Hoedag | Photo by Paul Werling
For over 100 years, Auglaize and Mercer County residents have reported seeing a beast within the waters of Grand Lake St. Marys. While the validity of the sightings is still in question, one thing that remains is that Hoedag’s legacy will live on.
The lake monster
According to the Lake improvement website, the first recorded sighting of Hoedag occurred in 1912.
The website states that Hoedag is “3/4 the size of an elephant, possesses a serpentine body with a back hump, chicken-like feet, a green eye on the forehead and a red-eye on the long tail, and is covered with hair and feathers.”
The creature’s description has changed throughout the years into what Wright State University (WSU) Lake Campus’s mascot is today. According to students, its favorite food is pumpkin pie, but it will settle for missing dogs and frightened humans.
While its origins are in question, Robb Kinnison sheds light on what happened.
“When digging Grand Lake, the workers unearthed a horrific desiccated fossil that returned to life upon being submerged in the water with which they filled the newly dug crater. The Hoedag terrified and completely wiped out the population of the first two settlements in this area. It was actually captured with the help of several native peoples and butchered into thin sausages that the white people poisoned and fed to the natives that helped them. Unbeknownst to most people, these sausages were named after the creature, ‘Hoedag,’ and this is the origin of the term ‘hotdog,’” said Kinnison.
Local sighting
Local resident and lake dweller Paul Werling shared his take on Hoedag.
“Our neighbor’s dog disappeared a few years ago one cold winter night. They let him out to go to the bathroom, and he was gone… Had to have been the Hoedag,” Werling said.
According to Werling, most Hoedag stories are started with fishing, beer, and a fun night. Werling first heard of the beast at Grand Lake at his neighbor’s house and went so far as to name his party garage “The Hoedag Hut” and had shirts made in Hoedag’s honor.
Many people in Auglaize and Mercer Counties have their own stories and sightings of Hoedag, most stemming from their childhood days spent at the lake.
“When I would drive from work in Lima at 3 a.m. I would drive past Huffy Farm and see a weird creature, and it freaked me out. It was only a picnic table. Not a Hoedag,” said local resident Jessica Bergman.
When asked about the Hoedag in the Friends of Grand Lake Facebook group, most comments were of locals reminiscing on seeing the beast in their channels growing up and later on spotting it around the lake bars late into the night.
Controversy in the Hoedag community
According to many Wisconsin Wikipedia users, the Hoedag is none other than the Hodag, a creature that is a local legend in their state. When researching Hoedag, it seemed that several individuals were disturbed by the twisted version of their creature.
“Besides the fact that Hodags are a Wisconsin cryptozoological specimen, this one is found two states over… when there’s no evidence that Hodags have that sort of range. And even the author admits (in very bad English) (twice) that the critter in question is so vastly different as to probably not be a Hodag at all, but a “Hoedag.” No sources, no info on Google other than Wikipedia… I’m just not seeing it,” said Wikipedia user Korossyl.
The story continues
Though the Hoedag is accepted as a local legend that patrols the waters of Grand Lake St. Marys, the local community has involved it in projects to keep the lake safe and clean from algae.
The Lake Improvement Association launched the “Save The Hoedag” Video Contest in 2011. The video project focused on how the Hoedag’s natural habitat was being harmed and what people in the communities could do to help it. This project aimed to involve local youth in helping Grand Lake.
Former Coldwater resident Sara Reigle was finishing high school around this time.
“There was a campaign and contest to make a video about how to save Grand Lake from the algae. It was called ‘save the Hoedag.’ And I was like, ‘Since when do we have a lake monster?’ Then I was at a graduation party on the lake, and we saw a fish jump out of the water, and we were all like, ‘Oh my god, it was the Hoedag,’” said Reigle.
While most stories of Hoedag seem like fabrications of local lore, those who have seen the beast know to keep their distance from Grand Lake at night and keep their dogs close to home.
