Rougarou: The Bayou Boogeyman
- Heather Clingerman
- Oct 23
- 4 min read
Across humanity's relatively short existence, it is rare to find something that unanimously exists in every culture on Earth. Cultures across the world express themselves through a variety of mediums, such as food, language, art, and this post's topic: mythology.
Every culture on this planet has creatures that go bump in the night – something that exists only in your peripheral vision, and stories to explain how the world works. Some exist for lessons, some for warnings, and some simply for entertainment. Wherever humanity goes, our imagination follows.
The Well Traveled Werewolf
French culture naturally follows this trend. From the man-eating Beast of Gévaudan to the beautiful Melusine, France has many myths to its name.
When French immigrants arrived in the Americas, they brought some of those myths with them. Said myths didn't stay put in one place either; they followed their storytellers wherever they went. This led to the phenomenon of shared mythology, myths that exist simultaneously in two cultures in two different forms.
One example of this phenomenon is the Loup-garou, which is known in some places in North America as the Rougarou. With a name that literally translates to werewolf, the typical media depiction of this type of creature is one that modern audiences are very familiar with: a person cursed to transform into a monster during every full moon. A wild beast who rampages through the night, slaughtering anything it comes across.
Though these two creatures are a bit different than what we've come to expect from depictions of the werewolf. Typically, werewolves are depicted as bloodthirsty, rampaging monsters with no sense of self or morality. The Loup-garou and Rougarou are not as monstrous or destructive as their fellow shapeshifter.
The two names this creature has correspond with the two cultures it exists in. The Rougarou hails from Creole and Cajun mythology, while the Loup-garou is a prominent creature in French-Canadian myths.
French settlers brought the Loup-garou with them across the Atlantic to Canada. When groups of the now French-Canadian settlers migrated down to Louisiana, they brought the Loup-garou with them, where it changed into the Rougarou.
Loup-garou and Rougarou are derived from the French word for Wolf (Loup) and an old Frankish word for Man (Garou).
Naturally, this begs the question, why did Loup-garou change to Rougarou in Louisiana? There was a period of time when many people in North America who spoke French couldn't read French. This led to the pronunciation changing over time in communities of French settlers across the continent.
The True Swamp Puppy
The Loup-garou and Rougarou have many similarities due to stemming from the same culture. Both creatures are able to transform at will, but they both use this ability differently. The Loup-garou can rarely take the form of other animals, while the Rougarou is always a humanoid figure with the head of a wolf.
Another similarity is what causes the creature's curses to lift. If you want to cure someone who bears the curse of the Loup-garou or Rougarou, you must make them bleed. However, the person to do so will be afflicted by the same curse for 101 days. As long as the afflicted person doesn't tell anyone about their curse or the encounter with the creature they got it from, the curse will lift on its own. However, if they are unable to keep the secret, they will bear the curse forever.
Bearing the curse isn't as bad as it would initially appear, as both creatures keep their intelligence, memories, and self-awareness while transformed. They also acquire powerful senses and incredible strength. The two creatures are also considered to be guardian angels in their respective cultures, a far cry from how most werewolves are depicted. The Rougarou specifically hunts down anyone who doesn't follow the Ten Commandments, though any act of evil will draw its ire.
Despite the creatures' typically heroic disposition, they are said to eat any child who is caught outside after curfew. In some cases, they don't even wait for curfew and chow down on any misbehaving child they come across.
It is quite odd that creatures who are normally depicted in a heroic light are commonly said to have the habit of eating naughty children. Perhaps it's simply a tactic used by parents to keep their kids out of trouble. Though perhaps the taste of disobedience is a guilty pleasure of theirs, a tasty treat to reward themselves after a long day of punishing evil-doers.
There is also the more probable reason, the Rougarou and Loup-garou inherited habits from other werewolf myths in the areas their cultures inhabit. Just like how cultures in real life will adopt practices of other cultures they live with. Myths, no matter how otherworldly or monstrous they are, are just as human as the people who tell them.
Written by Heather Clingerman
FAC Intern
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