FIELD FILE · JACKALOPEOTHERFOLKLORE

Jackalope

Also known as Horned rabbit, Antelope rabbit

A jackrabbit with antelope antlers, born of a Douglas, Wyoming, taxidermy joke in the 1930s and now the West’s favorite tall-tale animal.

Tales of horned hares are surprisingly old – European naturalists illustrated them centuries ago – but the American jackalope has a precise and very Wyoming birthplace. According to the story told by the Herrick family, brothers Douglas and Ralph Herrick, young hunters and amateur taxidermists from Douglas, came home from a hunting trip in the early 1930s and tossed a jackrabbit carcass into their shop, where it landed beside a pair of deer antlers. Inspiration struck. Most accounts, citing the New York Times, date the first mount to 1932, though the city of Douglas gives 1934.

The brothers sold their creation for $10 to Roy Ball, who hung it in the bar of the Hotel LaBonte in Douglas, where it became a local attraction until it was stolen in the 1970s. The Herricks went on to make jackalope mounts for decades, and the idea spread across the West on postcards, souvenir stands and roadside curio shops. A whole body of cowboy lore grew around the animal – above all that it can imitate the human voice, so that cowboys singing around a campfire at night might hear a jackalope singing back.

Douglas embraced its creation wholeheartedly. The town has an eight-foot jackalope statue, a Jackalope Square and a jackalope-decorated bridge over the North Platte, holds Jackalope Days each June, and its chamber of commerce has issued thousands of tongue-in-cheek jackalope hunting licenses, valid only on June 31 – a date that does not exist. Wyoming legislators have repeatedly proposed making the jackalope the state’s official mythical creature; the House has passed the idea more than once, though it has stalled in the Senate.

There is a real biological footnote. Rabbits infected with the Shope papilloma virus can grow wart-like, horn-shaped tumors, usually on the face, and sightings of such animals may have fed older horned-rabbit legends around the world – a discovery that eventually helped researchers understand how viruses can cause cancer.

Type

Other

Status

Folklore

First reported

1932

Best-known location

Douglas, Converse County, Wyoming

Also called

Horned rabbit, Antelope rabbit

Reported in

Wyoming

What witnesses describe

A jackrabbit with a pair of small deer or antelope antlers sprouting from its head. Lore credits it with a fierce temper, great speed and the ability to mimic human voices.

Where and when it’s seen

Sagebrush plains and prairie of the American West, especially around Douglas, Wyoming – usually “seen” at dusk, and mostly in souvenir shops.

Notable sightings

1. Early 1930sThe first jackalope mount Douglas, Wyoming

   Douglas and Ralph Herrick combined a jackrabbit and a set of antlers in their taxidermy shop and sold the result for $10 to Roy Ball of the Hotel LaBonte.

2. 1977The original is stolen Hotel LaBonte, Douglas

   The first jackalope, a fixture of the hotel bar for decades, was reportedly stolen; by then countless copies had been sold across the West.

3. 2005A bid for official status Cheyenne, Wyoming

   Wyoming lawmakers proposed naming the jackalope the state’s official mythological creature, the first of several attempts that passed the House but failed in the Senate.

What could explain it?

• The jackalope is a taxidermy creation and a deliberate joke; the Herricks openly made and sold mounts.
• Rabbits infected with Shope papilloma virus develop horn-like growths, which may explain real sightings of ‘horned’ rabbits in folklore worldwide.
• Older European illustrations of horned hares show that the idea predates Wyoming, and settlers may have brought it west.

Legend, culture and tourism

The jackalope is a mascot of the American West: Douglas’s statue, Jackalope Days and novelty hunting licenses, countless roadside souvenir mounts, beer labels, sports teams and Wyoming lottery tickets. Mounted jackalopes hang in bars and museums across the region, including the Weidner Wildlife Museum at Western Wyoming Community College.

Places to visit

Where it’s reported

Wyoming

Jackalope in the news

No recent headlines about the Jackalope. Our news desk checks every day — see all cryptid news.

First published October 13, 2026 · Updated October 14, 2026