Rhinelander’s hodag to appear on “Scooby Doo”

RHINELANDER, Wis. (AP) — A mystical beast from Rhinelander is making its debut on television next month.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports an episode of “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated” will feature the Hodag and its “discoverer” Aug. 3 on Cartoon Network.

Lara Reed, the executive director of the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce, says they are excited for the attention the show will bring to the city. Reed hopes the show will inspire viewers to visit the “real Hodag.” It’s a folkloric, fanged reptilian creature that Wisconsin logger and prankster Eugene Shepard “discovered” in 1893. It apparently likes to eat dogs.

Shepard appears on the show as an entertainer traveling with a curio wagon and a seemingly stuffed Hodag.