ABOUT THE ROUGAROU

If you grew up down the bayou, chances are your mama and daddy used the Rougarou to make you behave.  You see, Cajun parents tell their children that the Rougarou is going to get them if they don’t act right.  Now, as a kid, I wasn’t sure what the Rougarou would have done with me if he did get me, but I wasn’t going to take the chance!  The word “rougarou” represents an alternate pronunciation and spelling of the original French “loup-garou.”

Both words are used down the bayou. The rougarou is often described as a creature with the head of a wolf or dog and the body of a human, like a werewolf. The rougarou legend has been handed down for many generations, either directly from French settlers to Louisiana or from the French Canadian immigrants a long time ago.