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One of Wisconsin’s best practical jokes was born Oct. 28, 1893, when lumberman Gene Shepard reported in the Rhinelander newspaper that he’d captured a hodag.

Lumberjacks had always been terrified of the ferocious beasts. Though rarely seen, the mythical hodag supposedly had razor-sharp teeth, horns on its head, bulging eyes, terrible claws and sharp spikes down its spine. Loggers in the woods for the first time were told that it ate human flesh when snapping turtles weren’t available.

Fear didn’t stop Shepard and some friends from cornering one with their dogs.

“But few of the dogs would even attempt to tackle the brute,” he reported. “Those that did are scattered about the place in small fragments.”

The hunters smoked out the 185-pound monster and killed it.

Three years later, Shepard promised to exhibit a live hodag at the Oneida County Fair. He fabricated one from cowhide and cattle horns and displayed it in a shadowy stall, with hidden strings to make it move. Observers were only admitted momentarily, ostensibly for their own safety. Hundreds paid to see the famous beast.