The folk legend of the jackalope is said to have originated in Douglas, Wyoming, in the late 1800s, where there were sightings of a mythical animal resembling a jackrabbit with antlers. Its name is a curious combination of “jackrabbit” and “antalope,” an antiquated spelling of “antelope.” Its physical appearance is that of a jackrabbit with large hind legs, bearing antelope horns or deer antlers, and sometimes a pheasant’s tail. An aggressive creature, the jackalope uses its antlers to fight and is referred to as “warrior rabbit.”
The true origins of the jackalope began on a 1932 hunting trip involving Douglas Herrick (1920–2003) and his brother Ralph. They studied taxidermy by mail order as teenagers, and after they returned from hunting jackrabbits, Herrick tossed a carcass into the taxidermy store, where it rested next to a pair of deer antlers; the accidental combination of a jackrabbit corpse and antlers inspired the brothers to create their first jackalope. They sold their creation for $10 to Roy Ball and the creature was displayed in Douglas’s La Bonte Hotel until it was stolen in 1977. However, stories of jackalope sightings grew in popularity. Herrick created a jackalope postcard and soon the Douglas Chamber of Commerce began an annual Jackalope Day in June, during which they issued thousands of jackalope hunting licenses to tourists. The tags were for hunting only during official jackalope season, which was one day: June 31 (a nonexistent date), from midnight to 2:00 a.m., stipulating the hunter could not have an IQ greater than 72.
As jackalope lore grew, the creature developed other characteristics, including a unique talent for mimicking human voices. In tales of the Old West, cowboys claimed that as they sang by the campfire, a skulking jackalope would eerily echo their voices in perfect pitch. Ironically, jackalopes are said to be most vocal during an activity they partake in least: mating. Jackalopes cry loudest during mating time, which occurs only during thunderstorms, at the precise point when lightning flashes. They also use their vocal talents as a defense when pursued, calling out in a human voice to distract or deter hunters who are fooled into thinking the quarry is someone from their party. The wily jackalope has only one weakness, a love of alcohol. To capture a jackalope, hunters use whiskey to bring it out of hiding, and then give it a drink to slow its reflexes and trap it. Jackalopes are hunted for their coveted antlers and their heads, which are hung as wall décor. Hunters are also said to sell jackalope milk, which has aphrodisiacal qualities and leaves the beast’s body prehomogenized on account of its powerful lunges and hops.
Today, the heads and horns of jackalopes inhabit homes and bars across the United States. Cabela’s World Outfitters sells a “mounted zombie jackalope” with glowing eyes, and there are several jackalope hunting guides, including Lisa Jane Baron’s Getting Ready for Jackalope Season (2014), David Hancock’s Jackalope Hunting (2011), Scott Francis’s Monster Spotter’s Guide to North America (2007), Terry Boyer’s humorous Hunter’s Guide to Shotguns for Upland Game (2007), and the classic George Mclean III’s Field Guide to Jackalope (1940).
A significant amount of creative writing exists in the jackalope genre. Popular children’s author Jillian Lloyd wrote Have You Ever Seen a Jackalope? (2004). Roy Campbell incorporates a chirpy jackalope into his children’s music book Song of the Jackalope (2002). In adult fiction, Amy Ryan’s short story “The Keeper of the Jackalopes” (2014 Costa Short Story Prize) draws inspiration from the Northeast’s warm inhabitants. Ursula Vernon’s “Jackalope Wives” (Apex Magazine, 2014), a feminist story based on Selkie legends, tells of jackalope women dominated by men stealing their removable skins. The Jackalope Wars, by Jeremy Bauer, examines tensions between poets (2010). Mary Clearman Blew’s book Jackalope Dreams (2008 Western Heritage Award) draws on a western landscape to examine fallen relationships. Jackalope Magazine is a creative writing magazine devoted to diversity.
The iconic jackalope also appears in modern video games. In Red Dead Redemption, the player is able to hunt and skin jackalopes as an in-game challenge. In Redneck Rampage, jackalopes are an aggressive enemy encountered early in the game. A jackalope is also the rarest purchasable mini pet in Guild Wars 2.
In Douglas, where jackalope lore abounds, the town square boasts a massive jackalope statue. There are publications online and in print offering advice on how to capture a jackalope as well as firsthand accounts by those who claim to have physically encountered one. The jackalope’s most common sightings occur in Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska; however, it has European cousins, the German Wolperdinger and the Swedish Skvader. One legend explains that the jackalope bred with a camel to form the jacamelope. Another scientific explanation for the physical appearance of the jackalope was sightings of rabbits infected with the Shope papilloma virus, causing a growth of horns and antler-like tumors in various places on the rabbit’s head and body. Regardless of its origins, the jackalope remains a mythical prize for all who visit tourist shops in search of beaded necklaces and antlered rabbits as mementos of family vacations.
Snipe Hunt
Although a snipe is actually a real shorebird that inhabits wetlands in temperate regions throughout the world, a “Snipe Hunt” is a classic American coming-of-age ritual often associated with summer camps and organized groups—such as the Boy Scouts—with a power structure and both informal and formal membership rituals. Usually a Snipe Hunt involves mild hazing through which gullible new members both suffer playful mockery at the hands of and gain acceptance from their older and more experienced peers. Often the Snipe Hunter would be sent off into the nighttime woods with a pillowcase and a flashlight; sometimes Snipe Hunters are told to wait quietly in the dark, or to make ridiculous noises to attract the birds. Similar fools’ errands or wild goose chases of this kind might include being sent to find a “smoke-bender” for the campfire or a “sky-hook” to move a heavy object.
C. Fee
Tamara K. O’Hearn
See also Animal Tales; Fakelore; Fur-bearing Trout; Yarns, Yarn-spinning
Further Reading
Eberhart, George M. 2005. “Mysterious Creatures: Creating a Cryptozoological Encyclopedia.” Journal of Scientific Exploration 19 (1): 103–113.
Furst, J. L. 1989. “Horned Rabbit: Natural History and Myth in West Mexico.” Journal of Latin American Lore 15 (1): 137–149.
“The Jackalope Conspiracy.” SUDftw website. http://www.sudftw.com/jackcon.htm. Accessed July 18, 2015.
Larkin, Bruce. 2013. 50 Facts about Jackalopes. West Chester, PA: Wilbooks.
Weiser, Kathy. 2012. “The Jackalopes of Wyoming—Myth or Reality?” Legends of America website. http://www.legendsofamerica.com/wy-jackalope.html. Accessed September 7, 2015.