Rougarou

The Rougarou (alternately spelled as Roux-Ga-Roux, Rugaroo, or Rugaru), is a legendary creature in Laurentian French communities linked to European notions of the werewolf.

Versions

The stories of the creature known as a rougarou are as diverse as the spelling of its name, though they are all connected to francophone cultures through a common derived belief in the Loup-garou (pronounced IPA| [lu gaˈʁu] in French and IPA| [lu gəˈɹu] in English). "Loup" is French for wolf, and "garou" (from Frankish "garulf," cognate with English werewolf) is a man who transforms into an animal.

Louisiana folklore

Rougarou represents a variant pronunciation and spelling of the original French "loup-garou". [ [http://www.caneman2.com/LSU%20French%20Cajun%20French%20Glossary.htm LSU Cajun-French Glossary] ] According to Barry Jean Ancelet, an academic expert on Cajun folklore and professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the tale of the rougarou is a common legend across French Louisiana. Both words are used interchangeably in southern Louisiana. Some people call the monster "rougarou"; others refer to it as the "loup garou".

The rougarou legend has been spread for many generations, either directly from French settlers to Louisiana (New France) or via the French Canadian immigrants centuries ago.

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. 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 blood sucking 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. [ [http://www.thenichollsworth.com/media/paper262/news/2001/04/26/Lagniappe/He.Creeps.He.Crawls.He.Conquers-73232.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.thenichollsworth.com The Nicholls Worth; interview with Barry Ancelet] ]

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. [ [http://www.nola-goth.org/c5/theme.html New Orleans Gothic legend] ]

Native American folklore

The creature, spelled Rugaru, has been associated with 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 of a motif of harmful sensation story—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". [ [http://www.spooneronline.com/placed/index.php?story_id=155710 Spooner Advocate; interview with author Peter Mathiessen] ]

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 trappers and missionaries with whom they had extensive dealings. Somehow that term also had been referenced to their neighbors' stories of bigfoot. [ [http://www.bfro.net/legends/ Pre-Columbian and Early American Legends of Bigfoot-like Beings] ]

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. [ [http://www.spooneronline.com/placed/index.php?story_id=155710 Spooner Advocate; interview with author Peter Matthiessen] ]

Though identified with bigfoot, there is little evidence in the indigenous folklore that it is meant to refer the same or a similar creature.

In popular culture

*"Blue Dog", painted image by [http://www.georgerodrigue.com/biography.htm George Rodrigue] (1984).
*"Rugaroo, Savage Spirit", [http://www.rugaroo.com/ novel] by John S. Myerchin (2002).
*"Rugaru", song written and performed by the band [http://www.epitonic.com/index.jsp?refer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epitonic.com%2Fartists%2Foneida.html Oneida] (2002).
*Rugaru, legendary creature of the New Orleans swamp, part-man, part-alligator and part-Cajun werewolf, portrayed in a Marvel Comics paperback, [http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?id=2434 "Gambit: Hath No Fury"] (2005).
*Rugaru, band from Portland, Oregon.
*Blood and Chocolate (Movie)
*The fourth episode of the fourth season of the American tv series "Supernatural" features the main characters hunting a man who is transforming into a rougarou.
*"Rougarou", an online literary journal of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette [http://www.louisiana.edu/Academic/LiberalArts/ENGL/Creative/Rougarou/Rougarou.html]

Footnotes