Whopper-Hopper - [Fearsome Critter]

"Whopper-Hoppers." - [Fearsome Critter | Cryptid?] - [Latin: Acridoidea Maximus] - aka "Giant Grasshoppers", "Rocky mountain locusts"

• About this critter: Gigantic Grasshoppers which were attracted to the Great Plains by the agricultural abundance & giant crops planted across rural America. - These Hoppers which grew to the whopping size of a Dog? a Man? a Horse? a Train? a Tower?!? ...Eh, who knows really: point is they got big!! Regardless, these varmints grew SO big that one could ride em for miles!! - Thankfully, these massive pests where eventually made extinct, they must have been driven out to sea by the rancid breath of St.Urho!

• History: In the early 1900's stories of gigantic grasshoppers where popular subjects for "Newspaper Hoaxes" & "Tall-tale doctored postcards", (Folktales & Legends featuring "giant grasshoppers" where also particularly abundant in the Great Plains where grasshoppers are a common pest.)

The term "Whopper-hopper" was earliest coined by Frank D. “Pop” Conard a photographer & photo manipulator from Kansas who famously made and sold postcards. According to "Larger than Life [1990]" in the mid 1930s, Frank got his inspiration to make these postcards after a swarm of grasshoppers descended on Garden City, Kansas in 1935. – "When he went to bed all he could think of was the grasshoppers and decided to take some pictures and made the postcards as a fun joke" – They apparently "sold like hotcakes" - Franks work is still remembered fondly to this day [for more about him, check out the Erik Conard Research Archive on FB here.] - a small gallery of his Whopper-hopper works are as follows:

[Above: A few choice examples of F.D Conrads Whopperhopper works. - Conrad also owned the radio tower featured in the last postcard! - According to one Facebook Comment: "the radio tower broadcast KIUL, the first radio station in Garden City, Kansas... It sat to the west of what is now Conard Ave, a section of Garden City he developed!"]

• News papers & magazines:

[a story about telling "hopper stories" from 1902, featuring "a dog sized" grasshopper.]

[a famous Hoax photograph which was featured across several newspapers, edited and remade several times, featuring a hunter and gigantic grasshopper]

[accompanying article to the above photograph from 1937]

[a 'giant grasshopper' as featured among other critters (such as the 'fur bearing trout' in the LIFE journal of american folklore 1960s]

• St.Urho - "Patron Saint of Grasshoppers and Whine"  – [Folkhero]

[a statue depicting "St.Urho" in Menahga, Minnesota.] - 

Although this is only tangentially related to 'whopper hoppers' it would feel amiss  to mention all this but not mention the legend of "Saint Urho" here! - The Bunyan-esc fictional "Finnish Patron Saint of Grasshoppers and Whine" who to this day is celebrated by local Finnish & Irish Minnesotans. - it is said that the saint banished the grasshoppers away from Finlands vineyards (after consuming sour milk and fish soup) yelling at them bad breath and an incantation:

 "Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä helveteen!"

("Grasshopper, grasshopper, go from hence to Hell!")

 ["There are differing opinions as to whether the legend began with the fables created by Sulo Havumaki of Bemidji, or the tongue-in-cheek tall-tales told by Richard Mattson of Virginia in 1956"] 

Regardless of where/when it began, or how silly it might sound, Menahga, Minnesota has since leaned into the story, using the legend like something of a town mascot: officially calling themselves "The home of St Urho" & erecting both a wooden carving as well as a 12ft tall fiberglass statue complete with an impaled grasshopper and legend plaque. – [pictured above and below] – An annual celebration & a feast featuring purple beer, costumes, and a variety of grasshopper themed dishes are held yearly! - St.Urho day is celebrated across Minnesota (& in some parts of canada!) by both the Finns and the Irish, Annually on the 16th (extending the St.Patricks day celebration by a whole extra day!) - Odes and ballads have been written and sung in both Irish and Finnish to celebrate the saints. - The Menahga statues plaque states the following Legend of St.Urho:

The Legend of St.Urho:  "One of the lesser known, but extraordinary legends of ages past is the legend of St. Urho - Patron Saint of the Finnish vineyard workers.

"Before the last glacial period, wild grapes grew with abundance in the area now known as Finland. Archeologists have uncovered evidence of this scratched on the thigh bones of the giant bears that once roamed northern Europe. The grapes were threatened by a plague of grasshoppers until St. Urho banished the lot of them with a few selected Finnish words.

plaque "In memory of this impressive demonstration of the Finnish language, Finnish people celebrate on March 16, the day before St. Patrick's Day. It tends to serve as a reminder that St. Pat's Day is just around the corner and is thus celebrated by squares. At sunrise on March 16, Finnish women and children dressed in royal purple and nile green gather around the shores of the many lakes in Finland and chant what St. Urho chanted many years ago: "Heinasirkka, heinasirkka, menetaalta hiiteen." (Translated: "Grasshopper, grasshopper, go away!")

Adult male (people, not grasshoppers) dressed in green costumes gather on the hills overlooking the lakes, listen to the chant, and then kicking out like grasshoppers, they slowly disappear to change costumes from green to purple. The celebration ends with singing and dancing polkas and schottisches and drinking grape juice, though these activities may occur in varying sequences. Color for the day is royal purple and nile green.

-- i think its quite delightful way to celebrate, and it seems to be a long lasting tradition at this point, so I'll dedicate my whopper hopper sticker to the saint as well!

[Art sticker by samkalensky (yo thats me!) part of my fearsome critters collection of stickers follow and support for many more! a big thank you goes to Ryan for help with researching this one.]