Mysterious Cryptids of Wisconsin: The Man-Faced Pigs of Door County

Legend says the state of Wisconsin is home to many cryptid creatures, but one of the strangest ones is the mysterious man-faced pigs of Door County.

Cryptids of Wisconsin

I'm not a person that buys into the existence of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, but that doesn't mean that I'm not completely fascinated by stories about them.

I recently came across this image shared in the Strange Wisconsin Facebook group, and immediately decided I needed to do a little research about every single one of the creatures listed.

If you haven't figured it out from the above graphic, a "cryptid" is defined as a creature whose existence has never been proven, but people still talk about it today. You may have heard of some of the Wisconsin cryptids, like the Beast of Bray Road or The Hodag before, but what about the Man-Faced Pigs of Door County?

The Man-Faced Pigs of Door County, Wisconsin

When it comes to outlandish legends, this man-faced pig one might top the list.

I couldn't find much information about this weird story, but I did find an article from The Pine Barrens Institute that said the man-faced pig story began in the late 1800s/early 1900s in the Door County town of Brussels. The article also says;

It is believed that the whole ordeal started due to the greed and anger of a local farmer who was mad at the realization that he had been removed from the will of a wealthy relative back in Belgium. Feeling betrayed, the farmer cursed the clergyman who read to him the will of his relative, as well as all the other clergymen in Brussels. Unknown to the farmer at the time though, the curse was not properly executed (or strong enough) and instead of the clergymen, it was placed upon himself.

The story goes that this "curse" gone wrong resulted in the farmer's pigs transforming into creatures with "Demonic human-like faces" that followed him wherever he went until he nearly went mad. The farmer became so desperate to be rid of the man-faced pigs that he begged for God's forgiveness, and built a small prayer house that can still be seen in Brussels today.

I told you this legend was weird.

Here are more fascinating things about Wisconsin...