Wolpertinger

In this week's episode, we're looking at the horrendous Wolpertinger from German folklore! How does this monster relate to the American Jackalope? How hilarious do Germans think they are? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

We’re back to our normal schedule and I really hope you enjoyed our first episode back, it looks like it was received well on this side at least! Cthulhu was really a meaty one so I hope this one meets the same expectation! 

It’s my birthday on Sunday, and I’m turning 30 which is as terrifying as the monsters I cover. If you’ve been a long term listener to my show, you’ll know I started this show a week after I turned 26 so it’s kind of wild that my late twenties have been dedicated to bringing monsters back into the world, and long may it continue!

DESCRIPTION:

We’re hopping on over to Europe this week, and heading to Germany to look at a monster I’ve kind of covered before - but a slightly different variation. The Wolpertinger from Bavarian folklore is our monster this week!

The Wolpertinger is described as a completely hybrid monster, but typically, the head of a rabbit, the body of a squirrel, a deer’s antlers and a pheasant’s wings and legs. However, they can also have fangs, a tail or bat-like wings, but they are mostly an amalgamation of many different animal parts. 

They are often cited though as just having a rabbit’s body and a deer's antlers, like their American cousin the Jackalope - which I’ve covered in another episode a few years ago. 

These creatures are formed from the coupling of two completely different species, which did originally begin with the pairing of a rabbit and a roebuck to create the stereotypical image of a Wolpertinger or Jackalope that you may know. However, the Wolpertinger went one step further and other species started to do the same, and now the Wolpertinger is an umbrella term for these mutant spawn from all kinds of animals. 

No two Wolpertingers are exactly alike, even if they have the same parents, and can often be a strange combination of parts to make up something completely alien to us, making them very unique taxidermy for anyone hunting them. 

You can usually find Wolpertinger in the thick Bavarian forests along the Alps, and like most woodland creatures, the best time to see them is at dusk and dawn when they are most active and not trying to hide away from people. 

They do have some powers to be aware of though, if you decide to go looking for one. They are not dangerous to humans, but if their saliva touches you in any way, you will get thick tufts of hair appear in that spot that you will struggle to remove. 

They can also spray a disgusting smelling liquid, like a skunk which funnily enough, are not native to Europe, at any potential attackers and this can’t be removed with any soap, deodorant or perfume. This only disappears magically, after exactly 7 years - so you’re going to be smelling like a bin for about that much time and then one day it’ll magically go away. I think I’d rather smash a mirror honestly. 

In terms of their day to day living, they tend to eat herbs and roots found only in Bavaria, which if you weren’t aware is a giant region of Southeast Germany which borders the Austrian stretch of the Alps and has the best German food by the way.

They also reproduce in the usual mammalian way, which I’m sure you don’t need me to describe, as they are usually found with rabbit bodies, so they also mate like them. And they can also be killed by usual means, and are very often hunted for taxidermy purposes, which I’ll get onto later. 

Lastly, if you wanted to catch a Wolpertinger for whatever purpose - you can do so by sprinkling salt on its tail, or by using the “sack, stick, spade” method. This is having a sack held open with a spade, and lighting a candle inside. The Wolpertinger will then come to the light and, once he’s inside, you take out the spade. You’ve got yourself a Wolpertinger!

There is a myth that you can summon a Wolpertinger by taking an attractive single woman into the woods, and if she is with the right man, the Wolpertinger would reveal itself and if you revealed your bare breasts, it would faint to allow you to catch it - of course, we’ll all fall for this one, won’t we ladies? But because of this, there’s a myth that the Wolpertinger, although being a rabbit hybrid creature, has an attraction to human women - but this is contested of course.

ORIGIN:

So let’s move onto etymology, unfortunately, it’s not a great week for this one - although I do have some suggestions. Wolpertinger doesn’t naturally translate to anything from German, but it’s thought that this might relate to the Bavarian town of Wolterdingen - which is where they made schnapps glasses in the shapes of animals which were called Wolterdingers. Another theory is that their name comes from the German night of witches or Walpurgisnacht, which happens on the 30th April to celebrate the second Halloween of Germany.

The myth of the Wolpertinger goes back to at least the early 1800’s, and this all came about because of, you may have guessed it, taxidermy. 

Yes, revoltingly, these creatures were put together by taxidermists because mainly, they thought it was funny. There were competitions on how outrageous the mash-up of creatures could be, and you’ll often find these still hung up on walls of Bavarian lodges, bars and pubs to trick tourists. 

Just like the Drop Bear of Australia, Germans think that tricking tourists with myths about the Wolpertinger are hilarious and I’m inclined to agree. The myth about catching them by using single women, created a fun pilgrimage for women by taking their boyfriends out to the woods to check if he’s mister right - which is equally very funny and stupid.

This happened throughout the whole 18th and 19th centuries, and Wolpertingers became an important part of Bavarian culture and there are still Wolpertinger taxidermies in museums in the area, as well as in those bars and pubs too, as a nod to the Bavarian history with the monster. 

Unfortunately though, the reality of this monster could also be inspired by a horrendous virus called the Shope papilloma virus or Shope for short, which is a type of HPV that affects mammalian wildlife. This one is specific to rabbits and bunnies, and does usually end in death. 

Why is this relevant to the Wolpertinger? Well have you ever seen the video of the virus that eats through ants brains and spurts out the top of their head? Well it’s kind of like that, but rabbit sized and also potentially coming out of their eyes, mouths or noses in antler like shapes. I do not recommend looking this up, although if you’re curious, you just need to search for Wolpertingers or Jackalopes to see pictures. It’s actually really common in wild and domesticated rabbits in the US and Europe, so this sight would not be uncommon to see, especially back when hunters relied on eating rabbits or using them as hilarious taxidermy for back home. 

It’s thought that the Shope virus is responsible for the inspiration behind Wolpertingers in taxidermy, as it’s not backed up in any Grimm tales or German folklore tales, which is odd considering their love of the macabre in their stories, but it is tragically sad and gross.

We’ve kind of talked about Jackalopes throughout, these are just the American versions of this monster and are usually just the rabbit and deer hybrids, however, there’s also the Skvander from Swedish mythology, which I’m sure we’ll cover another time. These are also very similar, but with the body of a rabbit and the rear end of a grouse - also fondly used in taxidermy and within fiction. 

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, we have a few bits with the Wolpertinger in, but I have to mention that it’s mostly Jackalope media as it’s the Americanised version, and of course, the media we consume in the West is mostly American. 

For art, although this monster is older than its American cousin, the Wolpertinger is still quite new and is then technically a cryptid, therefore art is a tricky one. There are plenty of artists' versions of them independently, but you can also look at the taxidermy of supposed Wolpertingers from Bavaria or Jackalopes from the US which are pretty cool if you’re into that kind of thing.

Movies are a little limited unfortunately, we only have Zootopia, Stagbunny & Boundin’ for all things Wolpertinger, but you can also watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail if you want a hilarious sketch about a rabid killer rabbit.

For TV, we have; Star Trek, Eerie Indiana, America’s Funniest People, Odd Squad, Tiny Toon Adventures, Pinky and the Brain, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Gravity Falls, Earthworm Jim, Scooby-Doo, The Secret Saturdays & Sheriff Callie’s Wild West.

In video games, we have ones such as; The Witcher, World of Warcraft, Redneck Rampage, Red Dead Redemption, Sam & Max Hit the Road, Guild Wars 2, Rise of the Third Power, Don’t Starve, Culdcept, Fallout 76, Runescape, Final Fantasy 14, Rampage, Little Alchemy 2 & Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido.

My book recommendation this week is Hausgeister!: A comprehensive guide to the household spirits of German folklore by Florian Schafer & Janin Pisarek for all things German folklore, or the Grimm tales by the Brothers Grimm is always a winner in this part of the world’s folklore and mythical creature history.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

I’m gonna say probably not for this one, mainly because it’s very clear that these are a tourist trap souvenir made by Germans who think it's funny to trick unsuspecting tourists into buying their folklore legends. I promise you that a fox isn’t mating with a chicken, deer and bear to create a monster like this - I really am. 

However, I love this monster’s MO of just wanting to see some boobs and I think it’s become a fan favourite based on how silly it is. But I do think there’s still some truth to seeing mutated rabbits thanks to the Shope virus and it’s definitely plausible that people could have seen these monsters in real life due to this unfortunate infection and think they were mutated, just like the Jackalope’s background.

This monster also does have the bonus of having counterparts in other places in the world with its variations in Sweden and the US, so that does back itself up in the folklore world by multiple mythologies reporting it. 

However, do I legitimately believe that these monsters exist outside of this mistaken identity case? I’m gonna say no - but I do like the idea of them although they may be slightly horrific to look at.

But what do you think? Did the Wolpertinger hop through the forests of Bavaria and the rest of Germany? Let me know on social media!

OUTRO: 

A tragic, but fun monster this week and alarming how close they are to at least two other monsters, but at least this one came first I suppose and I do love German folklore stories.

Next week, we’re heading over to Japan which is my most requested region of the world by non-Japanese people too I hasten to add, I know you’re all just really into anime and it makes me SICK. I’m massively joking but either way, we’re HEADING east to Japan for a stretchy yokai, the Rokurokubi. Make sure your head is screwed on tight for this monster next Thursday!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got loads of social media for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, YouTube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod and I’m now also on BlueSky under mythmonsters. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk, and you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.