Cryptozoology: The Rougarou

The Rougarou is a type of werewolf in the Cajun folklore of French Louisiana.  In so many words, it is the bigfoot/werewolf of Cajun country.  Some local Cajun hunters have claimed to have seen the Rougarou in Anna's Bottom, long known as a place of mysterious, evil creatures and hauntings.  NAPS is looking into conducting an investigation in an old Church in Anna's Bottom in the next couple of months.  There have been reportings of significant paranormal activity in the old Church, including apparitions walking through walls, turning door knobs and doors opening in full view of people. 

Rougarou has alternate spellings of Roux-Ga-Roux, Rugaroo, and Rugaru.  The etymology of the word Rougarou is that it is derived from the French loup-garou. Loup is French for wolf, and garou from Frankish garulf, meaning a man who transforms into an animal. The rougarou is described as a creature with a human body and the head of a wolf or dog, similar to the werewolf legend.

In the Cajun legends, the creature is said to prowl the swamps around Acadiana and Greater New Orleans, and possibly the fields or forests of the regions. There are various legends and stories mostly inherited from the European werewolf with local features. A common legend says that the rougarou is under the spell for 101 days. After that time, the curse is transferred from person to person when the rougarou draws another human’s blood. During the day the creature returns to human form. Although acting sickly, the human refrains from telling others of the situation for fear of being killed.

Another being, known as Ruagau, is supposed to be associated with Native American tales and legends, but it isn't clear if that creature is a Sasquatch, a wendigo, or a rougarou.

Rougarou represents a variant pronunciation and spelling of the original French loup-garou. According to Barry Jean Ancelet, an academic expert on Cajun folklore, the tale of the rougarou is a common legend across French Louisiana. Some call the creature rougarou; while others refer to it as the loup garou. The rougarou legend has been spread for many generations, either directly from French settlers to Louisiana or by the French Canadian immigrants centuries ago. The creature is said to prowl the swamps around Acadiana and Greater New Orleans, and possibly the fields or forests of the regions. The rougarou most often is described as a creature with a human body and the head of a wolf or dog, similar to the werewolf legend.  Often the story-telling has been used to inspire fear and obedience. One such example is stories that have been told by elders to persuade Cajun children to behave. According to another variation, the wolf-like beast will hunt down and kill Catholics who do not follow the rules of Lent. This coincides with the French Catholic loup-garou stories, according to which the method for turning into a werewolf is to break Lent seven years in a row.

A common legend says that the rougarou is under the spell for 101 days. After that time, the curse is transferred from person to person when the rougarou draws another human’s blood. During that day the creature returns to human form. Although acting sickly, the human refrains from telling others of the situation for fear of being killed. Other stories range from the rougarou as a headless horseman to the rougarou being derived from witchcraft. In the latter claim, only a witch can make a rougarou—either by turning into a wolf herself, or by cursing others with lycanthropy (the ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into a wolf, or to gain wolf-like characteristics).

The creature spelled Rugaru has also been associated with the Native American legends, though there is some dispute. Such folklore versions of the rugaru vary from being mild Bigfoot (sasquatch) creatures to cannibal-like Native American wendigos. Some dispute the connection between Native American folktales and the francophone rugaru.  As is the norm with legends transmitted by oral tradition, stories often contradict one another. The stories of the wendigo vary by tribe and region, but the most common cause of the change is typically related to cannibalism.  A modified example, not in the original wendigo legends, is that if a person sees a rugaru, that person will be transformed into one. Thereafter, the unfortunate victim will be doomed to wander in the form of this monster. That rugaru story bears some resemblance to a Native American version of the wendigo legend related in a short story by Algernon Blackwood. In Blackwood's fictional adaptation of the legend, seeing a wendigo causes one to turn into a wendigo.It is important to note that rugaru is not a native Ojibwa word, nor is it derived from the languages of neighboring Native American peoples. However, it has a striking similarity to the French word for werewolf, loup garou.  It's possible the Turtle Mountain Ojibwa or Chippewa in North Dakota picked up the French name for "hairy human-like being" from the influence of French Canadian trapper and missionaries with whom they had extensive dealings. Somehow that term also had been referenced to their neighbors' stories of Bigfoot.

Author Peter Matthiessen argues that the rugaru is a separate legend from that of the cannibal-like giant wendigo. While the wendigo is feared, he notes that the rugaru is seen as sacred and in tune with Mother Earth, somewhat like Bigfoot legends are today. Though identified with Bigfoot, there is little evidence in the indigenous folklore that it is meant to refer the same or a similar creature.

The Audubon Zoo in New Orleans has an exhibit on the Rougarou and features a life-sized mannequin of what the Rougarou might look like.

Sources:
Monstropedia and Wikipedia