Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

The Rougarou (also spelled Rugaru, Roux-Ga-Roux, or Loup-Garou) is one of the most enduring and chilling legends of the Louisiana bayous, a werewolf-like creature rooted in French folklore.

The story begins in France, long before Louisiana even existed.
In medieval French folklore, there was a creature called the Loup-Garou  literally meaning “wolf-man” (from loup = wolf, garou = man who transforms).

The loup-garou was believed to be:

• A person cursed or punished for sins or broken vows.

• A shape-shifter, turning into a wolf-like monster under the full moon.

• Vulnerable to holy objects like crosses or blessed weapons.

When French settlers and Acadians migrated to the New World  especially to Louisiana in the 17th and 18th centuries they brought the loup-garou legend with them. Over time, the term evolved phonetically in the Cajun dialect to Rougarou.

The Rougarou is often described as:

• A tall, human-like creature with the head of a wolf or dog, covered in hair.

• Possessing red, glowing eyes and razor-sharp teeth.

• Said to prowl the swamps, sugarcane fields, and graveyards at night.

Some versions say it hunts sinners, particularly those who break Lenten promises, while others claim it punishes evildoers, liars, and those who don’t respect community rules.

In the early 1900s, a Cajun trapper from Houma, named Jean Baptiste Landry, reported being stalked by something in the swamp late one night. He claimed he was checking his traps by lantern light when he heard splashing footsteps behind him not the quick movements of an alligator or raccoon, but slow, heavy steps, almost human.

“It was walkin’ on two feet,” he later told friends, “and when I turned, the light caught its eyes red like fire. I shot my pistol, and it screamed, like no man or beast I ever heard.”

When he returned in daylight, he found tracks shaped like human feet with claws at the toes. The creature was never seen again, but Landry reportedly gave up trapping after that night.

Around 1925, residents of Bayou Goula, near Donaldsonville, began reporting a hairy creature that came out of the cane fields at night, killing livestock and terrifying families. One farmer claimed he saw a tall figure covered in dark hair walk upright across his yard. Dogs refused to approach it. A local priest was said to have blessed the area, urging people to attend Mass and keep their Lenten vows linking the attacks to the Rougarou’s punishment of sinners.

After several weeks, the creature reportedly vanished, and the killings stopped.

The 1971 Prairieville Highway Encounter

In 1971, a man driving late at night near Prairieville, Louisiana, claimed to have nearly hit something “huge and hairy” that darted across the highway. He described it as “part man, part wolf”, with a snout and yellow eyes that reflected in his headlights. When he stopped to look, the creature allegedly stood up from the ditch, bared its teeth, and growled before running into the woods on two legs.

Local sheriffs found nothing but other drivers soon began reporting a “beast of the bayou” on that same stretch of road.

The 1990s Atchafalaya Basin Fishermen Encounter

In the early 1990s, two fishermen near the Atchafalaya Basin claimed to have seen something stalking the banks as they camped. Around midnight, they heard splashes and heavy movement through the brush. When they shined their light, they saw a tall creature with glowing red eyes — taller than a man, covered in dark hair. One witness said:

“It wasn’t no bear. It was standin’ straight up, lookin’ right at us. And when we yelled, it took off into the swamp like nothin’.”

Locals later told them it was “the Rougarou” and warned them not to talk about it, saying “if you speak its name too often, it comes for you.”

The 2006 Lafourche Parish Sighting

A more recent case came in 2006, when a group of teenagers driving home from a football game near Lafourche Parish reported a “large, gray, dog-headed figure” crossing the road.

They said it paused, looked directly at their car, and then bounded into the sugarcane field with enormous leaps. When sheriff’s deputies checked the area, they found no animal tracks only large, humanlike prints leading toward the marsh.

Several residents later told local radio hosts that the Rougarou had returned a warning that Lent was approaching, echoing the old Catholic versions of the tale.

The 2013 Houma Swamp Festival Encounter

In 2013, during Houma’s annual Rougarou Festival, a man from Thibodaux reportedly had a real sighting on his drive home. He claimed to have seen a creature crouched by the roadside, glowing eyes reflecting from the swamp water.

“I thought it was just somebody in a costume from the festival,” he said, “but when it stood up, it was too tall seven, eight feet easy and it turned its head, like a wolf on a man’s body.”

He refused to attend the festival again, saying, “I saw the real thing.”

Eyewitness Themes and Behavior

Across all accounts from early oral legends to modern sightings certain details remain consistent:

1. Red or yellow glowing eyes

2. Foul odor (wet fur, decay)

3. Stalking behavior at night

4. Disappearance at dawn

5. Religious or moral warnings attached to sightings

Even skeptics agree the Rougarou functions as a powerful living legend, with psychological and cultural weight that keeps it alive in Cajun memory.