There once was a man in Quebec named Jean Dubroise. A roaring sound came from his property late
at night when good people should be sleeping. His neighbors avoided him and his
home. One night a neighbor named
Alphonse decided that he would dare the strange noises and take a short-cut
across Dubroise's land to get home. He heard a loud roaring noise from overhead
and threw himself flat on the ground when he saw a huge canoe flying over him.
The canoe landed next to Dubroise house and the Devil jumped out with a whip in
his hand.
Alphonse hid and watched as the Devil shouted, "Come
out of the canoe!" and snapped the whip at the occupants. Twenty creatures
with the shaggy coats of wolves but the upright walk of men leapt from the
canoe.
The werewolves went to work doing Dubroise’s farm chores
while Dubroise came out to talk and drink with the Devil. Alphonse knew then
that Dubroise had sold his lazy soul to the Devil in exchange for the
werewolves' work on his farm. At last,
the Devil and the loup garou jumped back into the flying canoe and flew away.
As soon as it was safe, Alphonse hurried to the local priest
to report what he had seen. The priest
advised the men to sprinkle the holy water over Dubroise's house, his
outbuildings, and all of his land. Then the men hid themselves in the bushes to
keep watch. That night when the Devil leapt out of the canoe, as soon as his
foot touched the holy water sprinkled onto the ground, the Devil started
leaping about and shrieking in pain and rage. The werewolves were frightened
and fled from the canoe and the men of the parish collected the werewolves and
brought them to the priest. The priest pricked each one with a knife to turn a
loup garou back into a man. Jean Dubroise was never seen again.
This old Quebec folk tale is often used in relation to UFO stories, sometimes
religion, and for today’s purpose, the Quebec werewolves, known as “Loup
Garou”. The French name for a werewolf, loup-garou (pronounced /lugaˈru/), is from the Latin
noun lupus meaning wolf and Old French garoul meaning "werewolf". A
werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope, is folkloric human with the ability to
shapeshift into a wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed
under a curse or lycanthropic affliction via a bite or scratch from a werewolf.
This transformation is often associated with the appearance of the full moon. In
addition to the natural characteristics inherent to both wolves and humans,
werewolves are often attributed strength and speed far beyond those of wolves
or men. The werewolf is generally held as a European character, although its
lore spread through the world in later times. Shape-shifters, similar to
werewolves, are common in tales from all over the world, most notably amongst
the Native Americans, though most of them involve animal forms other than wolves.
There is also a mental illness called lycanthropy in which a
patient believes he or she is, or has transformed into, an animal and behaves
accordingly. This is sometimes referred to as clinical lycanthropy to
distinguish it from its use in legends. Despite its origin as a term for
man-wolf transformations only, lycanthropy is used in this sense for animals of
any type. This broader meaning is often used in modern fictional references,
such as in roleplaying game culture.
Werewolves were said in European folklore to bear discerning
physical traits even in their human form. These included the meeting of both
eyebrows at the bridge of the nose, curved fingernails, low-set ears and a
swinging stride. It was once thought that to identify a werewolf in its human
form, cut the flesh of the accused and fur would be seen within the wound. A
Russian superstition recalls a werewolf can be recognised by bristles under the
tongue. The appearance of a werewolf in its animal form varies from culture to
culture, though it is most commonly portrayed as being indistinguishable from
ordinary wolves save for the fact that it has no tail, is often larger, walks
upright, and retains human eyes and voice. According to some Swedish accounts,
the werewolf could be distinguished from a regular wolf by the fact that it
would run on three legs, stretching the fourth one backwards to look like a
tail. After returning to their human
forms, werewolves are usually documented as becoming weak and psychologically
depressed.
In medieval Europe it was generally believed the werewolf
would devour recently buried corpses, a trait that is documented in the Annales
Medico-psychologiques in the 19th century. In Scandinavia, werewolves were usually old women who
possessed poison-coated claws and had the ability to paralyse cattle and
children with their gaze. Serbian
vulkodlaks traditionally congregated annually in the winter and strip off their
wolf skins and hang them from trees.
Some French werewolf lore is associated with documented
events. The Beast of Gévaudan terrorized south-central France. From the years
1764 to 1767, an unknown entity killed upwards of 80 men, women, and children.
The creature was described as a giant wolf by the sole survivor of the attacks,
which ceased after several wolves were killed in the area. In Mexico, there is a belief in a creature
called the nahual, which traditionally limits itself to stealing cheese and
raping women rather than murder. In Haiti, werewolf spirits known locally as
Jé-rouge (red eyes) can possess the bodies of unwitting persons and nightly
transform them into cannibalistic lupine creatures or try to trick mothers into
giving away their children voluntarily by waking them at night and asking their
permission to take their child, to which the disoriented mother would often
agree.
When the European colonization of the Americas occurred, the
pioneers brought their own werewolf folklore with them and these eventually
mixed with the lore of their neighbouring colonies and those of the Natives.
Belief in the loup-garou present in Canada, the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of
Michigan and upstate New York, originates from French folklore influenced by
Native American stories on the Wendigo. Some believe that the Norse
colonization of the Americas manifested their werewolf lore into the folklore
of some Native American tribes.
The Naskapis believed that the caribou afterlife is guarded
by giant wolves which kill careless hunters venturing too near. The Navajo
people feared witches in wolf's clothing called "Mai-cob". Many
Native cultures feature skin-walkers or a similar concept, wherein a shaman or
warrior may, according to cultural tradition, take on an animal form. Animal
forms vary accordingly with cultures and local species (including bears and
wolves), for example, a coyote is more likely to be found as a skinwalker's
alternate form in the Great Plains region.
In modern folklore and fiction the Wendigo found in the
stories of many Algonquian peoples is sometimes considered to be similar to
lycanthropes, in that humans could transform into them. The original legends
varied significantly. As with legends
passed by oral tradition, stories often contradict one another. In one example, if a person saw a Loup Garou, that person
would be transformed into one. Thereafter, the unfortunate victim would be
doomed to wander in the form of this monster. In this way, the Loup Garou story
bears resemblance to a Native American version of the wendigo legend.
Stories of humans descending from animals are common
explanations for tribal and clan origins. North American indigenous traditions
particularly mingle the idea of bear ancestors and ursine shapeshifters, with
bears being able to shed their skins to assume human form and marrying human
women. The offspring may be monsters with combined anatomy, they might be very
beautiful children with uncanny strength, or they could be shapeshifters
themselves.
The stories of werewolves may be inspired by encounters with
actual animals. This is supported by subfossil remains discovered in Madagascar
of giant lemurs of suborder Strepsirrhini which became extinct some time after
the Malayo-Polynesian settlement of the island. These sailors and earlier
explorers of the area such as those sponsored by Necho II were in direct or
indirect contact with trading centers in Egypt and elsewhere which would
certainly facilitate the spread of the stories of these real werewolf-like
creatures.
A French-Canadian woman, born in the late 1880s, told that when
she was a young girl, she heard that "years ago" there was a village
in Québec which experienced a rash of sheep killings. The sheep were being
killed at night, throats torn and partially eaten. The townsfolk suspected a
rather suspicious fellow among their neighbours. During a search of his
property they discovered a wolfskin belt.
The fellow explained that when he put the belt on he became a wolf and
that it was he who had been killing the sheep. The townsfolk burned the belt
and that supposedly brought an end to the killings.
Often the story-telling was used simply to inspire fear. Stories
were told by elders to persuade children to behave. Another example relates
that 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,
where the method for turning into a werewolf was to break Lent seven years in a
row. Other stories mention people who
sold their soul to the devil or leading a "bad life", that is to say,
with off-the precepts of the Church.
From The Quebec Gazette, July 14, 1766 and December 10,
1767.
One learns of
Saint-Roch, near Cape Mouraska (Kamouraska) there is a werewolf running coasts
as a beggar, who, with the talent to persuade it ignores and promising what he
can not keep, was the one to get what he wants. It is said that this animal,
with the help of his two hind feet, arrived at Quebec on the 17th and last he
returned the next 18, intending to follow his mission till Montreal. This beast
is said to be in its kind as dangerous as the one that appeared last year in
the Gévauclan *, which is why we urge the public to be wary as a ravening wolf.
Kamouraska, December
2, we learn that a werewolf , traveling the province for several years, and did
a lot of damage in the district of Quebec, received considerable number of
attacks last October by various animals that had been armed and unleashed
against the monster, and in particular the three following November, he
received a furious blow with a small lean animal, which is believed to be fully
delivered from this fatal animal, as he remained some time retired to his den,
to the great satisfaction of the public.
Some modern researchers have tried to explain the reports of
werewolf behaviour with recognised medical conditions. Downs Syndrome, hypertrichosis (a hereditary
condition manifesting itself in excessive hair growth), and congenital
porphyria have been suggested as possible explanations, at least for early
reports before these conditions became well known. . In a 1963 paper by Dr Lee Illis of Guy's
Hospital in London entitled On Porphyria and the Aetiology of Werewolves, argues that porphyria victims’ sensitivity to
sunlight, and the possibility that receding gums can give the appearance of
fangs are reasons to suspect this. He
also suggested that garlic makes the condition worse, and at one time victims
may have attempted self-treatment by drinking blood. Scientifically though, this explanation
doesn’t hold much water.
Most modern day Canadian Loup Garou sightings seem to be
reported as the “Michigan Dogman”. First
reported in the late 1800’s, the reports began in northwestern Michigan and
have since re-emerged in southern Ontario.
It is also possible that this is the same creature as Wisconsin’s Beast
of Bray Road. In fact, even some
Sasquatch sightings could be Loup Garou, especially those from significant
distance.
Medicine Hat, Alberta has a self proclaimed Loup Garou in
convicted killer Jeremy Steinke, now legally known as Jackson May,
