I reach J on the Paranormal Alphabet series where I talk about the legendary Jackalope from North American folklore, and how it connects to other mysterious cryptid rabbits from other parts of the world.

1. Photo by CGP Grey from Flickr, License.
Charlie 11/11/2019
The Paranormal Alphabet – J – The Jackalope
theweeklyrambler.com/the-paranormal-alphabet-j-the-jackalope/
Welcome back to another edition of the Paranormal Alphabet and on this we have now
reached the letter J! And we will be talking about a cryptid from the US and Canada
known as the Jackalope. It is also sometimes referred to as a Fearsome Critter. But there
is a lot more belief in its existence than many of the creatures featured in Fearsome
Critters, with many people throughout the years claiming to have seen one, particularly
people living in rural wooded areas or the wilderness.
A Jackalope is simply a creature that looks like a mixture between a jackrabbit and an
antelope, therefore a large rabbit with antlers protruding from its forehead and is clearly
how its name came about.
It plays a large part in North American folklore and a number of statues and taxidermy
mounts, often made from an actual jackrabbit with deer antlers having been attached,
can be found in public spaces and hanging within bars and restaurants within the US,
particularly in the northern and mid-western states such as the Dakotas, Montana,
Kansas and Wyoming.
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2. Plate XLVII of Animalia Qvadrvpedia et Reptilia(Terra) by Joris Hoefnagel – Public
Domain
Wyoming in particular is where the myth is believed to have reached popularity after
But
the
actual
origins of the Jackalope have many stories behind it and like much folklore around the
world, its true origin is not fully known. For example, the idea of a rabbit with horns also
exist in other parts of the world, such as from 13th century Persia, a piece of artwork,
Plate XLVII of Animalia Qvadrvpedia et Reptilia (Terra) by Joris Hoefnagel, depicts a Hare
with horns. And in Bavaria, there is a cryptid known as the Wolpertinger, from the
Medieval and Rennaissance period, a rabbit depicted with antlers, but also often wings
and other body parts such as a duck’s head or fangs. There were even natural history
texts that have catalogued rabbits with horns/antlers as if they existed, though scientists
have long since rejected their existence. So, it could also be that immigrants travelling to
America and Canada brought these folklores with them, which morphed into the
Jackalope.
Jackalopes have also featured in many Tall Tales in North America, which are tongue-in-
cheek stories about many different kinds of supposed cryptids, but with much injected
humor and silliness. Some of these Tall Tales describe the Jackalope as very dangerous
and advise hunters to wear stovepipes as leggings, less they get gored by the creature.
Some stories also talk of Jackalopes having the ability to mimic human voices, often in
the stories this would be done to people, such as cowboys, who were sitting and talking
around a campfire.
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3. Wolpertinger, a cryptid from Bavaria similar to the Jackalope. Photo by Rainer Zenz from
Wikimedia. License.
There is also a popular scientific explanation for some of the possible Jackalope sightings
as well as a possible other source of its origin, relating to rabbits infected with the Shope
papilloma virus, which causes horn-like tumors to sprout from a rabbit’s body.
The Jackalope has also featured in much pop culture such as books, games, TV Shows
and movies, one particular TV show I can cite is the X-Files revival season 10, where a
humorous episode involves the Jackalope, which was also my favorite episode of the
Season 10 X-Files Revival.
So, as you can see, the Jackalope is an expansive folklore critter in North America and
has fed into many stories and cultural parts of the US and Canada.
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4. rabbit infected with the Shope papilloma virus. Photo by Clinton Forry on Flickr.
License.
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