What is the Rougarou?
- Moira Ashe
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Rougarou: a curse, a gift, or a myth?
The word Rougarou (or Loup-garou, depending on who you ask) invokes fear in every Cajun heart. People from South Louisiana know the stories aren’t just made up to scare children into behaving; they depict an actual horror living out in the bayous.
Standing at a towering 7-foot tall, this once-human shapeshifter often takes the form of what many would consider a werewolf. I’m not talking the cuddly, fluffy werewolves from Twilight. Picture a huge, muscular, mangey, wolf-like creature walking around on 2 legs with eyes red as hellfire and fangs the size of your palm. Sounds pretty horrifying, right? Now imagine you’re a little kid out in rural Louisiana about to cause some mischief and your memere (grandmother, for those who don’t know) threatens you with this monster that eats naughty children or those who stay up past curfew. Take a look at that picture on this post – you’d surely stop and listen to her if you thought this was coming after your life, wouldn’t you?
But the Rougarou doesn’t just eat children. Adults are in danger, too, though mostly centered around churchgoers. Those who have not gone to confession or used holy water in several years, brazen people who refuse to repent, those excommunicated, and various sinners are easy targets for the Rougarou.
So how do you get turned into one of these beasts, you ask? Well, some believe you turn into one simply by looking it in the eyes. However, most people believe the Rougarou is a cursed person – someone who refused to observe Lent, someone who was scratched by the Rougarou and left alive, or even someone who made a blood pact with the Rougarou.
But Moira, you said it was a shapeshifter! That’s right, but like all lore, it depends on who you ask. Some say the Rougarou can turn into a pig, an owl, a cat, or even back to a human. It’s this ability that makes it near impossible to identify the cursed person. You can save yourself, though! Supposedly, the Rougarou can’t count passed 12, so if you lay out 13 small objects – coins or beans, for example – the Rougarou will stop and count them over and over and over until dawn breaks and the monster is forced back into the swamp.
You might be wondering what parts I believe. Well, I’m not quite sure what I believe, but just know that I don’t go outside into the dark swamp alone.
Sources:
Love this