Douglas Herrick, proudly displays two of
his creations hot off the production line.
Goodbye Mr Herrick...
Douglas Herrick, creator of the jackalope, died of bone and lung cancer on January 6th aged 82. The latter-day Frankenstein first hit upon the idea for what is possibly Wyoming's most successful export as far back as 1932!
His brother, Ralph, explains how the pair first stumbled upon the idea when they had returned from hunting one day all those years ago: "We just throwed the dead jack rabbit in the shop when we come in and it slid on the floor right up against a pair of deer horns we had in there, It looked like that rabbit had horns on it." Douglas must have seen the $ signs as he suggested: "Let's mount that thing!"
'Looking For Jackalopes Europe Fall 2002' tour schedule.
Regular visitors to these news pages will know how the jackalope brought the Bowie touring band joy and sadness in equal measure on last year's appropriately named 'Looking For Jackalopes Europe Fall 2002'. Their original beast was stolen at a show in Bonn on Friday the 27th of September. (11/09/02 NEWS: WHO STOLE THE JACKALOPE?) Though a replacement was soon flown in, many of the Bowie band members are still traumatised by the theft.
Perhaps this would be the perfect opportunity to offer an amnesty to the cad who pilfered the original jackalope. If you are that light-fingered tea leaf, perhaps your guilt has the better of you... if so, please e-mail me at the usual address and we'll arrange for the return of the bizarre little creature to its rightful owners.
Click on the picture of Douglas Herrick above to read a longer obit over at