The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-20
CT nj EWS.
IS It A REAL HODAG?
"A Most Uncanny Nocturnal Brute at
Minnetonka Reported BY
A. H. opsahl.
He Says It Has spines and
It's scaly Coat Turns
Shot.

A. III. Opsahl aserts excitedly that 1t is
surviving representative of a supposed
ly extinct saurian that looks like cross
between an iguana and a rocking horse,
and offers to produce witnesses to the
strange nocturnal proclivities Of the un-
canny brute that haunts the woods about
his Minnetonka place, Ruritania.
The hodag is supposed to be dead. AS
a matter of fact there weren't no sich
animal" A lot Of lumbermen over in
Michigan faxed up hideous looking rep
tile and had picture taken of him,
which the Northwestern Lumbermen
printed, but somebody blew the game
Of Dante's dread picture. proved to be
stuffed nothing in particular
But Mr.. Opsahl sWears that the Michi-
ganders builded better than they knew.
If Mr.. Opsahl has not discovered hodag
he certainly has turned up some awful
creature that bellows like an elephant
in q rage, waloWs in the swamp and
grunts jumps stir legged from the dead
grass and brush Of dark nights with Its
! spinal projections all standing. and gem
orally keeps people at OronO Point Won
dering what sort of horror has invaded
their sylvan retreat.
To come down to cases, there is a de-
termnied hunt going on from Ruritania
and surrounding estates after some
shot at a dozen times in the past win
ter, but which seems to bear a charmed
life. Opsahl himself emptied q double
load Of B B shot. at the beast or reptile,
the range being less than, thirty yards
in the moonlight. The shots were heard
to rattle like hail on the scaly coat Of the
crea ture, which promptly emitted a sound
that resembled, roughly speaking, cross
between the laugh Of a hyena and the
bawl of an indignant COW.
Several parties have visited the local
fty during the winter in an effort to round
up the strangerVisitor to Ruritania, but
without success. the animal making its
appearance only at night and preferably,
| it, seems on dark nights.
II don't know what breed this creature
| belongs to- said Mr.. Opsahl to-day, "but
| what I do know is that there is nothing
| in the books describing him. He is
scaly all over like big fish. have seen
| his scales shining in the moonlight and
taken steady shot over the bough Of
| tree at him. He. is not in the least in
jured by being shot at with any sort of
| small arm. tried a Winchester on him
twice and know that he was hit, because
| he jumped and scutt1ed for the woods as
| hard as he could go, believing f1ercely.
When he runs, his tail is held high above
his back and it has spines sticking out
all along it's length like an tguana p: l
never could get good look at the Great
ure's head, but I've got a picture Of it in
my mind. I should like to get a photo
graph Of this thing with a good sized
camera, but it's habits are nocturnal and
| the only picture we shall ever get will
be taken after it is dead IL .
| The prevailing opinion is that the Great
| ure which has created SO much discussion
at the point is an escaped specimen from
some circus or. side show. No reportS Of
/ such an escape Is remembered, but the
people who witnessed the latest "hodag'
refuse to be laughed out of .countenance.
| Mr.. Opsalll takes a walk around his place
every night in an effort to get another
| shot at the animal. He has provided
himself with a 1870 Winchester and
! hopes toreport results within q few days.