One of the best vacations we ever had was a trip to Rhinelander, Wisconsin where some friends of my Illinois grandparents owned some cabins on nearby Pelican Lake. We spent most of our time swimming or trying to catch a Pike or a Musky. We came back with a lot of crappies while the big fish illuded us. We were warned not to stay out on the lake after dark because we might end up as bait for a fearsome home Hodag.

I mean, who the hell wanted to confront that? We always brought to boat back to the cabins before sunset. Years ago, a group of us were chewing the fat at a north Georgia museum when the guy from Wisconsin said he wished he were sitting in a boat in the middle of Pelican Lake fishing for pike. We said we’d done that, too. He thought we were making it up until we mentioned the Hodag.

It was apparently discovered in 1893. According to Rhinelander’s website, “An expanded edition of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”—the book about the magical creatures that populate the Harry Potter series, supposedly written by famed magizoologist Newt Scamander—was released in 2017 and included an entry on the Hodag. Scamander’s description of the Hodag matches previous accounts, identifying the creature as roughly the size of a large dog and horned with a frog-like head and glowing, red eyes. The book’s entry also says that “like the Snallygaster, the Hodag is a North American creature whose antics have excited considerable Muggle interest and curiosity.” (Ain’t that the truth?)

We knew he wasn’t making this up.

No doubt the cabins are long gone. But they make for fond memories of spending time with a couple who loved the lake, the fishing, the chipmunks that ran wild and could be tempted with peanuts we dangled on strings, and even the “monster” hiding out there in the dark. In all ways, the place was heaven and I have always wished that a ripple in the space-time continuum would make it possible to go back.

Maybe the Hodag would meet us for a couple of Pabst Blue Ribbon beers at the annual Hodag festival. Now that would be something to write home about.

–Malcolm

Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of the Florida Folk Magic Series which, sad to say, has no Hodags in it.