~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 in Wisconsin legends as little bearded men, wearing shabby green clothing, sometimes with tophats or pointed caps. Commonly, their shabby appearance is likened to that of a hobo. According to the leprechaun stories of Wisconsin folklore, leprechauns are prone to mischief, enjoy dancing, and sometimes are invisible to all except children.
The Irish were one of many ethnic groups that participated in Wisconsin’s lumber boom, and Irish lumberjacks brought the leprechaun into the folk tales of the lumberjack tradition. It was in the lumber camps that the leprechaun legend would undergo a stark transformation, evolving quite a bit from their original source legends. Their name was 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 in Irish immigrants. It had come to dwell in the wilderness of North America, preferring bogs and swamplands to make its home. These leprocauns were hairy, with clawed hands and feet, and sharp teeth. The leprocaun was thought to have strong legs, and was capable of leaping great distances. In its natural environment, the leprocaun used this ability to deftly leap over the watery areas of its swampy domain. 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.
The leprocauns can perhaps be best compared to the armouchiquois, another type of little people who are skilled at jumping, who live near the water, and who like to terrorize humans who intrude on their territory. The leprocaun can also be compared to the agropelter, another primate fearsome critter that terrorized the lumbermen. With the fact that the leprocaun is described as very hairy, and the fact that the more traditional leprechaun can be invisible to all except children, they can further be compared to the memegwesiwuk, the little people of the Menominee and Ojibwe, who were both hairy and invisible to all except for children and medicine men.
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.
