Wisconsin

1Hodag Proven hoax

Beast · Rhinelander, Oneida County · first reported 1893

The Hodag is Wisconsin's most beloved fake monster. In 1893, Rhinelander timber cruiser and prankster Eugene Shepard announced he had found and killed a terrible beast in the woods. Newspapers described a horned, fanged, spike-backed creature with huge claws and a spear-tipped tail. In 1896 Shepard claimed to have caught one alive and showed it at the Oneida County fair, moving it with hidden wires. When word spread that Smithsonian scientists wanted to inspect it, he admitted the hoax. Rather than fade, the Hodag became Rhinelander's mascot. Today it appears on the high school teams, city signs, a summer music festival and a famous statue.

• 1893Proven hoax Shepard told local papers he and other men had cornered a Hodag and killed it, in some tellings with dynamite. Source: wi101.wisc.edu
• 1896Proven hoax Shepard displayed a live Hodag in a dim tent at the Oneida County fair. It was later revealed to be a carved figure worked by wires and pulleys. Source: en.wikipedia.org

Visiting: Hodag statue at the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce; Hodag Country Festival each July.

2Bozho Told story

Water monster · Lake Mendota, Madison, Dane County · first reported 1880s-1890s · also called Lake Mendota Monster

Madison's Lake Mendota has its own playful sea serpent, nicknamed Bozho. Stories collected by state folklorist Charles E. Brown describe a snake- or dragon-like creature that was easy to mistake for a log until it moved. Tellers credited it with tickling swimmers' feet, tipping canoes and raising waterspouts. Reports date to the 1880s and 1890s, and later student tales include a giant scale supposedly found at Picnic Point in 1917. Brown published these accounts in a 1942 Wisconsin Folklore Society pamphlet. The name is often linked to Winnebozho, a cultural hero figure in Anishinaabe and Ho-Chunk tradition. Bozho survives today mostly as campus lore.

• 1917Told story A University of Wisconsin student is said to have found a huge scale on the shore at Picnic Point, which was blamed on the lake creature. Source: folkbestiary.com

Visiting: Picnic Point and the Lakeshore Path on the UW-Madison campus.

3Red Cedar Lake Monster Told story

Water monster · Red Cedar Lake near Cambridge, Jefferson County · first reported 1891

Red Cedar Lake is a small lake near Cambridge, east of Madison, and in 1891 and 1892 it had its own monster scare. A fisherman and nearby residents reported a huge, rolling, wave-like shape in the water, estimated at about 50 feet long. One story says it swallowed a mud turtle whole. The account was later gathered by folklorist Charles E. Brown alongside other Wisconsin lake-monster tales. Small lakes cannot easily support an animal that large, and skeptics point to wind-driven waves, swimming animals or exaggeration. It is one of the more obscure entries in the state's long list of lake monsters.

• 1891Told story A fisherman reported a long undulating form on the lake, and neighbors repeated the story. Folklorist Charles E. Brown later recorded the account. Source: folkbestiary.com

4Devil's Lake Monster Told story

Water monster · Devil's Lake State Park, near Baraboo, Sauk County · first reported 1920s-1930s in newspapers (older tradition claimed)

Devil's Lake, ringed by quartzite bluffs near Baraboo, is Wisconsin's most visited state park and the Ho-Chunk know it as a sacred place called Tee Wakacak. Monster stories about the lake were big news in the 1920s and 1930s. One tale says an early missionary was told of a drought so severe that a strange, thrashing water creature was left stranded in the mud, and some versions turn it into a kraken-like, tentacled animal. Later tellers added serpent sightings. The stories faded over time. A local writer who once posted a photo of the monster later identified it as a floating log, which sums up most modern evidence.

• 1920s-1930sTold story Lake monster stories about Devil's Lake circulated widely in the press during these decades before dying away. Source: devilslakewisconsin.com
• 2010On the record A photo of a dark shape in the lake spread online as monster evidence. The photographer later explained it was a floating log. Source: devilslakewisconsin.com

Visiting: Devil's Lake State Park, open year-round with beaches and bluff trails.

5Rocky of Rock Lake Told story

Water monster · Rock Lake, Lake Mills, Jefferson County · first reported 19th century · also called Rock Lake Monster

Rock Lake at Lake Mills is famous for two mysteries. The first is a set of underwater stone piles that some people call pyramids, first noticed by a fisherman in the early 1900s and explored by diver Max Nohl in the 1920s. Later sonar surveys mapped mounds up to about 18 feet tall, though nothing has been confirmed about who or what made them. The second mystery is Rocky, a serpent said to live in the lake since the 1800s, sometimes described with a dragon-like head and a hissing sound. The lake sits a few miles from Aztalan State Park, an ancient Mississippian town site, which adds to the area's mystique.

• 1920sOn the record Diver Max Nohl explored the lake and described a stone feature shaped like an upside-down ice cream cone. Source: travelwisconsin.com

Visiting: Public beaches at Lake Mills; Aztalan State Park is about three miles east.

6Geneva Lake Eel and Water Panther Told story

Water monster · Williams Bay, Geneva Lake, Walworth County · first reported 1800s settler lore; older Potawatomi tradition · also called Nampeshu

Geneva Lake is now a resort lake, but early settlers at Williams Bay heard stories of a huge eel that came out on stormy days and tipped small boats. Those reports were still repeated into the early 1900s, according to the local historical society. The lake was Potawatomi country until 1836, and Potawatomi tradition speaks of a great horned water panther that dragged careless fishermen under, opposed by the Thunderbirds above. That is a cultural belief, not a cryptid sighting, and it is best understood on its own terms. The settler eel stories may draw on misunderstood versions of it, or on large fish such as sturgeon.

• 1800s to early 1900sTold story Williams Bay settlers repeated stories of a giant eel that overturned small boats on the bay during storms. Source: wmsbayhistory.org

Visiting: Public shore path around Geneva Lake; Williams Bay beach.

7Water Panther traditions Told story

Water monster · Lakes and rivers across Wisconsin · first reported Indigenous tradition (ancient) · also called Water spirit, Horned Water Snake

Many of Wisconsin's Native nations have traditions about powerful beings beneath the water. The Milwaukee Public Museum notes that the Ho-Chunk speak of a panther with a copper tail, the Ojibwe of a panther or lynx, and the Menominee of a great fish. These beings could be dangerous to travelers, and people offered tobacco on the water before canoe trips. They were said to fear the thunder made by the Thunderbirds, who protect people. These are living spiritual traditions rather than monster sightings, and many community members prefer that the deeper teachings be shared by their own people. They are listed here because later lake-monster lore often borrows from them.

• Traditional storyTold story A story retold in museum education material describes a boy who promised to warn a water monster when thunder was coming, then waited until he was safely across before speaking, showing the being's fear of the Thunderers. Source: mpm.edu

Visiting: Milwaukee Public Museum has exhibits on Wisconsin's First Nations.

8Wisconsin Phantom Kangaroo On the record

Beast · Menomonee Falls, Waukesha County · first reported 1974 (regional wave); photo 1978

In the mid-1970s, the Midwest was briefly overrun with reports of kangaroos where no kangaroos should be. After a 1974 Chicago sighting, reports spread into Wisconsin and Indiana. Wisconsin's best-known case came in 1978, when two men near Menomonee Falls said they photographed a large kangaroo by the highway. Researcher Loren Coleman thought it looked like a Bennett's wallaby. Other Wisconsin towns named in lists include Dodgeville, Mauston and Waukesha. The usual explanation is escaped or released exotic pets, since wallabies are kept privately and can survive for a while in the wild. No animal was caught in the 1970s cases.

• 1978On the record Two men photographed what they said was a large kangaroo beside a highway near Menomonee Falls. Coleman later suggested it resembled a Bennett's wallaby. Source: en.wikipedia.org

9Hidebehind Told story

Beast · Northwoods logging camps · first reported early 1900s lumberjack lore · also called Hide-behind

The hidebehind is one of the fearsome critters of American logging-camp folklore, the joking monsters that lumberjacks used to tease greenhorns. It was blamed when a logger failed to come back to camp. Its trick is that it can never be seen: whenever you turn to look, it slips behind a tree, or behind you. Tellers said it dragged victims off and ate their insides, but could be kept away with alcohol, which made for a convenient excuse to carry a flask. Like the Hodag, it belongs to the tall-tale tradition of the northern pinery. Today it appears in fantasy novels, games and cartoons.

• Logging eraTold story Camp tales blamed the hidebehind for loggers who disappeared in the woods, and claimed it hissed like a snake. Source: en.wikipedia.org

10Lake Winnebago Monster Told story

Water monster · Lake Winnebago, near Oshkosh and Fond du Lac · first reported unknown

Lake Winnebago is Wisconsin's largest inland lake, and cryptid lists credit it with a giant serpent said to be able to swamp boats. Details are thin, with no dated sightings or named witnesses in the sources found. The most likely real-world source of the legend is the lake's famous lake sturgeon, which can grow to great size and age. Winnebago holds one of the largest sturgeon populations in the country and hosts a winter spearing season that began in 1903. A glimpse of a huge sturgeon rolling near the surface could easily start a monster story. The serpent remains a footnote compared with the real fish.

Visiting: Winter sturgeon spearing season each February draws crowds to the lake.

11Beast of Bray Road On the record

Humanoid · Bray Road, Elkhorn, Walworth County · first reported 1936 (claimed); wave 1989-1991

Elkhorn's wolf-like biped, reported along Bray Road in the late 1980s and early 1990s and made famous by reporter Linda Godfrey. See the main Beast of Bray Road dossier for the full story.

Full story: Beast of Bray Road →