Mascots have been around for quite a while; one of the first mascots was a taxidermy mount in 1908 for the Chicago Cubs. However, it wasn’t until 1964 that live costumed mascots began to appear. It wasn’t long after that costumed mascots became an expected part of many sports teams, universities, companies, organizations, and schools.

Most mascots make sense and go with an associated name. However, other mascots are totally out there. Some of the mascots are loveable despite their bizarre design. Others make you scratch your head and wonder what the designers were thinking. Here are ten weird mascots you likely haven’t heard about.

10 Stanford Tree

Technically, the Stanford Tree is the mascot of the band. But the Tree actually symbolizes the city of Palo Alto, which has a Redwood tree as its logo. As it happens, Stanford University also has a tree on its official seal, proving just how inseparable the university and Palo Alto really are.

The school never had an official mascot due to no one agreeing on any one candidate. Around 1975, the band performed several halftime shows that slyly introduced mascots they thought would work for the school. The Stanford Tree received such a positive reaction that the band decided to keep it around.

Now, the Stanford Tree has become part of many other university traditions. One tradition is known as Full Moon on the Quad. This tradition started back in the 19th century. Men in the senior class would kiss women in the freshman class and sometimes exchange roses. Today, the tradition boils down to kissing as many people as possible. In that one night, the Stanford Tree may receive at least 1,000 kisses.

9 Blue Blob

In 1985, Xavier University already had a mascot, D’Artagnan, the musketeer. However, Sally Watson, the spirit squad coordinator, worried that the sword-carrying character scared kids. So Sally decided to design a softer, more loveable mascot.

Since his introduction, the Blue Blob has been part of sporting events and even appeared in two SportsCenter commercials. But unfortunately, the Blue Blob doesn’t have much of an origin story which caused many students to come up with their own version.

So today, the question remains, what is the Blue Blob? But that is the thing; he is just a blob. He is blue, furry, and an energetic character that even adults love. The mascot also has a two-foot-long tongue that he uses to lick fans. The Blue Blob even has its own merchandise.

Anyone can wear the Blue Blob costume, but the candidate must meet one requirement. The Blue Blob cannot be taller than D’Artagnan. Beyond that, anything goes.

8 WuShock

In 1904, football manager R.J. Kirk needed a name for the Wichita State University team (formerly Fairmount College). R.J. settled on the Wheatshockers. This came about because many football players earned tuition and board harvesting—otherwise known as “shocking”—wheat.

Later, the name was shortened to Shockers. Until 1948, the university used a simple shock of wheat as its symbol. In 1948, junior Wilbur Elsea won the Kappa Pi honorary society’s competition to design a mascot representing the school’s spirit.

In October 1948, the school newspaper ran an advertisement asking students to submit names for the new mascot. Freshman Jack Kersting submitted the name WuShock.

However, it wasn’t until 1954 that the mascot received a 3-D representation, with a costumed being created by a WU cheerleader and members of the art department.

7 Mysterious Fish

In Japan, one of the weirdest mascots is the Mysterious Fish. The mascot was introduced in May 2017 by the Chiba Lotte Marines baseball team. The mascot begins as an angler fish with legs. However, the Fish reveals new forms throughout the game, including a skeleton fish.

Mysterious Fish has worked with Hawaiian Airlines since 2018. However, in 2021 the person playing the character announced his retirement. Unfortunately, this also meant the Fish would retire instead of having someone new fill his fins.

6 Fighting Okra

Delta State University has always had two mascots. The official mascot has been the Statesman due to the role State Rep. Walter Sillers, Jr. played in the school’s location. However, in the 1980s, a series of events led to the student body adopting an unofficial mascot.

The students never felt a Statesman was very intimidating. One day some university basketball players and baseball players were talking in the “Court of Governors” dormitory. Basketball player Houston Williamson expressed how the Fighting Statesmen wasn’t frightening to opponents. It also didn’t help that the mascot was temporarily prohibited from athletic activities due to a physical altercation with another mascot.

Everyone in the group agreed with Williamson and said a mascot needed to be mean and green. A lively discussion ensued, and the players made many suggestions. Baseball pitcher Bob Black suggested okra because the fruit is green, fuzzy, and tough. But it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that the Fighting Okra was adopted as the unofficial mascot.

5 Y’all Star the Water Tower

Y’all Star the Water Tower, the mascot of the Florence Y’alls, hosted his first game on May 13, 2016. The inspiration for this mascot came from the famous water tower in Florence, Kentucky.

The water tower was first built in 1974 and sported the words Florence Mall. However, due to the location of the actual Florence Mall and legal complications, something had to be done. So, the city changed the M on the water tower to a Y, reading Florence Y’all. The water tower quickly became a regional landmark.

The baseball team was initially called the Florence Freedom. In 2020, the group changed its name to Florence Y’Alls to honor the water tower.

4 Crusty the Pie

In 2019, Wigan Athletic, a member of the professional association football club (or soccer, depending on your preference), ran a Primary Schools competition to develop a mascot. The team didn’t have a mascot and decided the time was ripe to have one.

Wigan Athletic ran the competition to give the team a mascot and get the creative juices flowing for local children. In addition, the competition would teach the children to take the initiative. Most of the entries were some sort of pie design because apparently everyone in Wigan loves pies.

The winners were local children Cayden and Neve, who presented Crusty the Pie. The children were given the honor of introducing the mascot alongside former England international Peter Reid.

3 Kingsley

Kingsley, the monobrowed mascot, was designed by David Shrigley for the Scottish football team Patrick Thistle. The problem is that no one seems to like the character or know what he is supposed to be. The poor mascot has gone so far as to be branded the mascot nobody loves.

The character looks like a sun with one eyebrow and buck teeth. Despite looking totally strange, Kingsley has become part of the team. Fans and out-of-towners want a piece of him. Jay McGhee, the man within the costume, finds the head quite helpful in storing his water bottle, phone, and keys.

2 Youppi

The name Youppi means “Yippee” in French. Youppi represents the Montreal Canadiens (formerly known as the Montreal Expos). The mascot is a furry, orange character with an exclamation mark as his jersey number. Youppi entered the sports arena in 1979 and continued to be part of the team until 2004.

Youppi also happens to be the first mascot to be thrown out of a Major League Baseball game. On August 23, during the 1989 season, the mascot took a running leap and landed hard and noisily on the visitor’s dugout in the 11th inning. Youppi then snuck into a front-row seat. Later, the mascot was allowed back into the game but was confined to the team’s dugout roof.

In 2005, Youppi switched from baseball to the world of hockey. By December 2019, the loveable orange character was voted into the Mascot Hall of Fame. Youppi is the first Canadian mascot to receive this honor.

1 Phillie Phanatic

Phillie Phanatic didn’t have the usual introduction most new mascots receive. Instead of making a big announcement, the poor creature from the Galapagos Islands just came onto the field. The spectators saw the giant, green, furry creature and laughed at his antics.

Even though Phanatic’s debut wasn’t made into a big deal, it was still a success. The Phanatic’s inception began with former Phillies owner and Vice President Bill Giles deciding that his team needed a mascot like the San Diego Chicken so more families would come to the games.

Bill Giles originally asked Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, to design the new mascot. However, Henson declined and passed the opportunity on to Bonnie Erickson, who created Miss Piggy, Waldorf, and Statler.

David Raymond was the first person to fill the costume. Unfortunately, his first night as the Phanatic didn’t go quite as planned. Raymond fell over a railing accidentally, and the fans laughed. Raymond quickly adopted falling and slapstick humor into his act.

In 1994, Tom Burgoyne took over Phanatic duties. Burgoyne easily took up the Phanatic’s personality and built on it. Burgoyne began to ride around on an ATV, mock the opposition, and shoot hot dogs from a hot dog cannon.

When it comes to choosing the perfect mascot, colleges, universities, schools, and professional teams decide on the most standout animals or characters that radiate strength and power in teamwork. The job of a mascot is to warm up the crowd and walk around campus and fields while engaging in fun activities. Most athletic teams whether high school or professional, stick to common mascots like tigers, bulldogs, eagles, etc. But a few decided to stray away from the clichéd path and be creative.

However, in the process lost out on an appropriate or satisfactory appearance. Some mascots turned out to be so hideous that they now feature on well-known media platforms and have gained loads of popularity as well as hate. Ranging from frightening to pathetic, here are 10 of the worst, yet oddly popular mascots in the world.

10. Fighting Pickle – University of North Carolina School of Arts

This mascot represents the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and is a masked, French-looking bright green pickle, sporting a blue beret. He first originated when the student body requested the designing team for some sort of representation of the Arts subjects taught at the university. This is the reason why the Fighting Pickle holds a large paintbrush, and a clapper board, and wears a piano patterned belt/tutu. However, it is still unknown why they decided to choose a pickle to represent their art.

The college states that they intended Mr. Pickle to have a unique look but the outcome looked so strange that it was declared the most unconventional college mascot in an online competition with a total of 2800 votes. Despite the bad reviews he’s received, the university decided to keep him as their mascot, even to this date.

9. WuShock – Wichita State University

WuShock or Wu for short is an energetic, yellow, giant stalk of wheat from Wichita State University. For a bundle of wheat, most find it odd that he wears sweatpants and a crewneck, and his facial features have often been compared to an angry Donald Trump. He refers to all students and teammates as ‘shockers’, which is also the name of the school’s athletic teams. The “shock” in his name stands for the process of shocking during wheat harvesting which is a very common practice in Kansas.

Traditionally, shocking used to be the vocation of the majority of the students. They were known to work on a nearby wheat field when they weren’t in college. Wu has been the proud mascot of WSU since 1948 and after his introduction, he gained so much popularity, that even Jimmy Fallon mentioned him in a joke on an episode of ‘The Tonight Show’.

This vegetable-inspired mascot has been Scottsdale Community College’s official mascot since 1972, and as the name suggests, is an artichoke. He is said to look more like a “kids cartoon” rather than someone supposed to spread cheer or pride. Artie came to life when students voted on him as a joke, in protest of most of the school’s budget being used for sports rather than academics. The students purposely wanted the representation of the school team to be “lame”. But Artie, the jolly vegetable very soon became a lovable character and a favorite among fans.

Despite the obvious problem that a vegetable has nothing to do with sports, Artie was hated only because of his childlike looks. People say he should’ve been more appropriate for college students and not for kindergarten birthday parties. Even so, this outcome of random teen rebellion got a chance to meet the famous NFL player Patrick Peterson from the Arizona Cardinals American football team.

7. Keggy the Keg – Dartmouth College

As the name suggests, Keggy is a Keg of beer, who was shockingly approved to be the mascot of a college as prestigious as Dartmouth. Most institutes would go to any measures to cease such gatherings or keg parties to minimize parent concern, but Dartmouth claims to embrace such activity. Keggy is a huge silver keg with a smiling face and when introduced, was loved by all students. However, he was soon banned from home games on the grounds of inappropriate behavior that listing schools or parents did not approve of.

He rose from the ashes again 5 years later and is now the unofficial mascot who makes appearances at events where no parents or outsiders are involved. Keggy was recognized all over the media, including a mention on ESPN and being referred to in Playboy Magazine as “some stupid beer thing”.

6. The Fighting Okra – Delta State University

Following a physical altercation, the Delta State University’s official Statesmen mascot was temporarily suspended. As a replacement, the Fighting Okra won a student vote to be the college’s unofficial mascot. He is a grim-faced large Okra, wearing dull boxing gloves. The students and team players believe the Fighting Okra is more fierce and frightening than their Statesmen mascot and looks better with the team and cheer squad to visiting athletic teams. It was originally the baseball and basketball players who decided their interim mascot needed to be more “mean and green”.

But in doing so, they caused their University to be known most commonly for its weird Okra mascot and found themselves on many “worst mascots” lists. But the articles didn’t faze them, and they continued to occasionally bring Fighting Okra out onto the field again.

5. Stanford Tree – Stanford University

Stanford has been commonly known for its beautiful redwoods in the area, which gave reason to the University’s band to select a tree as their unofficial mascot. The Stanford Tree also appears as the institute’s logo and has often put on a show at athletic events that involve the band since 1975. The costume which was formerly introduced by Christine Hutson, comprised of a tree with huge eyes and what people say is red lipstick on his lips.

But the role of the Stanford Tree is taken so seriously that every year an audition is held to see who can fit his shoes best. Some students even take it upon themselves to create their own Stanford Tree costume and sport it around campus for big school events. The Tree gained most of its popularity from “worst mascots” lists in America.

4. Weezy the Boll Weevil – University of Arkansas

What is often mistaken as an alien, the University of Arkansas’ Weezy is a boll weevil insect that feeds on flowers. The green wooly-skinned mascot wears a jersey and has a long droopy nose and two long antennas. He is often seen with his supporting character “Blossom” who is a flower he feeds off of.

As inappropriate as that sounds, many people wait for the opportunity or an opening available to be Weezy or Blossom, because the selected student is given a generous scholarship in exchange. Weezy’s team the “Boll Weevils” was recently ranked the No.1 funniest team name by Deseret News and was No.19 on the 2011 list of worst mascots.

3. Battling Bishop – North Carolina Wesleyan College

The Battling Bishop athletes from North Carolina Wesleyan College, are represented by a bishop in a full-length red robe and black waistband and have been their mascot since 1925. Mr. Bishop received a makeover in 2010 when his encouraging smile was replaced by an angry frown which most students felt looked too serious and stern for a sports mascot.

It has also been mentioned on most media platforms that a bishop is a very odd symbol for sports teams, hence Mr. Bishop is only recognized in negative conversations. However, NCWC refuses to change its mascot since the school has explained that they have an important history involving bishops who rode horses, which is what inspired them to choose Mr. Bishop.

2. Speedy the Geoduck – Evergreen State College

 A Geoduck is a large slimy mud-burrowing mollusk found on the west coast of North America where it is sold to be eaten raw and weighs over two pounds. Speedy, when first designed by Evergreen State College, looked like an alien with a shocked visage, adorned in a taco shell and shorts. The college stated they wanted a mascot different from other typical and aggressive mascots and Speedy represented their essence or college motto, which is to be willing to “dig deep for what one wants to achieve”.

Over the years Speedy has received many makeovers, from looking like a “bamboozled pickle taco” to a very literal real-life-looking geoduck that has been labeled “disgusting”, to the newest and most loved mascot, which looks like a warm approachable turtle. Speedy is considered famous and has been mentioned in Time Magazine, on Fox Sports, BuzzFeed, the Huffington Post, and many other media platforms.

1. King Cake Baby – New Orleans Pelicans

This mascot has sent shivers down the spines of children as well as adults due to its appearance, which has several times been referred to as “nightmare material”. King Cake Baby is a crown-wearing, giant-sized baby in diapers that don’t fit, with an “I Love Baby Cake” bib around his neck. King cake traditionally, is a donut-shaped cake within which bakers would hide a little plastic baby and whoever found it in their piece of cake was considered to receive good luck and blessings or sometimes even considered a pregnancy prediction.

But how a king baby cake fits the needs of the NBA New Orleans’s Pelicans team is a question no one has been able to answer. He has been named the most grotesque and disturbing mascot by innumerable articles. Pierre the Pelican is the official mascot of the New Orleans team but when King Cake Baby makes occasional appearances close to the Mardi Gras festival in the USA, his impact unsettles everyone on and off the basketball court.