Introducing From Muskoka Folklore, The Hodag!

 

Photos by Suzanne Currie

Gravenhurst Artist Provides First Glimpse in Muskoka History of What the Legendary “Hodag” Might Have Looked Like When it Roamed the Area Woodlands

Written by Ted Currie (in Three Parts)

Illustration by Sarah Cole

     As we take this journey, writer, and guests, the curious and the doubters, the hobby historians and watchful folklorists, it is most necessary to pre-condition the adventure, by first noting the very great relevance of having an unfettered imagination. Whether you are a hardcore, hard-fact historical type, who finds satisfaction refuting the lilt of the folksong, as it relates to the time-tested durability of fact, contrasting the sentimentality of sweet fictions, there is something for everyone in the unfolding of the present Halloween series about the evasive, potentially deadly, “Hodag.” Right from the pages of Muskoka history, and the folk stories from the yarns shared and embellished by the earliest settlers, and loggers, toiling at great peril, in the regional lumber industry, there is the powerful conflict between reality, and the facts known to the folklorists, who have an equal platform to claim authenticity; each in their own way, each in their own coloration, or not. But the Hodag, let there be no mistake, is a fact of history, by the fact it is included in historical record. For one, Roger Vardon’s well known journal, “English Bloods,” a cornerstone of any Muskoka reference collection. Did it actually exist as a wildlife entity? Was it actually a Lynx? A mix of Lynx and Bobcat? Or was it a paranormal quality and quantity that haunted the dark Muskoka woods like the Irish Banchee, that was most loathed by the rural populations in Ireland of old. Did the Irish immigrants to Canada, and to the Muskoka region, bring with them the belief in such malevolent creatures, and is it possible, that with some folksy crafting, and embellished interpretations of its screams in the late night, that the Hodag got its Canadian character in mix with the regional creatures that habitated here in the north woods? Was any settler or logger killed by the Hodag? Well, that’s left for speculation of course. But whether or not it ever existed, in fact, we are delighted that it lived in the words of story-tellers, spinning tales at hearthside on cold autumn nights as this one. Please enjoy the tour of the Muskoka woods.

     “I am dwelling too long perhaps, upon a threadbare subject; yet it brings up with it a thousand delicious recollections of those happy days of childhood, when the imperfect knowledge I have since obtained had not yet dawned upon my mind, and when a fairy tale was true history to me. I have often been so transported by the pleasure of these recollections, as almost to wish that I had been born when the fictions of poetry were believed. Even now I cannot look upon these fanciful creations of ignorance and credulity without a lurking regret that they have all passed away. The experience of my days tells me, that they were sources of exquisite delight; and I sometimes question whether the naturalist who can dissect  the flowers of the field, receives half the pleasure,  from contemplating them, that he did who considered them the abode of elves and fairies. I feel convinced that the true interests and solid happiness of man are promoted by the advancement of truth; yet I cannot but mourn over the pleasant errors which it has trampled down in its progress. The fauns and sylphs , the household sprite, the moonlight revel, Oberon, Queen Mab, and the delicious realms of fairyland, all vanish before the light of true philosophy; but who does sometimes turn with distaste from the cold realities of morning, and seek to recall the sweet visions of the night?” Washington Irving, “Bracebridge Hall.”

     I’ve known about the mythical, folklorish, woodland creature, “The Hodag,” for quite a few years, since I read about its alleged existence in the text of Roger Vardon’s well known Muskoka journal, “English Bloods.” It is the story of a later 1800’s English lad’s experience in the backwoods of Ontario, specifically Muskoka, not far from the then Village of Huntsville, working as a farm-apprentice with a number of other lads, learning how thick forest with a thin arable soil on a rock bed, can be turned into a prosperous farmstead with a few months of hard labour. Of course, it was found out, that the farmer who had encouraged the green students, was a long, long way from being successful at homesteading, and that when the truth was finally revealed, it was simply the case the land owner really needed free labor. In order, you see, to clear the required land for farm purposes, and help build the farm buildings, to meet the obligations of free land grant agreements with the government of the day. Point is, the author, who you will read about later in this short series, was able to experience the pain and suffering of struggling settlers, trying against almost impossible odds, to carve out a few acres to operate some kind of farming operation to assist in their survival in this period of unsettling isolation; especially hard for those homesteaders who had come from industrially compromised cities of England, Scotland, and Ireland specifically. He got to meet many of the colorful characters of the time, living and working in the region at a variety of capacities, and over time, he learned about some of the folklore of the Muskoka wilds, much of it perpetuated of old country tales that had been conveniently transplanted into the new Dominion to flourish or disappear. Banchees, hobgoblins, good fairies and bad, trolls, leprechauns, ghosts and will-o-whisps both malevolent and benign made their way through the moonlit moors of this rugged, densely treed region, and from homestead to homestead, these allegations of strange sights and bumps in the night, became aggressively significant. The Hodag was just one of many folklorish entities said to prey on innocents in the densest parts of the woodlands.

     As the majority of settlers to arrive in Muskoka from the late 1850’s to the 1880’s were from the British empire, Europe and the Scandinavian regions overseas, there were several homeland folk tales involving malevolent entities, that may have inspired the fear in the wild woods, that became known as “The Hodag.” In one case, as written about by Washington Irving, the garden variety Dobbie, an old country paranormal trickster, had some nasty qualities that may have been added to the creature said to haunt the tree tops in our region. In Irving’s words, writing in his book, Bracebridge Hall, under the heading, “Popular Superstitions,” the authors notes the following:

     “But beside these household Dobbies, there are others of a more gloomy, and unsocial nature, that keep about lonely barns at a distance, and dwelling houses, or about ruins and old bridges. These are full of of mischievous and often malignant tricks, and are fond of playing pranks on benighted travellers. There is a story among the old people, of one, that haunted a ruined mill, just by a bridge that crosses a stream; how that late one night, as a traveller was passing on horseback, the Dobbie jumped up behind him, and grasped him so close around the body, that he had no power to free himself, but expected to be squeezed too death.; luckily his heels were loose, with which he plied the sides of the steed and was carried  with the wonderful instincts of a traveller’s horse, straight to the village inn. Had the man been at any greater distance, there is no doubt but he would have been strangled to death. As it was the good people were a long time in bringing him to his senses, and it was remarked that the first sign  of returning to consciousness  was to call for a bottom of brandy.” The superstitions of olden days were of course transplanted and re-generated in this new, harsh and wild country, as seeded by those especially who had left rural areas of England, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Germany in the early homesteading years in Ontario and specifically, the newly opened District of Muskoka. Fear was heightened by the unknown, and the Muskoka woods had a foreboding  character that was enhanced by the colder seasons of the year, when the forests were barren of the hardwood canopy, and shadows appeared ominous and malevolent to the weary travellers plodding along with their loads along narrow cartways. Exhaustion and loneliness were influences on the isolated settlers, and stories of pioneers who had perished in some fashion, by sickness or accident, often created unease with rampant speculation about what had really happened. Not much different today, I suppose.   

     It is most likely, that The Hodag was inspired, mostly amongst those employed in the logging industry, and workers during the winter cut and spring log-drive, which put them in not only the thickest sections of forest, but in the most isolated area many miles from the nearest habitation. It is, by the way, in terms of folklore, limited to the forests of Muskoka as an evil, life draining entity, as there is written and visual evidence of Hodags in the Northern United States, also in areas that had a large lumbering presence. It is suspected that the inspiration for this mythical creature came from the presence, at the time, of the Lynx, the wild cat that is said to have had a blood curdling scream in the darkness of the forest, and its sighting, in the trees along travelled cartways, gave way to the kind of embellishments that create exotic lore and legend from modest information and no research to back up advancing claims about lives lost due to its attacks on loggers walking below.

     It was said of The Hodag that it would attack an unsuspecting traveller from behind, having been hidden by the foliage of the tree in question, after flinging itself down from the branches onto the shoulders of its victim, to which it wrapped its legs around the neck, and suffocated its soon-to-be dinner. And yes, it is said to have then sucked blood just in case strangulation hadn’t been fully successful in the victim’s demise. There is, by the way, no clear evidence of any logger or settler any time in Muskoka’s history, having been killed in this fashion, by a creature that looked a lot like a Lynx, but acted like a demon. Yet it became part of pioneer period folk lore none the less, and for a folk history lover like myself, it is well worth capturing in the essence of recorded anecdotes, and rumors, if only to prove that folk stories in all their delicious characterizations, whether a gentle fairy sighted in amongst the canopy of woodland ferns, or a will-o-wisp dancing in the evening breeze over the bogland from which it is a most common attendee, said to be the product of a methane accumulation from rotting vegetation in lowland situations.

     As a long questing folk historian, it was impossible for me to allow the identity of The Hodag, to remain only a bandying about of historical hearsay for the rest of time. Who else would do it if not me, as it is in my bailiwick of interest after all. When in late spring, son Andrew introduced me to the art work of local illustrator, and tattoo artist, Sarah Cole, one piece that was actually given to me as a birthday present in July, of a witch with a collection of black cats on her hat, I knew at once I had finally found someone to tackle my longtime interest to put a visual interpretation to this evasive folklore; meaning that Sarah would be the first artist in the history of the District of Muskoka, to create a signature illustration of “The Hodag,” for public consumption. The only hurdle? It was to get Sarah to agree with me, that she was the best choice for the commission, as she had that Tim Burton-esque perspective, as witnessed by such landmark creations as “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” and “Sleepy Hollow,” based on the Washington Irving tale about the deadly ride on moonlit nights of the legendary headless horseman. Sarah had the creative juice to make this project come true, for me, and it was with great joy that I celebrated soon, there after, that she had agreed to join this little historical adventure that had few if any serious boundaries. It was up to the artist, not the writer, what The Hodag would ultimately look like when creative enterprise was fully expended. She viewed other images of Hodags characterized in the United States, and read everything she could about the Muskoka cousin, but that’s where the co-operation between illustrator and writer ended. I didn’t want her to follow my lead, as I am a fervent believer in the artist’s right and privilege to interpret the subject; just as I have the freedom to express in text.

     At the conclusion of this three part series, ending on the eve of Halloween, we will share a short video presentation with readers, with Sarah’s art work, Suzanne’s many photographs taken in our own Wild Wood here at Birch Hollow, and the music to companion the visuals, created by son Robert in his music studio here in Gravenhurst. This marks the fourth video he has created for one of my research projects, and I certainly appreciate his involvement and suggestions on how to make the project more viewer friendly.

      I want to thank Sarah particularly, for putting an image to a portion of forgotten Muskoka history, that should never be neglected similarly in the future.