The Wolpertinger
In the Bavarian forests, so the story goes, lives a creature with a hare's body, antlers, wings and fangs.
What was reported
The Wolpertinger is a creature of Bavarian folklore, usually described as a hare or squirrel with antlers, wings and fangs, and sometimes a duck's feet. It's said to live in the forests of the Alps and the Bavarian Forest.
Taxidermists have made Wolpertinger mounts from parts of real animals for at least a century, and they hang in inns and in the German Hunting and Fishing Museum in Munich. Legend says only a young woman in the company of a handsome man, under a full moon, can see one.
Explanations offered
It's understood as a joke played on visitors, much like the American jackalope. Some think rabbits with horn-like growths, caused by a papilloma virus, helped inspire tales of horned hares. No real animal is involved.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- Bavarian Forest, Bavaria, Germany
- Witnesses
- Bavarian hunters, in tall tales
- Status
- Tall tale
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.