My Other Sites

Saturday, April 16, 2022

Rougarou- Louisiana


A strange, unearthly cry echoes across the mirrored surface of the Louisiana bayou, echoing off scattered cypress and tupelo dripping with Spanish moss. Is this merely the call of a wading bird? A lone puma? Or is it the shriek of the man-wolf creature known as the Rougarou?

Rougarou is a Cajun variation on “loup garou”, the French word for werewolf. France has a long history of werewolf folklore. In the 16th century these creatures were often blamed for crimes such as disappearances, animal killings, and particularly violent burglaries. In a parallel to the infamous witch hunts also taking place at the time, scared and panicked villagers would usually accuse someone living outside the societal norms of the time- such as a hermit in the woods, or a person with mental illness- as being the beast. Once accusations had been made, the condemned had little ability to defend themselves in court other than to “confess” to being a werewolf and implicate others in their ddeds.

Many legends existed to explain how one became a loup garou. Some men (medieval werewolves were almost always masculine) could change by putting on a wolf’s skin- a possible link to legends of the Norse berserker warriors who would don bear skins to take on the beast’s power. Some people would become werewolves through cannibalism and other debauchery. Catholic priests claimed that a man who didn’t observe Lent for seven straight years would become a werewolf.

Stories of the loup garou came to North America in the 17th century with French settlers in the Acadia region, located in what is now Eastern Canada. In the aftermath of the French and Indian War, the British colonial government took over the region and forcibly deported most of the ethnically French Acadians.  Many of these displaced people settled in Louisiana, originally a colony of France that was ceded to Spain in 1762. The Spanish government was fairly tolerant of the settlers, allowing them to continue their cultural practices- which included tales of the loup garou.

In modern times the rougarou has become more of a boogeyman to frighten children. Parents warn their kids not to misbehave or play in the swamp or else the beast will come for them. These stories usually do not make it clear if the creature is a transformed human or if it is always a humanoid beast akin to the Beast of Bray Road and other dogmen of the Midwest.

Despite- or, more likely, because of- its frightening appearance and behavior, the Rougarou has become a popular part of Louisiana culture. Costumes based on the creature frequently appear in Mardi Gras celebrations, and the city of Houma even has an annual festival themed around the creature.



SOURCES