Thousands of tourists buy those cuddly plush toy jackalopes every summer as they cruise through Wyoming. These cutesy-pie jack rabbit/antelope hybrids are ubiquitous in gift shops from Cheyenne to Jackson and everywhere in between. Douglas, of course, is the animal's ancestral home and the city's mascot, with a neat downtown statue and thousands of artsy jackalopes embedded in a new North Platte River Bridge.
A bill wending its way through the 62nd Wyoming Legislature would make the jackalope the state's official mythical critter. That's fine. But the animal also has a dark side, one that's been celebrated in music by Steve Earle, the Supersuckers and Wyoming's own Gary Small and the Coyote Brothers. Steve Earle's "Creepy Jackalope Eye" offers these chilling lyrics:
I got a jackalope face
I'm a jackalope guy
And I'm staring you down
Creepy jackalope eye
Is it so hard to imagine
Is it so hard to believe
Something so outrageous
Something so far fetched
Well how 'bout adam and eve?
Gary Small's "Snaggle Tooth Jackalope" deserves a little respect as it preys on unsuspecting turistas:
16 motor homes are still missing
Not a trace of human parts was ever found
Just a bloody boot and a shred of Bermuda shorts
On top of a prairie dog mound.
Tourists beware of the snaggle tooth jackalope
A cold-blooded killer...
Yikes.
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