Magic, Mystery, a little Whisky, and a Cat

Things That Go Bump in the Night–Rougarou

We are in the last half of the A-Z Blog and I’m getting my second wind. Since I write about this kind of stuff all the time, it isn’t unusual to find similar posts. Be sure to click the link at the end of this short post to read more about werewolves.

Rougarou is  the Louisianan or Cajun French version of Loup garou, a French term for werewolf. The story is the same except that the rougarou prowls the swamps and forests of the deep South around New Orleans. It has a human body and the head of a wolf or dog. Parents tell their children stories of the rougarou to keep the kids out of the woods. One version of the story has the rougarou hunting down Catholics who don’t follow the rules of Lent. One way, by this account, of turning into a rougarou is to skip Lent for seven years in a row.

Werewolf1

Another legend says that the person afflicted will be under the spell for 101 days. The rougarou can then get rid of the curse by drawing blood from another victim who will then suffer for another 101 days as the rougarou.

And of course, a witch can turn you into a rougarou just for fun. For more about werewolves and skinwalkers (and how to get rid of one), check out this post I wrote last winter– Winter Werewolves and Worse.

Tomorrow–Sluagh, Celtic spirits of the restless dead

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