The Legend Of Loup Garou

The Loup Garou is a French legend of a human who changes into a wolf at his/her own will. The word 'loup' means wolf and 'garou' means man who turns into animal. The legend says that when a person comes into contact with a loup garou and sheds the blood of the beast, the Loup Garou will then changed back to it's human form and reveal their secret. The victim becomes a Loup Garou for one hundred and one days. If the victim speak of the encounter, they become a loup garou themselves, but if they remain quiet, they return to their human form and continue on with their lives. In the legends, the loup garou is said to be someone the victim knows, such as a jealous former lover.

The legend was often used to scare children into behaving. "Make yo' bed or da loup garou is gonna get ya'!" What makes these creatures so dangerous is the fact that while in their wolf form, they are completely aware and as intelligent as they are in their human form. With their enhanced abilities and senses, it make them difficult to destroy. Along with these abilities, they differ from the werewolf because it isn't just the moon that can change them. These creatures can change at their own will, as well as by the command of a full moon.

The loup-garou, to most who believed in him, was a fierce werewolf, though in Vincennes, as in New York, the Loup Garou may also be a person transformed into a cow, horse, or some other animal. Even when the disenchantment had been performed, both the victim and his rescuer could not mention the incident, even to each other, until the time was up. Anyone who violated this tabu would become possessed immediately and face a much stiffer sentence. In the 19th century, the Loup Garou was said to search for victims, usually hunters and trappers, in the forests of Quebec.

Like the wolfman of legend and film, victims of the disease are covered with a short coat of fur (most often grey-black), possess sharp teeth and claws, and suffer from a severely diminished intellect. The transformation grants the Loup Garou thermographic vision and the adept-like ability to increase their strength once a day as well as moderate allergies to sunlight and aconite (horseradish). For a four to six day period every lunar cycle, the Loup undergoes a secondary transformation that greatly increases the creature's physical abilities and sends it into a killing frenzy where it will attack and attempt to kill any creature that crosses its path. Like fomorians and ghouls, Loup Garou don't suffer from essence loss, though, like the latter, they are capable of infecting others on contact - most often through bites, scratches, or other wounds.

These are magnificent creatures...but beware of the Loup Garou.

"By Niscor"