confirm that.

The "hodag" you refer to at the intersection of highways 45 and 8 was actually a piece of wood painted green to look like a hodag and has since been removed. Here is a link to a roadsideamerica.com website with a picture of it:

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/11653

There is one at the Rhinelander Chamber of Commerce at HWY 8 (Kemp St.) and Sutliff Ave. I believe I have heard of one being in the Mall of America. It has been several years, but I think that there is a sculpture of a hodag at the Como Zoo in St. Paul MN as well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Challie118 (talk • contribs) 21:32, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

Grand Lake St. Marys Hodag

I deleted the section on the Grand Lake St. Marys "Hoedag." The terrible grammar and spelling alerted me to the fact that this is probably a vandal entry, and it just doesn't fit with the article. Besides the fact that Hodags are a Wisconsin cryptozoological specimen, this one is found two states over... when there's no evidence that Hodags have that sort of range. And even the author admits (in very bad English) (twice) that the critter in question is so vastly different as to probably not be a hodag at all, but a "hoedag." No sources, no info on Google other than Wikipedia... I'm just not seeing it. Korossyl 13:45, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

I was quite skeptical too, and I almost deleted the section for the same reasons. I didn't do a google search to verify. Royalbroil 14:05, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

I almost deleted, but decided to give it a copyedit. Alas, a wasted 6 minutes >< – Riana ^ऋ 16:02, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Come On People

Yes this is very cute, writing the article as if these things existed. But this is wikipedia and it has guidelines. This article needs to sound objective like every other one. Fix it or I will.Rglong 03:47, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Please fix it. Royalbroil 04:50, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

I took out all the stuff that was blatantly false. Sorry guys, I like Wisconsin folklore too, but if you want those things on the internet, you can create your own fansite about it. The folklore still needs citations, I have no idea if it's accurate or not. I'll try to research the evolution of the Hodag mythology in my spare time.Rglong 06:26, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

I reformatted it a bit today just to give the article some structure...I'll also work on researching the verifiable material here. NickBurns 18:36, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Whomever has been "fixing" this article has not been doing a very good job... the hodag was originally a lumberjack myth and part of northern midwestern lore long before Gene Shepherd decided to "find" one to bring industry and residents to the fledgling little town that was Rhinelander. As the traditional myth goes, the hodag came from the ashes of a cremated lumberjack ox, if you reach far enough, some will say from Babe, Paul Bunyan's famous blue ox. Many references to the hodag in articles about Paul Bunyan can be found using academic journal search engines (like JSTOR). I am also in the process of finding the 1928 book The Hodag and other Tales of the Logging Camps by Luke S. (Lakeshore) Kearney. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Challie118 (talk • contribs) 21:57, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

First Link

It seems to have died. Anyone care to refind it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.109.245.251 (talk) 12:56, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

External links modified

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