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The Loogaroo or Soucouyant is a creature of Caribbean mythology that is similar to a vampire.
Etymology
A corruption of the French term loup-garou, meaning werewolf.
Description
According to the myth, the Loogaroo is an old woman who is in league with the Devil. She will have magical abilities only if she gives the Devil blood every night. She tries to give him blood of other creatures, or else he will take her own blood, causing her to die. However, in later adaptations of the myth, Loogaroo is a man that has been corrupted by wealth and has dealt with the devil to keep his status. He is often charming and well dressed as a disguise in order to lure young women to their deaths.
The Loogaroo can leave its own skin (usually under a "Devil Tree," a silk cotton tree) and turn into a flame or blue ball of bright light that haunts the night searching for blood to meet the terms of her deal. After she has collected enough blood she can return to her skin and retake human form.
This creature is apparently compulsive and must stop to count grains of sand spread upon the ground. So, a defence against her was to leave a pile of rice or sand near your front door overnight. Hopefully, the creature would take so long to count it all that the sun would eventually return with the coming of morning. By that time the Loogaroo would have to return to her skin without making an attack. In some tales of the Loogaroo, her skin can be taken away from the Devil Tree so that she cannot find it when she returns.
Origins
The Loogaroo is an example of how a vampire belief can result from a combination of beliefs, here a mixture of French and African Vodu or voodoo. The stories of the Loogaroo are widespread through the Caribbean Islands and Louisiana in the USA, often being told to children to warn them the dangers of going out at night. Loogaroo is still greatly feared in the West Indies, particularly in the smaller islands. It is believed that during the 1960's when migration to Britain was most prominent, that among the passengers were Loogaroo who settled mainly in the Shepherds Bush area.
The term Loogaroo possibly comes from the French mythological creature called the Loup-garou, a type of werewolf and is common in the Culture of Mauritius. The writers of Lost In Space, in the episode Space Choppers, mistakenly confused the Loogaroo with Loup-garou, also known as canus lupis, when Doctor Smith was frightened by a werewolf.
See also
pop
References
- Welland, Michael (January 2009). Sand: The Never-Ending Story. University of California Press. pp. 66–67. ISBN 0520254376.
- Bunson, Matthew (2000). The vampire encyclopedia. Gramercy Books. p. 162. ISBN 9780517162064.
- Maberry, Jonathan (September 1, 2006). Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings That Haunt Us, Hunt ... Citadel. p. 203. ISBN 9780806528137.
- Melton, J. Gordon (September 1994). The vampire book: the encyclopedia of the undead. Visible Ink Press. p. 379. ISBN 0810322951.