• Discovering the Hodag and Eating Paul Bunyan's Lake Soup

  • Jan 10 2025
  • Length: 17 mins
  • Podcast

Discovering the Hodag and Eating Paul Bunyan's Lake Soup

  • Summary

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    The year is 1889. You’re sitting around a campfire after a long day of logging. The sweat has finally dried off your brow and the smell of smoke and beans fills the air. You’ve only been on the job for a few weeks, having moved to northern Wisconsin to escape the city life that had become too busy to bear.

    Lost in your own thoughts, you don’t even notice when someone new joins the circle sitting around your fire. The sound of a match striking pulls you into the moment and you look up to see the man lighting a cigarette, tossing the used match into the fire as he looks over at you.

    “So, you’re the new kid, eh?”

    “Yeah.”

    “The kid from New York?”

    You nod and look back at the fire.

    “Hopefully you’ll last longer than the last greenhorn we had. I could smell his momma’s milk pouring off him. Just try not to get yourself killed and keep an eye out for the hodag.”

    You perk up.

    “Hodag?”

    “A terrible beast. Long, sharp claws like a lion. Horns like a bull. Its tail is enough to make the ground quake and it loves fresh meat. It’s got spike all down its back, and it’d just as soon kill ya as look at ya. Just don’t wander off alone after dark in these parts.”


    That’s how the story of the hodag started. A tale told around the campfire at logging camps in the 19th century. But if not for one man in the 1890’s, it might stayed as nothing more than a tale, lost to time and forgotten by all but a few.


    Welcome to season 2 of The Long Way Home. I’m your host, Josh “Bearheart” Hawk, and as we start a new year, I’ve got some amazing things coming your way. If you’ve been listening for a while, you might notice there’s a new format for this season and I’m a little more organized. My goal this year is to give you something to listen to on those dark, lonely nights as you travel down dirt roads in the middle of nowhere or work your way along a desolate freeway. The destination isn’t really important, it’s all about the journey, and the journey is made so much better when you take the long way home.



    On The Long Way Home, Josh "Bearheart" Hawk shares stories from his life, love and past as well as Legends and Tales you can get lost in. Each episode is a drive. Sometimes, the road is covered in dirt and gravel, with clouds of dust kicking up in the rearview mirror. Others, it's a long stretch of highway fading off into the distance.

    No matter what lies under the tires, the road ahead is full of promise. You might wind up in a different time zone, or even a different time altogether. The destination isn’t really important, it’s all about the journey, and the journey is made so much better when you take The Long Way Home.

    My website: https://www.joshbearheartlegendsandtales.com/

    Buy my books on Amazon or on the website!
    The Journal - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXMX81G5
    Legends and Tales - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHL3RCD3
    GPS Signal Lost - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY7TGMM2

    You can find me over on Patreon, where you’ll get access to exclusive benefits and be the first to hear about upcoming projects: https://www.patreon.com/joshbearheart

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