Monico, Wisconsin - Rhinelapus: Tree Root Monster Rival to The Hodag

The Rhinelapus is imprisoned. We did not understand what the abundance of fencing was for... [Holly Diestler, 08/25/2008]

[RA: ...though it can still glare at you with its bicycle reflector eye.]

A very large, twisted, and scary-looking tree trunk was found near Monico Creek in the early 1940s. Guy Dailey named it "Rhinelapus" because he thought that it resembled a rhinoceros, elephant, and octopus. He then had it cut down and dragged to his Lake Venus Tavern, where it sat, sheltered by a shed roof, for over 60 years. At some point it was painted yellow, then green, to preserve the wood, and renamed "The Green Monster." An eye and a horn were highlighted for the less imaginative. Guy Dailey died in 2002, and in 2005 the Rhinelapus -- by now a much-beloved civic symbol -- was moved to an open-air shelter in Monico Community Park. The Rhinelapus is also a bit of nose-thumbing by Monico at its neighboring city of Rhinelander, whose citizens loudly promote their "Hodag" monster. [Roadsideamerica.com Team, 10/31/2005]