Lousiana Rougarou ("bigfoot")

[Q-C]

Begin at 5:49

http://www.aetv.com/...544832#23544832

Nothing clear here, as usual, but I like seeing this stuff. Maybe someone else will too.

Edited June 30, 2012 by QuiteContrary

[Ashotep]

How I would like to see one brought in strapped across the hood, dead. That is the only way they are going to prove the existence of Bigfoot. Films are too easily faked.

[Paracelse]

Not allowed to watch this video (thanks to a french government that wants to be the only one passing on news): Actually my attention was attracted by the title and the word "Rougarou". Phonetically it's very close to "loup-garou" (read lougarou) which means werewolf in french. Could the word "rougarou" indicate that ancient Louisiana people had seen the creature before it became a trend? I'm not a crytozoology fan so I do not know much about it. But tracing the "alleged" existence of creature to fairly ancient past could be another circuimstantial evidence proving it's existence.

Edited July 1, 2012 by Paracelse

[Q-C]

Not allowed to watch this video (thanks to a french government that wants to be the only one passing on news): Actually my attention was attracted by the title and the word "Rougarou". Phonetically it's very close to "loup-garou" (read lougarou) which means werewolf in french. Could the word "rougarou" indicate that ancient Louisiana people had seen the creature before it became a trend? I'm not a crytozoology fan so I do not know much about it. But tracing the "alleged" existence of creature to fairly ancient past could be another circuimstantial evidence proving it's existence.

It's connection to French would be undeniable imo, when speaking of that area. But how "ancient" the term is in Louisiana., I don't know.

[Habitat]

It's connection to French would be undeniable imo, when speaking of that area. But how "ancient" the term is in Louisiana., I don't know.

Certainly would have to pre-date the modern-day hysteria propagated by the bigfoot "industry".

[Q-C]

Certainly would have to pre-date the modern-day hysteria propagated by the bigfoot "industry".

The language of this area of the U.S. has been influenced by Cajun French and it is still spoken in some areas, so applying a known French word to this creature of the swamps could have come about at any time, I would imagine. Possibly even 20-30-40 years ago?

So, Rougarou, may be a very old French word for werewolf, but that doesn't necessarily make the creature "ancient" here in the U.S. Imo.

Maybe werewolf folklore was part of Acadian culture brought over from France?

Edited July 1, 2012 by QuiteContrary

[Skeptic Chicken]

Won't let me watch it :\

[Q-C]

Won't let me watch it :\

Sorry 'bout that. You aren't missing any "evidence" just a new (2012) encounter with an unknown in the swamp, on a Police reality tv show.

The police maneuver their boat through the bayou at night to answer a call from a man who calls for help from an unknown intruder. He described it as about 7' tall and hairy.

When they arrive the guy is shaking and actually got a cell phone photo of it escaping. The cops were puzzled. "I have no idea what that is" Then the police investigate where it was seen and notice a wide path in the reeds that suddenly ends with no exit.

The next day a calf is found mutilated but not eaten about a half mile from where the whatever was seen in the swamp.

I'm wondering if there was no exit path because "it" went back and sat on the porch and waited for the police to arrive. lol

But who knows and I liked watching it anyway.

Edited July 1, 2012 by QuiteContrary

[devilmaycare]

Show is kinda cool. I missed it too. Thanks for the link though. I believe they could exist anywhere there is a place for them to hide. Louisiana included. There have been way too many accts all over the world of 6-10ft hairy men scaring the poo out of people-lol.

[Paracelse]

It's connection to French would be undeniable imo, when speaking of that area. But how "ancient" the term is in Louisiana., I don't know.

Lots of huguenots moved to Louisiana at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIII and Richelieu (the mean dude in 3 Musketeers) and as time went and situation for them got worse more of them moved. The trend cease once Napoleon got conned by Jefferson into selling the Louisaina territory. So this would have been at the beginning of the the XIXth century. After that the English speaking folks moved into it and it was the end oft the Cajuns:

Certainly would have to pre-date the modern-day hysteria propagated by the bigfoot "industry".

To finish the above sentence, methink the word "Rougarou" was created when the French still owned Louisiana: Anyone knows what Native tribes lived in there and if there is any connection between the word "rougarou" and an very ancient Native myth? I mean if the myth is older than the white man there might be some truth to it. American Native didn't have any financial motive to create a myth and yet most all the Western US tribes have similar stories. I don't particularly care what the debunker would say.

[Q-C]

Lots of huguenots moved to Louisiana at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIII and Richelieu (the mean dude in 3 Musketeers) and as time went and situation for them got worse more of them moved. The trend cease once Napoleon got conned by Jefferson into selling the Louisaina territory. So this would have been at the beginning of the the XIXth century. After that the English speaking folks moved into it and it was the end oft the Cajuns

I'm not sure what the "end of Cajuns" means? People describe themselves as Cajun today and the influence in food and language is very evident in specific areas.

So I would still think a French word for werewolf does not necessarily mean that the creature itself has a long history in Louisiana, however a long history in France, yes, and part of Cajun folklore, maybe.

It could just be a word recent populations knew and used to describe any Lousiana "monster" or unknown. We are talking about the swamps. One of the best places on earth for "monsters" since people have occupied it-- Native, French, etc.

Edited July 2, 2012 by QuiteContrary

[Paracelse]

Lots of people a considering themselves as Cajun simply because they are born in Louisiana doesn't make them Cajuns. The real Cajuns were racially mixed of locals and French, this is why a real French person would have a terrible time understanding a Cajun but not really the other way around.

Furthermore I think you are just making an attempt at debunking the origins of a word you do not understand. I just happen to know both languages very well (although I more familiar with American Culture than with the French one). There aren't any "rougarous" in France never was and methink never will be.

[CloudSix]

I was just about to scream that i can't see the video, but then you described it

Thank you

[Abramelin]

Couldn't see the video either (I live in the Netherlands), but I have a pic (well,...) from another site:

Image Of Rougarou Creature From Episode Of Cajun Justice

The Rougarou (I sound like Scooby-Doo when I say it out loud) is a Sasquatch-like, shape-shifting swamp monster that purportedly roams the swamps of Louisiana. Its soul purpose is to make people miserable. According to legend, if you see one of these creatures, you’ll be transformed into a one and be cursed into a life of loneliness.

On the last episode of Cajun Justice on the A&E channel, a witness shared with officers a video on his cellphone of the half-man, half-wolf creature prowling the weeds behind his camp. The photo above was screengrabbed by Paul H. on Team Tazer Bigfoot's Facebook page.

14 comments:

AnonymousSunday, July 1, 2012 2:31:00 PM PDT

DVR'D the episode and when it got to the part of the supposed beast I slow mo'd it and also paused it and ended up getting a very good look at the image.

It was simply a guy in a terrible suit. You could see the legging of the suit bunching up big time.

AnonymousSunday, July 1, 2012 3:57:00 PM PDT

That's why the trail ended. The dude's friend just walked back to the house when he stopped filming.

Total B.S.

http://bigfootevidence.blogspot.nl/2012/07/image-of-rougarou-creature-from-episode.html

[The Alchemist]

Greetings,

Just to addmy 2 cents, I remember reading the journals of a fur trader who was stationed in the present day northwestern Ontario and Manitoba area I believe. Part of the journal made mention that the Native folk had told him of encounters with a hairy beast, to which he fur trader, who I believe was a French voyageur, described as a "rougarou" or "loupgarou" using the only term he could have within the context of his cultural knowledge. I do not remember the exact name of trader, or the journal, but believe that it is part of he Hudson's Bay Company or Northwestern Company's archives, both of which had employees out in the bush where there was not many Europeans at the time.

I would suggest that such Native encounters with a hairy beast were described as best as possible using French cultural understandings, and that such understandings were transplanted when the Acadians of Canada were expelled for the eastern part of the country after the British defeated France in North America. Those Acadians who would not swear allegiance to the British Crown were deported on mass to the Louisiana Territory which at the time was owned by France. Hence the cultural understandings of a hairy beast described within the cultural context of the French were transport withe the Acadian culture to Lousiana and the Cajuns, who are the descendants, for the most part, of the Acadians. I also believe that Cajun is a bastardized term deriving from Acadian.

[Rafterman]

Sounds like it was probably a Native American myth that the French just threw a name on that made sense to them.

Either way, let's add another US State to the list where we apparently have breeding populations of these creatures. Forget the myth that we're talking a small population that lives in the uncharted Northwest, because these things apparently live everywhere and leave little to no evidence of their existence. But yet, even the rarest of known creatures are sighted, photographed, etc. on a regular basis.

Not to mention, if there was one place in the world where these things would end up strapped to the hood of some dude's pickup, it's Louisiana.

[RockabyeBillie]

I lived in Louisiana for several years and have family that live down in the swamps. The Rougarou is a werewolf monster, not a bigfoot. They used to tell me stories of the rougarou when I was younger, not to go near the woods at night, avoid thick swamp marsh if you don't want to get eaten... the usual things. A lot of people down in south LA believe in it.

[Rafterman]

I lived in Louisiana for several years and have family that live down in the swamps. The Rougarou is a werewolf monster, not a bigfoot. They used to tell me stories of the rougarou when I was younger, not to go near the woods at night, avoid thick swamp marsh if you don't want to get eaten... the usual things. A lot of people down in south LA believe in it.

Sounds like a perfectly reasonable thing to tell young children to keep them from going into the swamps and never being seen again.

Which is exactly the purpose of most of these types of legends.

[Q-C]

I lived in Louisiana for several years and have family that live down in the swamps. The Rougarou is a werewolf monster, not a bigfoot. They used to tell me stories of the rougarou when I was younger, not to go near the woods at night, avoid thick swamp marsh if you don't want to get eaten... the usual things. A lot of people down in south LA believe in it.

Yes they said it was half man and half wolf on the show, but they also connected it to bigfoot legend, and that is why I put bigfoot in quotes in the thread title.

[Q-C]

Not allowed to watch this video (thanks to a french government that wants to be the only one passing on news): Actually my attention was attracted by the title and the word "Rougarou". Phonetically it's very close to "loup-garou" (read lougarou) which means werewolf in french. Could the word "rougarou" indicate that ancient Louisiana people had seen the creature before it became a trend? I'm not a crytozoology fan so I do not know much about it. But tracing the "alleged" existence of creature to fairly ancient past could be another circuimstantial evidence proving it's existence.

Bolding mine, QC

I do not believe rougarou live in France nor do I believe loupgarou ever lived in France. I only agreed with you that rougarou could have derived from the French word and French mythology since the creature is half wolf. And there is such an Acadian influence in LA.

Edited July 2, 2012 by QuiteContrary

[Q-C]

Lots of people a considering themselves as Cajun simply because they are born in Louisiana doesn't make them Cajuns. The real Cajuns were racially mixed of locals and French, this is why a real French person would have a terrible time understanding a Cajun but not really the other way around.

Furthermore I think you are just making an attempt at debunking the origins of a word you do not understand. I just happen to know both languages very well (although I more familiar with American Culture than with the French one). There aren't any "rougarous" in France never was and methink never will be.

I never said that just because someone was born in LA they consider themselves Cajun. And for the pockets of current day Cajun populations that consider themselves Cajun and are proud of it, you'll have to take up your view with them.

Explain my debunking of a French word I do not understand.

Edited July 2, 2012 by QuiteContrary

[Hawken]

A type of antelope called the Saola aka Asian Unicorn was discovered in the jungles of Southeast Asia in the 90's.

It wasn't known to western culture but the locals knew about it. So I think it's possible that there are undiscovered

creatures out there.

[Earl.Of.Trumps]

Certainly would have to pre-date the modern-day hysteria propagated by the bigfoot "industry".

It's an industry in the US, now.

How about back a thousand years ago when only indigenous people were here, and they too, had oral traditions of the big hairy man?

And it's not like the european settlers had anything sociologically with the indigenous peoples, but somehow, in their own way, their separate cultures have the exact same belief.

it's not al labout the money

[Q-C]

It's an industry in the US, now.

How about back a thousand years ago when only indigenous people were here, and they too, had oral traditions of the big hairy man?

And it's not like the european settlers had anything sociologically with the indigenous peoples, but somehow, in their own way, their separate cultures have the exact same belief.

it's not al labout the money

xRockiex gave us another reason... "stay out of the swamps"

Why can't folkore and monsters be just cautionary tales and entertainment?

Money isn't always the only motives, unless to keep people out of your stash or still.

What about keeping others from spreading into your land or attacking your people?

Maybe the early Native Americans ran swamp monster canoe trips and charged the superstitious Europeans? Okay, maybe not.

[Paracelse]

Bolding mine, QC

I do not believe rougarou live in France nor do I believe loupgarou ever lived in France. I only agreed with you that rougarou could have derived from the French word and French mythology since the creature is half wolf. And there is such an Acadian influence in LA.

I don't believe in werewolves either, I just gave a possible explanation for the origins of the words, something xROCKIEx confirmed. And as far as the real cajuns origins I'm sure everyone and everybody born in LA would could find himself a reason to pretend.