Tales from da Swamp
Swamp Legends – The Rougarou
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| New Orleans Zoo exhibit. |
The Rougarou, I just love saying it. I may name my next dog
Rougarou, so I can run around the woods yelling for him. The beast known as the
Rougarou a Cajun legend that dates to medieval France where it was known as
Loup-Garou. French Catholics claimed you would turn into a loup-garou if you
did not follow the rules of Lent for seven consecutive years. I am on year six.
Cajun language, a mix of French and English and well-known
for changing words to roll off the tongue easier, the name of the beast merged
from loup-garou to Rougarou.
Legend tells us that if you survive an attack of the loup-garou, then you too will become one. Should you go out in search of the
creature and your eyes meet his red glowing eyes, then you too, will become the
loup-garou. Like the legendary vampire, the loup-garou can bite and drink the
blood of its victim as well as devour his flesh. Once the curse is passed on,
the previous victim is freed from the spell. If the creature becomes injured or
killed, they will instantly become human again.
One legend from the late 1890’s tells of a wealthy gentleman
from New Orleans who moved to the bayou and took a young woman named Madeline
to be his bride. He had often heard stories of the rougarou from her family.
One evening while he was visiting a local pub, he heard a young hunter and
trapper bragging about his kills. In a drunken state, he challenged the young
man to go out into the swamp and kill the rougarou, offering him a large sum of
money for his catch.
Two years later, Madeline gave birth to a baby boy. The
child was born with a small crescent shaped birthmark on his back. The midwife
saw the mark and said, “He is bewitched!” The child had been born with the
mark of the devil. “He’ll be fine, as long as you keep your eyes on him when
there is a full moon.” Shortly after the boy was born, the couple hired a young
woman named Michelle to help care for him. She was a rather strange girl, with
funny shaped eyes, who always wore a cloak hiding her face. But she had shown
up just as they need a nanny for the child and she seemed very mild natured.
When Michelle saw the birthmark on the child’s back she told her mistress, “It
is the mark of the rougarou. He will be one by his 16th birthday.” The young
mother became frantic. She had thought that the evil curse that once gripped
her had been lifted and now it seems as though she had passed it on to her
little baby. She asked if there was anything she and her husband could do to
save the child. Michelle told her to kill a white pigeon and smear its blood on
the birthmark. Then they were to place the child on a soft blanket under
full moon. She said that the moon would draw up the mark and the curse would be
lifted. The next full moon they carried the child into the woods, armed with a
shotgun, to wait for the full moon. As the moon rose a large wolf-like creature
with red glowing eyes appeared. It stood snarling over the child. The parents
ran toward the wolf screaming and firing the gun grazing the beast on the left
side of its neck in an effort to scare it off, but it was too late. As it
howled off into the woods, its jaws dripped with the blood of the infant child.
Later, they found Michelle lying in the woods. Her neck had been blown open by
a shotgun and she had bled to death. The spell had been broken. But the legend
says he who breaks the spell and tells the tale before a year and a day has
passed will become the rougarou. No doubt Madeline and her husband told no one,
but what became of the young hunter that freed Madeline?
The New Orleans Zoo has a Rougarou exhibit and there’s an
annual Rougarou Festival in Houma.
Rougarou Festival
Kalila Smith, "Werewolves" http://www.neworleansghosts.com/werewolves.html (accessed July 13, 2018).
