~KRANDLEKEEP~
The Wisconsin Gnomelore Database
There Be Hodags
Around 2022 I started doing a deep dive into Wisconsin folklore, and from the beginning, I wanted to find one thing: A complete list of all the legendary creatures in Wisconsin folklore. However, the more and more I delved into the deep lore, uncovering obscure subspecies of hodags and a surprisingly huge number of gnomes, I began to realize that no such list existed. I amassed an ever-growing collection of books on Wisconsin's folktales, cryptids, and hauntings, both physical and virtual, but no one book contained a full account of our legendary critters.
Since the one list that I wanted simply didn't exist, I resolved to do it myself, and began going through all my resources in order to list out our legendary creatures, typing out descriptions of each legend.
I read through books, websites, and even records of from the Federal Writer's Project. I took special interest in the gnomes, since we seem to have more little people than any other type of creature. I was especially happy to discover a specific gnome legend in the annals of the FWP notes that had not been reported on by any other author.
Eventually my list of Wisconsin legends and their descriptions grew long enough to be a book. At the very least, I intend to self-publish it. At the time of writing this webpage (9/9/2025), the research and the first draft of the writing is done, 75% of the first editing pass has been completed, and 60% of the illustrations have been made.
Once the book is completed and available online, this page will be updated to link to where the book can be found.
Want to be notified when the book is completed? You can follow me on X to get updates as to when the book is complete. You can also follow me on the Fediverse or DeviantArt where I have gradually been posting the illustrations I have been making for the book.
Wisconsin's Leading Gnome Expert, Pictured with his Fairy Daughter