You've seen them. Maybe in a dusty roadside diner in Wyoming or leaning against a rack of postcards in a South Dakota gift shop. Those grainy, black-and-white pictures of a jackalope—that absurd, slightly unsettling mashup of a jackrabbit and an antelope. They look real. Honestly, they look too real. That’s because, in a way, they are.
Taxidermy is a weird art. It’s the craft of taking something that was once alive and freezing it in a pose it never actually took. When Douglas Herrick and his brother Ralph sat down in their shop in Douglas, Wyoming, back in 1932, they weren't trying to rewrite natural history. They were just bored. They had a dead jackrabbit. They had some deer antlers. They had some glue. They didn't realize they were creating a viral sensation decades before the internet was even a spark in a scientist's eye.
The Anatomy of a Hoax: What You’re Actually Seeing
Most people think the jackalope is just a funny bit of Western folklore, like Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill. But the visual evidence—the actual physical pictures of a jackalope—tells a much messier story. When you look at an "authentic" jackalope mount, you're usually looking at a black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) with the antlers of a young pronghorn or a small deer surgically attached to its skull.
The Herrick brothers sold their first "monster" to a local hotel for ten bucks. That sounds like nothing now, but in the middle of the Great Depression, ten dollars was a week’s wages. It’s no wonder they kept making them. By the time Douglas Herrick passed away in 2003, his hometown had officially dubbed itself the "Jackalope Capital of the World." They even issue hunting licenses to tourists, though the fine print notes that the season only opens on June 31st.
Good luck with that date.
The Real-World Disease Behind the Myth
Here is where things get actually creepy. While the antlered rabbits in the postcards are fake, there is a very real, very gruesome reason why someone in the 1700s might have claimed to see a "horned hare." It’s called Shope Papilloma Virus (SPV).
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Dr. Richard Shope discovered it in the 1930s. Basically, the virus causes hard, keratinous tumors to grow on a rabbit's head and neck. These tumors are made of the same stuff as your fingernails. They don't look like elegant deer antlers; they look like twisted, black, calcified protrusions. They can get so big that the rabbit can't eat anymore. It eventually starves to death.
Early European naturalists like Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre actually included "horned hares" in scientific texts like the Encyclopédie Méthodique in 1789. They weren't lying. They were looking at sick animals. When you compare 18th-century sketches to modern pictures of a jackalope, the lineage is clear. The myth didn't come from nowhere; it came from a misinterpretation of a biological tragedy.
Why the Jackalope Thrives in the Digital Age
You'd think that in 2026, with high-res smartphone cameras and AI detection, the jackalope would be dead. It isn't. If anything, it’s thriving.
The "cryptid" subculture on platforms like TikTok and Instagram has given the jackalope a second life. People love the "liminal space" aesthetic of old Western bars. They love the irony. But more than that, there's a deep-seated human desire for the world to be a little bit more magical than it actually is.
- It represents the "Wild West" spirit.
- It’s a harmless prank.
- It’s a tangible piece of Americana.
Museums like the Smithsonian have actually had to address the jackalope. While they don't have a "live" specimen (obviously), the National Museum of American History recognizes the cultural impact of these mounts. They are symbols of the Great American Tall Tale. They are "fakes" that tell a very real story about our sense of humor.
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How to Spot a "Genuine" Fake
If you're looking to buy a mount or verify pictures of a jackalope, you have to look at the craftsmanship. High-quality taxidermy from the Douglas, Wyoming area is actually quite collectible.
- Check the base of the horns. In cheap knockoffs, you can see the glue or the "putty" used to bridge the gap between the fur and the antler.
- Look at the eyes. Real jackrabbits have a specific, wide-set gaze. If the eyes look like they belong to a house cat, it’s a modern, mass-produced import.
- The ears should be upright. This is the hardest part for taxidermists to get right because the ears are thin and prone to drooping over time.
Douglas, Wyoming still holds a massive festival every year. They have a 13-foot tall statue of the creature. They take it seriously. It’s not just a joke to them; it’s an industry. It’s their identity.
The Cultural Legacy of the Horned Rabbit
We see this creature everywhere now. It’s in World of Warcraft as a "pet." It’s the logo for popular software brands and craft breweries. Pixar even featured a "Jackalope" in the short film Boundin'.
But we shouldn't forget that the jackalope belongs to a larger family of "fearsome critters." In the lumberjack camps of the 19th century, men told stories of the Hoop Snake (which bites its tail and rolls like a wheel) and the Squonk (which is so sad it dissolves into a pool of tears). The jackalope is the only one that survived the jump from oral tradition to physical proof.
Why? Because you can't take a photo of a snake that turns into a wheel. But you can take pictures of a jackalope as long as you have a rabbit, some antlers, and a camera.
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Practical Steps for the Modern Myth-Hunter
If you are genuinely fascinated by the intersection of biology and folklore, don't just look at blurry JPEGs online. Go to the source.
- Visit the Pioneer Museum in Douglas, Wyoming. They house some of the earliest known mounts and have the best archive of the Herrick family's work.
- Study Shope Papilloma Virus research if you want to understand the grim reality behind the "horns."
- If you're buying a postcard or a photo print, look for the work of Bill and Art Belden, who were instrumental in the mid-century explosion of jackalope photography.
The jackalope isn't real, but the way it makes us feel—that split second of "wait, is that...?"—is entirely authentic. It’s a reminder that even in a world mapped by GPS and cataloged by scientists, we still want to believe there’s something weird hiding in the sagebrush.
Keep your eyes open the next time you're driving through the high plains. You won't see a jackalope. But you'll probably see the rabbit that started the whole mess, and for a second, you might just see the antlers, too.
Next Steps for Enthusiasts:
To truly appreciate this piece of Americana, track down a copy of the original 1930s postcards from the Wyoming area. These physical artifacts show the transition from a local prank to a national icon. Additionally, if you are a collector, ensure any taxidermy you purchase complies with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and local wildlife laws—even for "mythical" creatures, the base animal must be legally sourced. For those interested in the science, the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute has excellent resources on the actual rabbit species that often fall victim to the SPV virus.