The 'Boogeymen' TV series comes across as a tourism plug for the local Chamber of Commerce for the particular location featured in each episode. However I find them an approachable introduction for anybody who wants to start out on folklore and cryptid speculation studies. This episode introduce me to the Hodag of Wisconsin and the town of Rhinelander in particular. The Hodag is a prehistoric-looking fierce creature with glowing red eyes and huge claws. There is some tongue-in-cheek and a bit of showman delivery on the part of the contributors and yet I felt drawn into the Hodag mystique as well as being entertained. I liked the art of Rod Umlauf who claims to have seen a group of Hodags among some dead trees. Another self-confessed believer is author Michael J. Skubal who adds his own fictional detail to the legend. Even though there is still fear of walking into the woods and swamp areas of Wisonsin at night the Hodag is now being mellowed down to a cute mascot with a less fierce image. The community of Rhinelander are shown to be consolidating together through the propagation of interest in the Hodag. There is some footage of an old carnival as being typical of the side shows where Rhinelander citizen Gene Shepherd used to exhibit the 'hodag' he claims to have captured. And there's some atmospheric photography and some campfire-type stories that I found fascinating.
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