Pickaliker - [Fearsome Critter]

Pickaliker [Fearsome Critter] - (Latin: Axeansa Xylotherepticus) - aka: Pick-a-Licker, The "Pickaliker of the Minnesota Mines."

• About this critter: a small, subterranean animal said to be about the size of a rabbit, but related to the porcupine. - It frequents old mineshafts where it consumes the sweat-soaked handles of work tools such as mining picks, shovels, axes and hammers, leaving only the metallic-iron tops behind. - [see also: Ax-handle hound.]-- incredibly shy and likely nocturnal, it is never found in the open air or sunlight: so however it might have looked is up to debate. - what was for certain; People who visit deserted mines, dig sites & caves will often find rusty handle-less heads, wherever these are found, then certainly; a Pickaliker was to blame!!

• History: Seemingly the earliest mention of the Pickaliker I could find was included in Prof. Walker D Wyman's "Mythical Creatures of USA and Canada" [1978.] –

- The story notes at the bottom of the page mention that the professor is quoting the description directly from someone named "Mike Phiffer of Duluth Minnesota" he dates it to "June 25th 1971." - (sadly, thats all it says and searching Mikes name & date only turns up dead-ends! - it would seem that the entry is based off of an oral or spoken account, so, you also won't find much else about the Pickaliker by scouring older books.) - Reguardless, The description is a parallel to the axe handle hounds description, almost exactly, in that its a seldom-seen creature that eats work equipment. - But rather than consuming only axes, It seems to be repurposed & re-flavoured for the mining industry. - (in short you could say that its something of a "regional variant") --like the hound: it seems that this type of creature is based around the fact that real life porcupines (among other animals) are known to nibble salt-soaked wooden tools. [Porcupines have a salt deficiency, so they're known to nibble on docks, paddles, driftwood and other sea-salt or sweat-soaked things.] - I'd imagine that this factoid would NOT have been well known at all. - (As of writing its still a rather obscure fact today unless you do research on the subject) - Thus; it seems likely to me that this critter might have been once used as a joking explanation (or perhaps something more akin to a pourqoui story) to explain why there where nibble-marks left on tools which were left-out, like the Ax-handle-hound, it serves as a reminder not to leave your equipment lying around too, lest it go missing!

we could end it there and simply say "its a regional variant to the earlier axehandle hound!" - but! as for the location: Duluth, Minnesota is a port city just south of the Iron range of the great lake area, and west of Lake Superior; the area is known for its history of gold and silver mining, sometimes it's affectionately known as the "Ore-Docks" as they would ship the ores out from there too. - Of course, the area is home to several ghost stories, other mining related Legends and Oddities. -  It should be noted that the mines in the area were also home to stories of "Tommyknockers" (Pixie/Gnome/ghost like creatures that were said to warn cornish miners of cave-ins & play other pranks on the miners. (though the knockers are better found & celebrated in Colorodo, the lore went wherever the miners did.) - Whatever the case, needless to say, it feels likely that perhaps the "Pickaliker" derives from the area's rich history of mining-related-lore! - but must digress; its fun to speculate, but someone local to the area would need to look into this subject a little bit more carefully. - [Perhaps Mike Phiffer made it up off the cuff? its hard to say, again; sadly Wyman didn't give us any indication to know who this 'Phiffer' guy might've been!!!]

[A map showing the mines location near Duluth.]

[Good Ol' Paul Bunyan and Babe mining in Minnesota, Lake superior itself was jokingly said by settlers to be filled in by the antics of paul bunyan and babe as well.) source: POSTCARDY.blogspot.com March 21 2011]

...Some years Later, Wymans Pickaliker entry was later re-published in the newspapers in the 1988's "Wisconsin lore and legends." - Walkers entry is directly quoted:

[Wisconsin Lore and Legends, 1988 ] 

...Later still, The Pickaliker was one of many critters who where expertly rhymed about in Lenwoods Lexicon of Lumberwoods lore. 2006. - The fanciful poem spread from there) to various cryptid-focused fandom-wikipedias (sadly, usually uncredited.) because it was without context, the general concept of the creature pollinated a bit and many under-researched artistic interpretations & mispellings spread (such as "Pikaliker" "Pickalickers" & "pick-a-lickers") can be found in galleries 'round the 'net today. - Thankfully Lenwood & the Wampus Society also preserved the pickaliker nicely by including the source, as it was also added to the fearsomecritters.org database.

As the above article says, the creature's physical appearance is indeed still up to debate, as the lore implies that "it's never seen!" so its up to artistic interpretation as to how this one might look, As the description is very similar, I've chosen to draw it with a literal pick-axe-head to match my sticker for the Axe-handle hound. i'd like to imagine that licking all that salt causes a crystal-like geode to grow from its back (giving its body a porcupine-ish shiloette.) that their spikes might be to blame for the occasional odd Amythst or Agate found on Lake Superior shorelines...

–[Artwork by samkalensky (yo, thats me!) part of my fearsome critters collection of stickers, if you enjoyed this, please check my shop and support for more!]