~KRANDLEKEEP~
The Wisconsin Gnomelore Database
The Leprocauns
"It would bound clear over the load, snapping its teeth at the driver and reaching for him with its villainous claws."
From There Be Hodags, by C.A. McAllister:
It was Irish immigrants who brought legends of leprechauns to the State of Wisconsin. They were depicted as little bearded men who wear green and are somewhat prone to mischief. According to the leprechaun stories of Wisconsin folklore, leprechauns are invisible to all except children, and enjoy dancing.
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The Irish were one of many ethnic groups that participated in Wisconsin’s lumber boom, and Irish lumberjacks brought leprechauns into the folk tales of the lumberjack tradition, where they underwent a stark transformation, evolving quite a bit from their original source legends. They were also given a change in spelling, and thereafter, to the lumbermen they were known as the “leprocauns.”
The leprocaun was said to be a species of primate originally native to Ireland that came to North America on the same ships that brought immigrants from Ireland. It had come to dwell in the wilderness of North America, preferring the environments of bogs and swamps. These leprocauns were hairy, with clawed hands and feet, and sharp teeth. It was capable of leaping great distances at a time. In its natural environment, the leprocaun used this ability to deftly leap over the water of its swampy terrain. The leprocaun was also of a mischievous and somewhat malevolent nature, however, and it was said to have the habit of leaping out at lumberjacks with slashing claws and gnashing teeth, terrorizing and chasing the poor lumberman for its own amusement. According to the lumber lore, the leprocaun bore the scientific name Simiidiabolus hibernicus horribillis.
From Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, by William T. Cox:
​During the early days of Upper Canada, before it became the Providence of Ontario, there were brought into a logging camp on the Madawaska River several young leprocauns from the north of Ireland. This animal was even then rare and has since become extinct in its native land. It is said that during the last famine hungry Irishmen killed and ate the few remaining specimens of this queer beast.
On its native bogs the leprocaun was a harmless creature, celebrated for its playfulness and laughable antics. It would hop across the bogs, turn somersaults, and leap over hillocks with wondrous agility. A favorite trick was to bore into a pile of drying peat and then, with a sudden spring, send the clods of peat high in the air till the commotion looked like a young cyclone. These antics were all right enough in Ireland, but when the animal was brought to Canada its disposition changed at once. The pets on the Madawaska escape into nearby tamarack swamps, increasing and spreading until an occasional one was seen on the upper Ottawa and even over in northern Michigan. Sneaking through the tamarack and cedar , or leaping across the muskegs after whatever appealed to it as food, the leprocaun became a creature to be feared and avoided. Teamsters toting supplies across swamp roads have been attacked by the animal, which would bound clear over the load, snapping its teeth at the driver and reaching for him with its villainous claws. Hasty flight to thick timber, leaving the team to its fate, was the only choice of the driver, who thanked his stars that in running through tangled tamarack even the leprocaun is no match for a frightened man.
