We can only hope Ruston, LA never decides to build a Grunch Road. Official Post from Deborah Hatswell BBR Being Believed Research & Investigation The Rougarou roams the bayou in search for misbehaving children to frighten. Louisiana has a Nightmare on Bourbon Street situation going on that some arent aware of. Proud foodie. What he told me next has stuck in my memory, and was the spark that lit the flame regarding personal interest I took in all things weird, and strange. 8 Scariest Louisiana Monsters from Folklore | PeachTown Your email address will not be published. Coming across this story made me reach out to Mr. Nameless to see if he would entertain the idea answering some questions about the experience he had in the early 90s. Not in the Pacific Northwest, but right there in Laplace! 1990-1992 (early 90s) St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. All rights reserved. HubPages is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Rougarou is also thought to be nothing more than a bogeyman story to scare children or Catholics into obedience. 61 when they saw a creature pop up out from the bank of the canal that parallels Airline. Lurking in the woods and wetlands of southern Louisiana, according to Cajun legend, theres a ferocious monster that attacks the wayward and the wanderer. She witnessed someone slinking around her property. This particular evening something strange caught the seminary students ear. This terrifying creature has evolved over millenniabut never lost the need to feed. That gator is looking pretty good right now, huh? The seminary student stood still, they got the impression that the source of the noise was moving along a path in the woods and getting closer. The Rougarou of the Bayou Louisiana is a fascinating place whose history is rich with legends from long ago. The creature is only vaguely seen in the film with a head resembling a bear. This a great article!! Thank you! Email Joni Hess at joni.hess@theadvocate.com. Can you really only eat oysters in 'r' months? The giant was walking westerly at a quick pace with a sorrowful but purposeful look. During this time, however, the Rougarou was called Loup-garou. The 2015 short film Atchafalaya centers around a game warden searching in a Louisiana swamp for a missing person who is hinted to have been taken by a loup-garou. If you have lived in Louisiana, there is a significant chance you have heard the lore of the Rougarou (also spelled as Rouxgaroux). The officers came around the corner of the house and saw a creature standing up, pressed against the side of the house, trying to maintain cover. Its a hybrid mixture of escaped circus chimpanzees and alligators which now live in the swamps of St. Tammany Parish. In 2011, Foret launched Rougarou Fest in Houma, Terrebones parish seat and largest city, as both a fundraiser for the center and a way to revive the fading cryptid tradition. But now, the story of the once-terrifying rougarou is changing, along with the coastal wetlands it has long called home. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Near Avenue A around 9pm, He arrived at the scene and spoke to the lady that called it in. 2023 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. Kliebert tried to communicate with the giant, asking who are you? Across French Louisiana, it is a very common legend, and most Louisiana natives are very familiar with at least the name, if nothing else. This sighting took place just north of the Manchac Swamp region, about a quarter mile away from Hwy. I suppose anything is possible, and while the Bigfoot sighting phenomena originated in the Pacific Northwest, it seems more than plausible that such a creature could exist here. The brave friend dismissed what she saw for a moment and continued to search for the purse in the dark. This legendary creature of Cajun folklore is often depicted in literature and images as a man with a wolfs or dogs head. You have permission to edit this article. Legend of the Rougarou: Louisiana's Werewolf A large dark figure on two legs crossed the road. The neighbor then said he saw an 8 foot tall creature standing on two legs. Folklore will have us believe that a Rougarou has the opportunity to change back to a human after 101 days, but only after finding another human who is willing to have the curse transferred to them. Dragons, once the ultimate test of a heros courage, have been effectively domesticated. Their curse usually comes from a local witch, sometimes a Voodoo priestess. Since Cajun dialect is a mix of French and English and well-known for changing words completely to roll off the tongue easier, the name of the beast changed from loup-garou to Rougarou (also spelled roux-ga-roux, rugaroo, or rugaru). Wow, thank you for that insight! Is there really a Honey Island Swamp Monster, Louisiana's Bigfoot Frequently referred to as beast in the story, the part-man, part-animal with piercing yellow eyes has appeared in several anecdotes by self-styled witnesses since the 1960s. It was a full moon so it made spotting the Bullfrogs easier "super tasty btw", anyway we're wondering down by the . Despite the Rougarou legend seemingly beginning as a way to scare Catholics and children, many locals maintain its existence and have their own personal stories, especially among the older generation. Its fingernails are grisly claws. The Legends Of The Rougarou In Louisiana May Send Chills Down Your Spine Since the dawn of time, people have been telling stories. The Rougarou, or as others may say, Loup garou, is a bayou-dwelling werewolf. The Caribbean island nation of Haiti, already steeped in the dark lore of zombies and voodoo magic, also has its own version of the infamous werewolf, which they call the je-rouges, or "red eyes." It is also referred to it as the French loup-garou and by the Creole word lougarou. There she saw standing next to a tree 25 feet away a creature that she described as being extremely tall and white. In Assumption Parish it is common place for house to be built substantially off the ground to withstand inevitable flood waters. As the name implies, it pays homage to the legendary beast. Theres a lot of blue tarps still on roofs everywhere, says Foret. It is most often described as having a human body with the head of a wolf or dog, with glowing red eyes and razor-sharp teeth. We got kicked out of Nova Scotia, and now were getting kicked out of Louisiana and it just feels like theres some generational trauma linked to being forced to move over and over again, he says. These Louisiana monsters claim they feel lethargic and drained if they dont get the proper serving size of blood in on the regular. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. A year later the boy killed himself and left a letter that the family turned over to the sheriff. A quick browse and youll find many pictures of the Rougarou. When they were choosing the new name, one of the trademarks filed for was the name the New Orleans Rougarou. Usually theyd find someone in the woods or someone in the village who was just acting strange.. The story of the Letieche is Louisianas Jungle Book. The anonyms Laplace man said he was out near Ruddock with a friend, they were clearing land with a bulldozer when they came across footprints in the mud that were at least 19 inches in length. Other variations say a Rougarou can turn their victims merely by making eye contact. The Rougarou, Beast of the Louisiana Bayou, Gets a Makeover One man hopes to turn the wolfish cryptid into a mascot for saving the state's imperiled wetlands. Since the migration, many of the legends began to change to match the times and the dialect. The commuter stated Unlike the sloth, it was man-like. Full report can be found on bfro.net Report #514. This will perplex it, and it will keep recounting until the sun comes up and it must flee. The Grunch: A Chupacabra on the Louisiana Bayou - Exemplore That kind of transformation happens and I suspect that whats going on with this festival., But unlike sexy vampires or friendly alligators, Forets rougarou has been reimagined to champion a specific cause: protecting its habitat, which in turn will protect our own. THE ROUGAROU - Folklore, Myths & Legends The boy saw the dog turn into a man, then ran home to tell his family. It was late in the evening and getting dark, so they could not see into the bush. The only way to arrive at the truth is to keep your mind open to weirdness. He told himself if whatever that was jumps out at me, I can always hit the accelerator. When he got to the area where the creature crossed the road, he looked out the drivers side window but did not see anything. one football field of coastline was lost per hour. In the legend, this beast is often described as having the body of a man and the head of a wolf or a dog and prowls Louisiana swamps looking for misbehaving children. The only credibility I can give to these reports is that they ran in the paper. No one agrees what it looks like because they dont really have wolves in this part of our country, says Nathan J. Rabalais, author of Folklore Figures of French and Creole Louisiana. The legend of the Rougaou goes back hundreds of years, originating in France. After the initial sighting by the husband, the wife reported that a neighbor came by in an adjatated state. mystery of Marie Laveau, Louisianas Voodoo Queen, Jacques St. Germain, The Infamous Louisiana Vampire, Jean Lafitte: Mystery of the Unfound Treasure, History of the Louisiana Snowball and Its Flavors. Full report can be found at http://www.gcbro.com/LAlivingston0001.html. Despite the fact that it was originally a legend, there are still claimed sightings of the Rougarou to this day, though it has died off a bit in the past decade. 9 REAL Sightings of the Rougarou | Darkness Prevails - YouTube Is there a Louisiana werewolf? Louisiana has the most unique culture Ive discovered in the US and thats saying something being a native of Appalachia. If this witness tells anyone about this encounter within a year and a day, they will become a Rougarou themselves. The officer that submitted this report has over 40 years in military and law enforcement, a degree in Anthropology, and self educated in Darwinism, math and quantum physics. I tend to lean more on the flesh and blood theory but I think it is important to keep all possibilities in play. Some legends of the beast say it can only be killed by fire, others say it can be killed while its in its vulnerable human form. The history of the Rougarou is centuries-old and has many different origins, but the earliest mention of the infamous, mythical Louisiana werewolf comes from medieval France. Your email address will not be published. Bears can stand up and run on their hind legs, whereas, wolves cannot. Louisiana is a lovely place to visit. Cauchemar actually means nightmare in Louisiana French and Creole. 1983 St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. Outside of the infamous Honey Island Swamp Monster, there were not many stories that I found in my preliminary search. The Audobon Zoo in New Orleans has an exhibit dedicated to the Rougarou, which includes a statue of the creature itself. It was also preached that French Catholics that broke the Lent seven years in a row would be hunted down and killed by the beast. They described it as a cross between a whimpering dog and human crying. Witches?Witch doctors! Once the cousin jumped back on they yelled GO! They did not look back after that. Why do Bud's Broiler's burger prices conflict? Another telling of the story says that the Rougarou is under a 101-day curse, unless the affected person can transfer the curse to another human being. According to the woman, "The next day a prominent physician appeared in town with his right arm cut and in a sling. In an interview conducted by Carter Buschardt, the officer stated that he went back to look at the end of shift report he filed the night of the encounter, but was unable to find the report. Be careful, because Louisiana monsters are all over! I realized that parts of our folklore and our oral traditions were getting lost, he says. Thanks for sharing it with us! The Rougarou at Cedar Point is a prime example of Rougarou supernatural popularity. For decades, the equivalent of one football field of coastline was lost per hour; while the rate has slowed, the regions long-term prognosis remains grim. The Rougarou will see the 13 objects, try to count them, and be unable to count them all. Their friendly, but often sinister, nature makes these Cajun fairies some of the most dangerous Louisiana monsters. We know what you are probably thinking. The Rougarou Supernatural Cameo Explained, Legend of the Rougarou: The Complete Loup-garou Guide, US Ghost Adventures New Orleans Ghosts Review. "Who. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. The Rougarou is a legendary creature that is often depicted on shirts, cups, and other forms of merchandise. The next day the man found the two Dobermans decapitated. The Giants body appeared to be covered with reddish hair. Don't Miss The Best Festival In Louisiana, The Rougarou Fest If you werent already aware, New Orleans has a prominent vampire subculture. http://www.gcbro.com/LAassumption03-12-2016.html, http://www.gcbro.com/LAlivingston0001.html, http://www.gcbro.com/LAsttammany0004.html. Foret is now director of the South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center, a nonprofit that educates students, in the classroom and on field trips, about the challenges of sea level rise, climate change, and living in a coastal communityone still recovering from 2021s Hurricane Ida. Stories of these cajun folklore spirits originated in French culture and made their way into Louisiana folklore over time. The rougarou (or loup-garou) is a monster from Cajun folklore. During this time, however, the Rougarou was called Loup-garou. These canine-humanoid shapeshifters travel between worlds using magical doors. For the sake of anonymity this family friend will remain nameless, so I will refer to him as Mr. Nameless. You can find information on the legend of Cauchemar in folklore from all around the world, and it even exists in the Deep South. I had been riding my bike through the trails in the woods that were in the back of Laplace Park. [10] [11] Boxer Regis Prograis (of Creole descent) goes by the nickname Rougarou. Despite your personal beliefs in the supernatural, these legends abound and continue to be told in the cajun lands to this day. Foret recalls hearing of one legendary rougarou run-in, when a young boy out for a stroll, armed with only his oyster knife, encountered the creature. The Rougarou, The Louisiana Swamp Werewolf - YouTube There was a significant belief in the beast by the populace that people were put on trial and found guilty of being the fabled beast. He let his mind wander. Crafty. Rougarou - Wikipedia Upright Canine (Possible 'Rougarou') Encountered in Beauregard Parish It is most often described as having a human body with the head of a wolf or dog, with glowing red eyes and razor-sharp teeth. The French Catholics claimed that you would be turned into a loup-garou if you did not follow the rules of Lent for seven consecutive years. Louisiana's Rougarou Fest - Enchanted Living Magazine The sound of human cries in the woods is a theme directly from faire lore. Another Louisiana swamp creature that seems rooted in lore is none other than the Rougarou, which is basically a Cajun version of the werewolf. 10 Creepy Facts and Legends about New Orleans - Hotels The Rougarou Fest Is The Spookiest Festival In Louisiana - OnlyInYourState The monsters reputed locale, in the Honey Island Swamp, has an ominous and deadly history that precedes the legend. At this point, the beast is forced to retreat as its human form begins to resurface. The line on the trees in this picture taken Nov. 16, 2017, shows the swamp's typical high-water mark, which generally arrives in the spring. While most likely these stories are cautionary tales meant to keep kids from wandering into dangerous situations, it does make you think! Over the years there have been many different stories about this mythical creature in Louisiana, a common occurrence with oral traditions like this one. When this is done on the 101st after the curse was initially placed, the former Rougarou is freed from the curse and allowed to take human form permanently. Required fields are marked *. Perhaps this giant was not a fan of small talk, and from the direction of travel I suspect the giant was heading home to Chackbay. Beasts called loup-garous, which means werewolves in French, were also infamous throughout the country. I believe that people are seeing these poor mangy bears instead of werewolves. The Loupe Garou has to be based on stories told by parents wanting there children to behave and make there beds clean the dishes ect ect. Turns out voodoo is still in. The Rougarou has even been made into an action figure, part of a series that also features Sasquatch and the Yeti. The tales of the Rougarou have many variations, but it is mostly described as being a hulking beast, up to 10 feet tall, with the hair covered body of a human and the head of a wolf or in some cases a . History of the Rougarou: Louisiana's Werewolf - Pelican State of Mind Terrebonne Parish resident Jonathan Foret was a type of kids. I came across a LObservateur article that ran around Halloween 2002, titled: Let the haunting good times roll. A 1926 article in the New Orleans States juxtaposes scenes of the wild honeysuckle and vibrant Southern foliage of the area against bushes used as hiding spots for murderers to ambush victims. 4 Unique Tales of the Rougarou from Southern Louisiana - OnlyInYourState Their curse usually comes from a local witch, sometimes a voodoo priestess. The Rougarou, also known as the loup-garou, is essentially Louisiana's bayou-dwelling werewolf, and it's a prominent figure in Cajun folklore. The Sinister Story Behind This Popular Louisiana Swamp Will Give You And we value equal representation for allso they deserve a spot on our list of the scariest Louisiana monsters! Other questions:subscriberservices@theadvocate.com. At the annual October events rougarou costume contest, the fests mascot is reimagined hundreds of different ways, including as an eco-activist. Strange noise ? Were you told the story of the Rougarou as . Our parents would say things like, you better behave or the rougarou is gonna get you, says Jonathan Foret, a native of Terrebonne Parish, a patchwork of bayou and lowlands on the Gulf shore. I got more specific with my search terms and soon stumbled upon something that reignited the idea of a creature like Bigfoot existing in our parts. After the officers spoke to the complainant they decided to do a search of the perimeter. 9 REAL Sightings of the Rougarou | Darkness Prevails Darkness Prevails 631K subscribers Subscribe 4.7K 136K views 3 years ago It's like a real life werewolf, but worse. "Reporting a sighting of Bigfoot, Sasquatch and even the Honey Island Swamp Monster does not get you labeled a crazy person anymore, and therefore, those who believe eyewitnesses are not labeled crazy either," said Dana Holyfield, granddaughter of Harlan Ford a man often credited with having the first recorded encounter with the purported swamp monster. It was a fall evening and this student was walking on a road in back of the property that borders cow pastures and piney woods. Considering how many hunters love senselessly killing wild boars, we really cant blame the swamp monster. He slowed down when he saw it because he got the impression that this was not a man. In the official report the officer filed he was honest, but kept the details to a minimum, it was a very tall dark figure, with no description of clothing. Lover of all things comedy, photography, and travel related. Feel free to email me at jsutherlin@onlyinyourstate.com. Mysterious Swamp Monsters of Louisiana Bobby Brettel grew up in New Orleans, nearly 40 miles away from the moss-tangled bayous of eastern St. Tammany Parish's Honey Island Swamp. The cousins decided to turn around and go back the direction they came to avoid a close encounter with this unknown, imposing, bipedal creature. Will Seals' home was set afire and he was shot down while trying to escape the flames. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. But for decades, hes wondered about one of the swamp's fabled creatures the Honey Island Swamp Monster, a legendary 500-pound beast that some claim hides amid the cypress trees andmurky waters. In closing Ive always considered Yeti to be more of a possibility than a werewolf. Modern claims of Rougarou sightings are few and far between, however, unlike reports of something strange seen in the swamps of Honey Island. The Rougarou has a varied history, though all variations seem to trace it back to the French. Deep in the rural wooded swamp of Livingston Parish and young girl was having a friend of hers spend the night. A version from the 16th century paints it as being seen as something similar to a genetic disorder, rather than the curse most other versions of the myth portray the Rougarou as being. Thats what we in Louisiana call the Rougarou, cher. Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. Generations of youngsters have heard the scary tales. Loup is French for Wolf, and Garou refers to a man that transforms into an animal. That festival is cool because it links folklore to current issues and things that people need to be aware of, Rabalais says. Described as looking like a sloth, the creature was covered in a light grey hair, had a small round head and a brown nose. Numerous ghost sightings have been reported over the years, making it one of the most haunted landmarks in the USA. Some sources claim the myth originated in medieval France, when belief in werewolves would have been far more prevalent. The officer that reported this sighting stated he and his partner did not discuss this much past that night. Thats no werewolf, though.