This Paranormal Life - #281 New Orleans NIGHT BEAST - The Rougarou

Episode Date: September 20, 2022

Wandering New Orleans at night there are many dangers; dark street corners, an infinite supply of whiskey, 24/7 nightclubs, but but the greatest danger of all is much less widely known - the Rougarou. To the uninitiated the Rougarou might seem like a simple Werewolf, but it is anything but. Can Kit and Rory resist the temptation to drink bourbon into the wee hours long enough to conduct a full paranormal investigation this week? Tune in to find out!Support us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! - thisparanormallife.com/storeFollow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunityAdvertise on This Paranormal Life via Gumball.fmResearch by Amy GrisdaleEdited by Louis BlatherwickIntro music by www.purple-planet.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is the earth hollow? Do hamsters go to heaven? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of This Paranormal Life! Hello! And welcome back to This Paranormal Life. This is the weekly comedy podcast where every Tuesday we investigate a different paranormal case or tale or claim and get to the bottom of whether it's truly paranormal or not by the end of the episode. As always, you're joined by Rory Powers, who's sitting across from me. Hi, everyone. Hello. It's me, Rory Powers, the co-host of This Paranormal Life and a loud and proud paranormal investigator. The life of a paranormal investigator is a hard one, all right? You don't have any friends. You don't have any family. That's right. You don't have a wife. You don't have any friends you don't have any family that's right you don't have a wife you don't have a girlfriend you don't have a boyfriend you don't have kids you don't have loved ones your loved ones that you know i do have a wife and child i do a family i just wanted to

you like that all right yeah well yeah but what i'm saying is like you you don't have a lot of them you know and i have friends too i have tons of them um so and i have a lot of them, you know? And I have friends too. I have tons of them. So, and I have a girlfriend. She goes to another school. So you haven't met her. I hope she doesn't go to school. She's got college. She goes to college.

She actually goes to f***ing supermodel university. All right? All right. Where the barrier for entry is 10 out of 10. You have to be a 10? Yeah. You have to be drop dead gorgeous to go.

Okay. I actually. But I've never met her and I'm not going to. No, I told you. She's really busy with supermodel contests and she's a Formula One race car driver. So is she. All right. She. I don't know. So is she studying to be a supermodel at super car driver. So is she? All right.

I don't know. So is she studying to be a supermodel at Supermodel College? She teaches. She teaches other models. That's how good she is. That's how pretty she is. She teaches. Any other questions about her?

God damn. I think we should move on. I just feel like I'm being grilled here about Julia. You volunteered. Okay, so she does have a name. She does have a name. Julia. Last name? Spanks.

All right. Is her middle name. Right. And her last name is. Which is obviously what I meant. I think I said her last name. Her last name is. Don't think about it.

Just say it. If it's real, say it. Me. Julia. Julia Spanks me. It german i think so no it's not it's english it's english and i think you've said quite enough and i think we have to move on uh the point is i don't need anyone else i don't even need julia she needs me if anything because you know i'm also important and hot and uh not wealthy um but um not that important not that important but what i'm saying is uh i don't need anyone else because i got you my paranormal podcasting buddy we're all we need in this world you said you have like a wife and kids and stuff, but do you really need them to host

this show every week and to investigate the paranormal? I guess not. Well, that was an illuminating and disturbing look into Rory's private life and his relationship with Julia Spank's me. Sorry, I meant to say it's Julia Spank's M.E. Doesn't that mean something? M.E.? You like M.D.? Like if she was a doctor? Yeah, that's what I meant to say it's Julia Spanx M.E. Doesn't that mean something? M.E.? You like M.D.?

Like as if she was a doctor? Yeah, that's what I meant. Did I mention she's a doctor? So her last name is Spanx. Julia Spanx M.D. M.D. She's a doctor of modeling. Jesus Christ.

Okay, well, I'm looking forward to hearing a little bit more about Julia Spanx at a different point in today's episode, because we do need to dive into today's investigation. Press on, press on. Maybe you can litter in some facts later on, as you have more time to think about it. Yeah, I don't need more time, but it is appreciated. Let me tell you.

But before we dive into today's case, we have an important TPL update. Whoa, guys, 2022 was the craziest year we've literally ever had with this show. Yeah, of course. We had a massive UK live tour. We revamped our Patreon, adding a whole new show. The This Paranormal Life audience is right now the biggest it has ever been. There's dozens of us dozens and instead of doing the sensible thing and taking time to enjoy our victories oh yeah have a little sleepy

nap oh i think that's enough for today smart sure we're set we're actually setting bigger goals for 2023 we're planning on touring internationally at the end of next year. We're going to do on-location investigations. And maybe dumbest of all, no, nay, craziest of all, we're hiring our first ever full-time employee. Can you imagine having us as a boss? It doesn't bear thinking about it, truly. That's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Well, don't say that. These are obviously some huge goals, guys.

We get it. But luckily, we have ways of actually achieving them. We have our incredible support on Patreon. We've recently partnered with Acast to get some great sponsors for the show. And also, I captured a leprechaun. Okay. I'm pretty sure he's a leprechaun. He's 5'9", sure.

But he had a pipe, and he's angry. So I think we're in the money, bud. I think you have harangued a grown man. Five nine isn't that short. What height are you? Hold on. Five ten. Five ten.

And I tower above him. We've been making this paranormal life for five years now, and it will always be free to listen to. You may hear some ads, but we will never charge for our main episodes. And if you really don't like ads, we get it. Ad-free episodes are available weekly over on patreon.com, but we both hope you take comfort in knowing that the ads and the Patreon support is always being put back into the show to help us make next year our biggest one yet. Honestly, it is going to be insane. We're so excited. So thank you so much for tuning in every

week to the show. Thank you. We honestly wouldn't be here without you. And we hope you're as excited as we are for what's next. All right. Is there anything else you want to say? I thought you had like a creature to show me or like a monster or something, but you insisted we do this little speech at the start. Jesus, man. What an ending for such a nice sentiment. I just got to get back to my leprechaun, alright? I left him the keys

to my car. His name's Keith. Rory, today's story starts on Reddit with a post from only last year. User IamDean is from southern Louisiana and comes from a Cajun family. When he's 10 years old, he has to spend the night at his grandma's house. He's forced to? I imagine.

That was written weird. He's forced to. I'm just reading further. He's absolutely forced to. Okay. He did not. He wanted to stay at his parents' house and eat chicken nuggets, but he was forced to. Cajun chicken nuggets?

Of course. Cajun seasoning. She lives in a cute little shack in the bayou. Dean's there, and so are his grandma and his adult cousin. They're in the living room shooting the shit. Dean's cousin reaches the very bottom of said barrel and starts filling the others in

on his walk over there. You know, it was a cool, maybe 64 degrees, slight northwesterly wind. Uh, I saw a patch of moss. Oh, I passed a big old black dog on the corner. That detail gets Dean's attention. He knows the old legends. Do you think it was a Rougarou? Alright, slow down there, Chief. We're jumping to some conclusions here. The atmosphere undergoes a palpable shift. Grandma had been quietly sleeping in her chair, but not anymore.

She jumped to her feet and screamed out in Cajun French. Fram le pas! I assume that's French for grab the gun. Close enough. Dean's cousin does as he's told and slams the front door, bolting it from the inside. Dean can feel the angry eyes of his grandmother burning a hole in his skin like a laser.

Why say it? Why say those words if you know that this is going to be the reaction of an old sleeping woman? I don't think he knew what was going to happen. That's like going into an old folks home and yelling the Nazis are back! You are going to get

old soldiers jumping to attention. Right, they are going to instantly mentally snap back into trench mode. Is that what you don't want? So just don't even maybe say like, hey, I saw a black dog. Do you think it could be? You know what?

You know, don't wake the sleeping grandmother by saying the beast. You know, you're going to freak her out. Yeah, this is a real meerkat model of warning people about things where if you so much as see a twig sway in the breeze you yell to your entire crew it's like it's a lion it's a lion everyone back in their holes it's like dude this is the 10th time today you can't always jump to that extreme you gotta be more careful looking at dean she, she said, We never speak that name. It had only been a joke, but now he's in deep trouble. And it would be 15 years before Dean would make the same mistake.

Fast forward to last year. He's 25 now, but still always visits home for the important holidays. That Thanksgiving, he makes his way to his family home like every year in recent memory. Not long after he makes it home, his dad invited him out on an evening run. Hmm. Dean's not seen his old man for a while, so he laces up his trainers and heads out for a jog in the dark. They beeline for the shore of the nearby lake Ponchar Train. The beautiful full moon illuminates the water and bathes the surrounding ground in a soft

glow. Dean sees an enormous black dog and the memory of the conversation with his cousin comes flooding back to him. He can't help but chuckle to himself. What's so funny? The dog's getting closer. Dean can't help but go for the same joke he'd made all those years ago. He points at the dog in front of them and yells, Look! A Rougarou! Dad, what's wrong? Why'd you stop? The look on his dad's face is now one of pure terror. Don't bring it up! You know not to joke about this! He thought enough time had passed. He thought

the world had moved on. This is like going to Hogwarts and yelling Voldemort all the time. Voldemort. This is like at age 10 going into an airport yelling, I've got a bomb. Getting arrested and then getting out of juvenile just in time to go

back to the airport and say the same damn thing. And say, remember that time I said I had a bomb? And they arrest you again. Ah. This is, hey, I will say, you know, maybe it's worth bringing it up in this context because you are face to face with something here, you know? Yeah. I mean, also, he's going down the generations. Like, he might understand that, all right,

my grandmother might be a little bit old school. Maybe she's a bit more scared about these things. But my dad, he's a regular guy. He's not going to be scared of these things. Big mistake. He was wrong. The look on his dad's face is one of pure terror. Turn around now. Go! Go!

Put as many rocks as you can in your pockets and run into the lake! End your life now! Now! It's a better way to die! And we will die! They don't stop until they're safely back in the house. His dad immediately sets to work checking every lock on every door and window. He even draws all the curtains and turns off all the lights. Dad, you can't seriously be scared just because I said the word.

Who'd say it? His dad leapt forward and clasped his hands over his mouth. In my head, his dad is like choking him against the wall at this point. He's like, don't you f***ing say it. We never speak that name. Now go to bed and for God's sake, stay quiet. Dean can't believe his dad can be this irrational. As soon as he hears his old man get into bed, he slips out the back door for a cigarette. It's around one in the morning. He's sitting on a deck chair by the screened-in pool. The only thing he can see beyond the screen are the dense trees of the woods that line the property. But he suddenly becomes aware that he can hear something. Branches cracking like someone

is walking through the woods. Uh-oh. He stands up and turns on his phone torch. He doesn't see anything, so he tells himself it must be a deer and goes to sit back down. He whips back around with his phone still illuminated. He sees a pair of eyes staring at him

from the edge of the woods. They're at such a height they could belong to a human, but they don't look human. I mean, if you're seeing the eyes in the dark, that's already a bad sign. Even you're seeing the eyes in the dark, that's already a bad sign. Even if you see

human eyes in the dark, that's bad. Yeah, yeah, that is a... yeah, it's already a bad sign. Hello? There's no response, but the shape advances forward. It's a huge black

shape on all fours. He thinks it's a dog, which is pretty coincidental seeing as he just saw one on his run. It creeps closer, slowly at first, but then starts speeding up. Dean's heart leaps and he knows it's time to get out of there. He backs towards the house, throws open the door, jumps inside and locks it tight. The next morning, he tells his mum that he saw a big animal out in the yard. She turns away from making breakfast and starts chastising Dean. Well, your dad told me you said its name, so what did you expect? It was still early morning and Dean was feeling a bit groggy, a little foggy,

so he absentmindedly said, What, a roo-ga-roo? You're kidding me! God damn, this thing's like f***ing Beetlejuice. Don't say its name. You are summoning it.

Right, that's it. You shut your filthy mouth and finish this washing up. That was the last time Dean ever said the name Rougarou around his family. I don't believe you. I do not believe you, because he waited 15 years and said it again four times. He said the word Rougarou as his text alert ringtone.

Rory, have you ever heard of this beast? What beast? They're not going to trap me, is the SOB. No, I have not. And I am worried because it seems to be some sort of creature that gets pissed off or summoned whenever you say his name. And I haven't said it yet, I don't think, because I'm scared I'm going to mispronounce it. But you've said it multiple times and I am in close proximity to you for a lot of my life. Oh, yeah.

If I'm going down, you're going down too. But no, I mean we haven't really got a description yet of this creature aside from big black dog, which, you know, could fit in line with some of the other cryptids we've investigated. Wolf men, Bigfoot-style cryptids, werewolves. Right. Hairy man is kind of just a catch-all cryptid type, isn't it? It is. It is true. You guys have been very patient. I've been dangling this creature, the Rougarou, for a good 20 minutes. Oh, same. Let's give it a nickname.

Let's give it a nickname, just thought. Would you say Rougalou? It's time for me to tell you what it actually is. This is, as Rory said, essentially Louisiana's answer to the werewolf. Ah. The Cajun French word is Lougarou. Loup meaning wolf, I think, and garou meaning shape-shifting. Meaning angry.

Meaning don't say it. Do you want to see what it looks like? Hell yeah, brother. Show me some pics. Here you go. This is just the Google image search results for this creature. Holy moly ladies and gentlemen we are talking about a textbook werewolf here uh haunched over haunched claws uh sharply

protruding um from the hands we have you know quite a uh ratty fur and uh you know a really horrible protruding bony skeleton this thing is grizzly it is grizzly but strong it looks like uh it looks like it looks like a werewolf it is it's pretty much a werewolf a big black werewolf i like in this one he has a he has a stick i don't know where he got that. I like in this one, he has a stick. I don't know where he got that. He's just holding a cane. Maybe he has a limp that day. Damn.

It does look very similar, some kind of combination of a lot of different creatures we've talked about over the years. Now, this thing has the body of essentially a man and the head of a wolf or a very large dog. It isn't the body of a man. That's a straight up lie. What men have you seen that look like that? What about this one? All right. Yeah, that one's just standing up on his back legs.

I think that's a Halloween costume. Most of these. He's got pecs. He's got a rib cage. He's standing up in all of them. It worries me that you're looking at these pictures and calling the men. He's wearing dungarees in that one. So that's as manly as it gets.

Okay, what I'm trying to say is he stands on two legs. And the legs are very human-like. And then, sure, the upper body is a bit more wolf-like. He seems to be bipedal bipedal what is that is um all fours and back legs right

is that bipedal or is that two legs it's two legs oh two legs well then what's what's all four and two legs

amphibious what do you mean all four and two oh you mean they can do either yeah yeah a transformer no but bipedal

it just means they walk on two legs it doesn't mean like there's two ways they can run either? Yeah, yeah. A transformer. No, bipedal just means they walk on two legs. It doesn't mean like there's two ways they can run. Right, I thought that was the bi. No. Well, what the f*** is it called then? Does it exist? I don't think so.

Like monkeys, you know? Maybe there is a word, but it's probably like scientific or something. Yeah, I'll ask Julia. I'll ask Julia Spanx, MD. I like to call her by her full title. That's what her PhD was in. Monkeys. Oh, she's a professional at monkey business.

Don't you worry there, my friend. All right. She's a little trickster. Just to recap, she's a trickster, doctor. Supermodel. Lectures at supermodel school, and she was, I think you said, a Formula One driver? For a short period of time, yes.

Yes. The Rougarou is said to prowl the swamps and bayous of Louisiana as well as the areas around New Orleans itself. It's described as standing between seven and eight feet tall with horrible sharp teeth and glowing red eyes. Just like a werewolf, it takes its beastly form on the night of the full moon, which means it could literally be anyone. Oh shit. And if it finds you alone and defenseless in the dark, you're gonna get sliced, cubed, julienned. And since there's been so much flooding

in recent years in this area, some believe that Rougarou has started moving his way into the heart of New Orleans' French Quarter, which would explain the distant and blood-curdling howls that residents now hear during the night. Yikes. Well, hey, it also makes sense, you know, if this is some sort of creature that takes on dog-like tendencies, if you're out there going, Rougarou, Rougarou, he's going to come jogging to you. That's a great point. Basically like a dog.

Now go figure that because we're in this region of Louisiana, the lore behind Rougarou is French in origin. Everyone believed in werewolves in medieval times. Or at the very least, it was a good way to deter children from wandering in the woods by themselves at night. But as we heard from Dean in our first story, the modern people of Louisiana have their own beliefs. In a newspaper article I found, a local resident of the Louisiana Bayou named Tricia Huckins said while growing up in La Rose, her family frequently warned her to head home at dusk

to avoid being snatched by the Rougarou. She said, quote, they would say to go home before the Rougarou gets you. We just knew about it. It was just a part of life. That sounds like that could be one of those tall tales that it's like, also, don't forget to eat your vegetables or the Rougarou will cut your throat.

Wow, bad parenting. Don't have sex before marriage or the Rougarou will smell it and get aroused and hunt you down in the forest. Don't torrent DVDs or the Rougarou because he respects piracy laws. He'll hunt you down. Also, the Rougarou wants you to buy your father

a brand new DVD player for Christmas. He said he doesn't say that. We've heard it before. We've heard these stories passed down from parents to children to basically keep kids in line. So telling them to be back before dusk or else the boogeyman's going to get you essentially is what we're dealing with. You might think, Rory, but... But she got snatched! Next time people saw Trisha,

she was hung up from a tree like Predator. Next time they saw her, they saw her over there and over there and over there. She was in pieces. You might think, but another gentleman interviewed in this same article whose name was, and stick with me here,

Wenceslao Bilio of Isle de Jean Charles. Nailed it. Claimed the tales would bother him when he was a young child. And he was something like 83 at the time of interview. He said, they had some Rougarous

back in the old days. Some? Usually during the old days. Some? Usually during the full moon. I never did see one and I still don't want to. Wow, so maybe this creature does have the werewolf tendencies as well, where biting another human in the form of a Rougarou could infect them and spread the curse. Roy, we're gonna get all into that very shortly.

I will say quickly, this is something I find confusing. On the one hand, like Dean's family in the beginning, they were, as we know, scared to whisper the name. But for others, the term is leaked into daily use. People in Terrebonne and La Forche are well known to describe not being able to sleep as, quote, making the Rougarou. It can also refer to a regular human person who goes out in the city late at night and makes a lot of noise

without any consideration for other people. These people get called a fair roo-ga-roo. Okay. Troublemakers. Yeah. Late night troublemakers. Yeah. I've been there before. I've probably been called that a few times. Catch Rory on Bourbon Street at 4am doing jello shots. There is disagreement over what powers the Rougarou actually has and even what it looks like. Now, some say it most often appears as a white animal,

whether this be a wolfish dog, a pig, or a cow. Others maintain it's a spirit invisible to the human eye. I'm sorry, wait, it can appear as a cow? Or a cow. Others maintain it's a spirit, invisible to the human eye. I'm sorry, wait, it can appear as a cow? Or a piggy? It turns out Louisiana has a lot of were-animals. Not just were-wolves, but were-cows, were-cranes, like the bird, were-owls. I wish I was joking. But what is the idea?

You get bitten by an owl one day and then at the full moon you turn into an owl? Well, they're shapeshifters. Let me paint the picture for you. One tale from 1971 goes that a motorist was driving along the highway when he struck a calf, a baby cow, in the road. And when he got out of his vehicle,

the calf had vanished, and an uninjured man, allegedly a Rougarou, was just walking away from the spot where it was hit. I'm sorry, why it's so funny? So the man was the cow who got hit by a... The man was a Rougarou who turned into a cow who was hit by the car. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Surely the man would be hurt, right? Mm-mm. Apparently not. I guess not. It was just enough to knock him out of his animal form. In another case, a deer hunter claimed to shoot an owl with an arrow. And the next day, he said he found a man suspected of being a rougarou lying in the same

spot with an arrow stuck in him he killed a man he shot a man he killed him he shot a man with that all right we need to move past that story that does not help in my case yeah yeah that's not good so i gotta be honest i've been to to Louisiana State only once, and it now seems shocking and surprising that I wasn't attacked immediately by 25 different were-animals. It sounds like they're literally everywhere. Yeah, I didn't know you've been to Louisiana. Oh yeah, brother. I love it down there, down in Nowlands. Nowlands. In what capacity?

Nowlands. That's not how it's said. Nowlands. In what capacity were you there? Was it a family trip? I was in the French Quarter. I was in the French Quarter. Stop, please. I insist.

Sipping on... Bourbon? Bourbon. Okay. Wait, bourbon's from Kentucky, you f***er. Were you with your family? What are you... Why were you there?

Just shooting the shit. The shit. Just shooting. Just shooting. shit. The shit. Just shooting. Alright. It sounds like this wasn't a very good trip if you just went over and slurred your words and kind of mumbled them off. What are you talking about? I just hung loose in the

French quarter of New Orleans. This is awful. This is terrible what you're doing. And you didn't see any were-animals? I did not. That being said, between you and me, brother, between all the bourbon that was getting supped and i didn't see much of nothing i was i was drunk off the jazz of the streets i'll tell you that much drunk as a were skunk uh i was there for about a week um many moons ago maybe like uh-oh get out of there. Bolt the door. Yeah, I went with my dad like 2016 or something like that.

Okay, cool. No, no, no, no. That's complete bullshit. 2014, something like that. I'm going to be like, that's complete bullshit. I never went. It was a lot. I had a great time.

Have you ever been? No, never been. I got a lot of family in Florida, in Georgia, but I've never been in New Orleans. It's on my list, though. I would love to go because they got a lot of spooky shit down there, you know? They do. It feels like we ought to take that one off. I think the spookiest thing I came across

was the hotel breakfast. Hey-o! Down in New Orleans. Y'all eat cake for breakfast. I just need to get this out of the way. At the breakfast buffet the hotel we're staying at it was like all the american classics which was already insane to me yeah the what the maker and waffle stations and shit waffles the omelet station that was all great

i believe i believe the the standard on the omelet station was a five egg omelet i just need to say that is too many eggs how much five egg omelet right. As in five of the same eggs, not like ostrich, alligator, chicken all mashed together. So by the time I'd eaten a five egg omelette, I did not have room for grits or muffins

or whatever else was going on. Oh, you gotta get some grits, brother. I'm all about the grits. But it wasn't the grits nor the muffins that were disturbing me.

There was full-on borderline birthday cakes just up for grabs. It was insane. I think you just walked into somebody's quinceanera. That wasn't the breakfast hall. You went into a private function room and was like, what's with all the cake? Mariachi for breakfast? This is wild.

But I truly had no idea this thing was such a threat to this day. And that is why we're going to cover every single way that a human can be turned into a Rougarou. That way you can keep you and your loved ones safe. Okay. How does that sound? That sounds good. That sounds good. If we don't know, you know, if it can take the form of any animal, we should at least know what to avoid when dealing with these animals.

A thousand percent. I'm going to go ahead and assume it's the mouth. Don't be on the business end of that one. Don't even get on the business end of a freaking goldfish. Oh, a werefish? Yeah, buddy. You don't want to touch them. All right.

Method one, or as I call it, you get bit and that's it. All right. So I was completely right with my guess. Well, it's method one, first and foremost. This isn't a method, by the way. That's just what happens. These are the classic werewolf rules. You get bit by one and that's a wrap.

Go home and write your will, load the dishwasher, back up all your photos to the cloud because in three to four hours you're going to be running down Bourbon Street in tiny shorts like the Hulk ripping people apart with your giant sharp teeth. Step number two, get nibbled a little and you're drivel.

So every step is about being bitten. Yeah, step three, you get munched, you're gonna werewolf hunch i will say the only twist in method one is that there is debate about whether the biter retains or loses their werewolf features right do they do they pass them on to you or you is it now zombified you they are also a werewolf. Now you are also a werewolf. I see.

That's a good question. Yeah. I wonder if you have control of it, you know, as well. Maybe if you're in that form, you just want to bite someone and then it passes on to someone else. And you're like, I feel kind of bad I did that. Or maybe you do have control over it. Yeah. Truthfully, I don't know.

There's only one way to find out. Okay. Okay. Method number two. Sinners ain't winners. control over it yeah i truthfully i don't know there's only one way to find out okay okay method number two sinners ain't winners if you ignore the rules of lent for seven years in a row that's a wolfing you are you are turned into a roo-ga-roo so not even getting bit okay okay did you if you're just a bad man did you do lent growing up uh which one is that is that the 40 day one you're a rougarou uh yeah that's when you like give shit up i do that all the time i do that just for fun yeah i feel like i was giving shit i don't think that's i don't think that's lent then you have to do it over the official period of lent i gave up you can't just

give up crisps in october say that that was Lent. The last thing I gave up was custody of the kids. All right. That was three years ago. You're a bad person. That's when I took up drinking hardcore. I felt like a werewolf out all night, tired all day, hair where there shouldn't be. Yeah.

I mean, that was a big part of our school as well growing up, you because it was a catholic school catholic school mate so you got your ashes on your head and everything um and then you gave up shit for lent the popular one of course was uh chocolate or sweets you would give that up for 40 days yeah i don't remember just like jesus i don't remember what yeah the metaphor was i think like to try and get children to understand Jesus making the ultimate sacrifice of giving his life for humanity and its sins. Children had to give up chocolate to see what that felt like. It was a similar level of pain and suffering. Well, no, it was, I believe it was based on the story of Jesus in the desert, right? Right.

Going out for 40 days, 40 nights, and the devil being like, I'm cooking burgers. Yeah, you want some of this? I got a juicy steak. I don't think he was cooking burgers. With your name on it, Jesus. Right. And Jesus is hardcore, you know, so he was like, you Satan. I don't need anything.

I am a little hungry though. A fry, perhaps a little hungry though a fry perhaps a fry just a single nugget but he held strong he didn't eat chocolate or sweets or mcdonald's burgers and uh what happened at the end he got superpowers i don't remember how it ended you're you deserve to become a wolf not what the how did the did it end didn't he find something water he ate the burger he absolutely ate the big gave in that was what ended the 40 days 40 days was just as long as he lasted it wasn't the original goal he was supposed to do a hundred he ate the burger day 40 said give me it give me it i'm starving i need the smash burger with onion rings i do

oh man i i think he got a feast at the end right it wasn't like zelda he didn't like get the master sword or whatever that's what i think i was hoping he would get like plus 10 armor or something at the end a super bible i don't know uh needless to say, this may be a plot hole in the story so far, because I don't know if either of us have done Lent since 2015. So we probably should be rubaroos by now. That's a good point. Well, hey, do we know we're not if you transform and just go out on the hunt? Holy crap. Something to think about. Method number three. Da beast's eyes is man's demise. Legend has it in some corners that a bit like Medusa,

if you simply look into the eyes of a Rougarou, you turn into one. Ooh, presumably not in their human form. They have to be in beast form. I would think so. I would think so. Well, I mean, that kind of falls flat as well, because we just covered a story at the start of this podcast where the individual looked in the eyes of a beast that came from the woods yeah that's a really great point and he didn't seem to transform again that we know of so either it wasn't a rougarou or method three is bullshit i don't know which is more likely, but... The final method, method four,

or as I like to call it, luck of the draw and you got paws. Some believe that becoming a Rougarou is simply a genetic disorder that's passed on from parent to child through generations. An affected person's life would be totally normal until their wolfy powers suddenly activate. Their body would then grow to a vast size

and the head would take on that of a wolf form. Wow, yikes. They then begin to crave raw human flesh and they say that the transformation isn't complete until the beast takes a bite of meat. Okay, okay. Wow, that's terrifying. So it seems like their motives shift a little bit,

you know, at some, sometimes they're mentioned as being able to bite someone and pass on the curse. But now we're talking about them craving human flesh. Yeah, things did ramp up there towards the end. Where it doesn't sound like they're going to stomp at a nibble. They got to eat something. But maybe that's the trade off. It's like, hey, you can either nibble this person and pass on the curse or you get a full meal.

You can have the entire person. I do like that. That is quite interesting. So I'm very sorry in summary to say that it's so dangerous out there and there are apparently a million and one ways to turn into a Rougarou. So please use the above information to stay safe in the streets. I recently played a video game called The Quarry that was basically a video game about werewolves. And it was quite interesting because it gives you an idea of just, you know,

the concept of a werewolf, as we're understanding today, is one that exists in so many different cultures and so much folklore. And even though we do have these like through lines which is biting someone to get infected and the full moon as a point of transformation uh despite those there's so many different uh appearances and powers and abilities that these these creatures have uh it's a really interesting type of cryptid to investigate because sometimes even you know you think werewolf you think like hairy wolf like man and then you even, you know, you think werewolf, you think like hairy wolf-like man. And then you'll see, you know, some of the illustrations of this son of a bitch.

It's like a Siamese cat, you know? Really like clingy, horrible, bony skin. It looks like a demon from hell rather than a wolfman. I really love to see all these weird, different interpretations. And now you're telling me they can turn into meerkats and owls? They can turn into whatever they want.

That's crazy. Yeah. To what extent have we discussed werewolves? I don't think we've ever done a definitive werewolf episode. Maybe some individual cases, like a werewolf of blah-de-blah or some creature that allegedly has the powers of a werewolf, but not just the broad investigation of werewolves. Interesting. Because we've talked about a lot of ways

you can get infected, but I don't know if you're going to go into it, but there are some very famous ways in which you can kill werewolves. Some say they don't like water, that it burns them. The other one famously is silver as well. Silver bullet.

The silver bullet. Knife. You know, maybe it sounds like these motherfuckers might have similar weaknesses. And again, it just overlaps with so many other cryptids and creatures because the methods you just mentioned can even overlap with vampires or demons. I don't want people outside of Louisiana to think that they're safe. They've been seen in other American states and even across the pond in France, which is very close to us here in the UK. They can turn into birds, folks.

The ocean is not a problem for them. They can obviously turn into dolphins and shit as well, probably. I did find one more story from an anonymous poster this time. Let me set the scene. She was on holiday in France with her parents and boyfriend, John. The young couple wanted some privacy

and went to the woods for a good long walk. It was getting dark and the teens were tired on account of all the walking. They'd stopped to take a quick rest and were about ready to start back up again when an almighty figure staggered into the clearing. You f***ing guessed it.

It was half man, half wolf. Its eyes were blood red and its razor sharp teeth were glistening in the moonlight. All right, we're not f***ing about here. I just talked about all the incredible different forms of werewolf this is classic this is the classic skin original cool cool original ranch flavor as it stood silhouetted they could see long jagged claws twitching luckily john was packing heat

specifically a pocket knife oh that's not heat. That's room temperature. He yelled, Run! Get back to the apartment! I'll fend him off! She legged it out of there as fast as she could, leaving John to tame the creature alone. But soon, he stumbled through the apartment door just seconds after she arrived home,

but he was hurt. Just seconds?! He didn't last long. One scratch. He just swiped the penknife out of his hands. Clawed him to bits. They rushed him to the hospital where, I'm happy to report, he made a full recovery. Now, do we only have her word on this?

Yes. Okay. No medical records, no photographs Could she have stabbed John herself and this is a cover-up story? Yes, of course, that's possible Is this entire story made up and posted on the internet? And she's anonymous so we can't even trace the person who posted it, of course Possibly, yes, of course I know what we need right now, Rory

A little bit of physical evidence to back everything up, to seal the deal on everything we've been talking about. Oh boy, here we go. Well, there isn't any. Oh, what? The closest... I already put a silver bullet in my gun. The closest thing I could find was a bunch of policemen

talking about the Rougarou on a show called Cajun Justice. It's a great name. There are a lot of legends down here, down the barn. But probably the one that we get the most calls of people saying that they've seen would be the Rougarou. Don't say it. Don't say it. Something stirring up my chickens over there. It looks like something like a big dog. It may be a Rougarou. I don't know. There's several stories that I heard about the Rougarou growing up. One was that it was a man that can turn into a wolf-like creature. It's a swamp creature.

It's a tall, hairy creature. Pretty much Bigfoot in a swamp. Some people say it's like a werewolf or full of moss, almost like a swamp thing. It's like a swamp monster, something that's covered in grass and moss. An Indian shapeshifter. That's about the best I understand. I'm getting a bit of a mixed description here. I'll tell you what my grandma told me.

My grandma told me that it was a werewolf. And, you know, if there's a Rougarou out there, I'm going to have to believe my grandma's right. A couple weeks ago, somebody asked me, did I know what the Rougarou is? This is my first time ever hearing the word. I don't even know. That's where he came, right there. This ain't making any sense for me, man. Because the trail just ends.

You know, you hear them old stories about the old Rougarou and all that. I don't know if that was it. They're saying Rougarou so much. I've never heard it said more than right now. Keep children inside the house. I have never seen a Rougarou so much. I've never heard it said more than right now. Keep children inside the house. I have never seen a Rougarou. We have Jacob, the closest thing we have. I don't believe in a Rougarou.

What's it supposed to be? Kind of like a Bigfoot. I don't believe in Bigfoot. That's what it is. That's what they're claiming. It's a police officer shaking his head. Right back behind his house. No, I'm just kidding.

I enjoyed halfway through that video where they were like, yeah, it's like Bigfoot, maybe with a little bit of moss on him because he's been in the swamp. The next guy's like, he's a swamp monster. Next woman's like, it's a shape-shifting Native American beast. It's like, all right. We're kind of all over the place, guys. Are we talking about the same thing? Wow.

Also, cops in America don't f*** around. It looked like they were just called out to investigate, like, a fox in a barn messing with chickens. And they all had handguns drawn in the dark, like, getting ready to open fire. That's crazy. If you live near to Rougarou's, you got to keep that MF and thang on you. Just in case, loaded up with the silver. Honestly. So, I mean, hey, I understand that's, let's be clear, that is not physical evidence.

But it is interesting to see that even law enforcement are well aware of this thing and get, he said, it's the thing we get most of our calls about. Yeah. I guess, you know, even from looking at some of those types of environment, the police are having to go out and investigate. We're talking about a lot of farmhouses, very dark, open fields, wild animals running around. I mean, you are going to get some just actual wolves there, too, because it's just that type of that type of land, that type of environment. I'm not surprised they get calls about it all the time. It is true. I mean, we're here from Northern Ireland.

You know, this is a rural country and there has been many, many a cryptid sighting over the years. Let's say these phantom big cats and things like that. If you live next to big fields, you're going to see things go bump in the night. Yeah, it's true. But I do think those police officers

talking about the various different ways it's interpreted actually illuminate something pretty interesting. You know, Louisiana is famously a melting pot of various cultural influences.

You know, African mixed with French, mixed with English, mixed with Caribbean, mixed with indigenous culture. Human mixed with owl, mixed with wolf, mixed with beast. No, with owl mixed with wolf mixed with beast no no no one said it's a melting pot so it makes sense that the legends the legends reflect that you know

so it's entirely possible that there's a french legend that maybe involves a werewolf yeah travels all the way to america before it gets remixed locally and that's why it has so many parallels with let's say ancient north american cryptids that we've talked about before like wendigo skinwalkers or even bigfoot that would make sense too uh as to why there are so many strange powers that it has so many weird powers that it has, so many weird methods that it can transform people. Some say it's a bite. Some say you're born with it. Some say it's Maybelline. Some say it's a wolf. Some say it's an owl. You know, you're right. These origin stories are being muddied up in the swamp water and they're taking, you know, form in this creature in many different ways. But this does

present us with a problem because at the end of every episode of this paranormal life, we do have to decide whether our story is truly paranormal or not. Rory, you said it yourself. You used the M word. Our waters are muddy. Yeah, they are. And we have to make them clear for the listeners at home.

What do you think today about Electric Boogaloo to Return of the Rougarou? We're going to have to decide today whether our bullets will be silver or regular. Because either way, we're putting this sick puppy down. It's either a wolf or a very sick dog. Either one probably should be killed. I love this story.

I think it's because I also just played the quarry quite recently. So I'm like, I'm into werewolves now. You got me at a great time. I'm in it. I love the lore. I love the idea, the concept of a human being infected and transforming. It's great. I think we should definitely look into some more werewolf

cases in the future. But I mean, this is the problem we have with a lot of stories like this is even if we have evidence where there's a crime scene and wolf prints leading away into the darkness of the forest, wolves exist. They have normal wolves exist and normal wolves also like kill people and animals and rip things to shreds and leave claw marks. So a lot of the traits that you have from some sort of werewolf human are also a lot of the traits that just exist in regular wolves, very large wolves. Now, obviously, that's not exactly what we were talking about today. We were talking about a paranormal wolf that can transform. And that's a little harder to prove, obviously.

I mean, even someone hitting a cow with their car and then a human walking away. They weren't the best examples on Earth. Now, I don't want to, again, I don't want to bring up too many of my own paranormal stories, but as someone who did see an animal that I believe was a certain type of animal, but then possibly did transform towards the end of the sighting into something else. Well, we've never heard the full sighting, so we wouldn't know that.

So it's not admissible as evidence in this case. I'm just saying maybe I've seen a werecreature before down in Dublin. Interesting. You've never used that word before, and it seems like you're just twisting your own story to make it fit this one. And if I had a silver bullet at the time, I would have fired it. I would have fired it. Into my own cranium, ending my life before the beast could end it for me. Because I'm a bad shot from a distance.

And I'd rather have a 100% chance of killing myself than a 10% chance of killing the beast. I don't know, Kit. You're the chief investigator in today's case. Are you feeling confident in this one? What a cool backdrop. What a story. What a history. What a place what a history what a place truly

what a crock of shit um as you say very fun to investigate i'll say it i'm surprised by the lack of evidence i was you know we we've covered things like el duende and and uh and his little horrible friend pombero pombero and even those cases had video evidence even if they were hoaxes um they did have video evidence that we could look at and try and pick apart whereas even the even the lizard man who some of his traits were cutting the brakes on people's cars uh that case had footprints, the clay footprints that had been taken from scenes where he had been sighted. So the fact we don't even have fur, a fur sample, is suspicious. And that is probably where, if I'm going to be intelligent about this, this is probably where Rougarou does step into similarities with, let's say, Skinwalkers or Wendigo or even Ogopogo, where the indigenous people of North America have said, you know, you're focusing too much on the physical appearance and the footprints. This is more of a spirit.

And we were warned of that earlier in the story. Some people said this is potentially just an evil spirit of a spirit. And we were warned of that earlier in the story. Some people said this is potentially just an evil spirit of some kind. So that means that we may just be barking up the wrong tree by looking for paw prints. It could be. I mean, I will say bringing up the Ogopogo, that episode that we did,

which was a recent bonus episode of This Paranormal Life, it was a no for me, pretty much the entire episode while we were talking about the creature until we showed the most convincing video evidence i'd ever seen in my life right uh and that's what won me over so unless right at the end of this one we have a video of a wolf ripping a man to shreds i think i'm gonna be right in saying that it is probably a double no this week. Oh, crap. It's a double no. Damn it.

There is no smoking gun video, sadly, other than Cajun Justice, the TV show. You know, maybe we are not surprised, Rory, by a double no on the case of the Rougarou. Of course, if you have experienced this beast for yourself, you gotta let us know by emailing in to thisparanormallifepodcast at gmail.com. Hit us up on social media. We don't say it often, but we should. We are everywhere all at once. We're on twitter.com forward slash thisparalife,

instagram.com forward slash thisparanormallife. And of course, our community of, I think at least 6,000 people posting memes and hanging out over on the Facebook Secret Society. We're also on Reddit. There's a This Paranormal Life Reddit. I'm not a big Reddit user, but I do pop over now and again just to keep a watchful eye. Right, just to enforce the mods rules. Yeah, kind of like Sauron.

Jesus. Just keeping a watchful eye on the hobbits. He's evil, you know. And if now and again you have to smite a hobbit in front of his little friends. All right. Just to make sure everyone stays in line, then that's what I'll do. That's not what Sauron did. Also, if Sauron could have smited the hobbits, he would have done that very early on in the series.

Yeah, if if anything he could just blink at them angry and be like don't you do it don't you do it um he could smite hobbits because he could send his his minions after them that was his whole thing right yeah but it didn't work like because he underestimated the power i'm pretty sure he could only even see what they were up to when Frodo wore the... Never mind. We're getting too... Yeah, that's a really good point. Deep into this. Point is I think that

much like the Lord of the Rings universe, we have different kingdoms and they are our social media channels. Check them out. The links are in the description of this podcast actually. Rory, but there is another place people can get even more of this paranormal life if they want it. No.

Where? You tell them. I don't know. What are you talking about? Come on, the place that we've been promoting for five years at this point. Oh. Come on. Facebook.com.

No. Over there you can get. There's nothing over there. There's nothing over there. Really? No, there, no, no, no, no. Over there you can get. There's nothing over there. There's nothing over there. Really? No, there's nothing. So the place that we upload five episodes a month extra exclusively to, the place that people pay money in exchange for new content from us.

We have a bunch of people supporting the show, helping us grow. Tinder? Bonus episodes. Holy moly. You couldn't be further off the mark. Where are you putting our bonus episodes? Holy crap. molly you couldn't be further off the mark where are you putting our bonus episodes holy crap uh kid is of course talking about a little website called patreon.com called only fans only fans.com forward slash rory uh patreon.com is uh the shire it is lush itire. It is lush. It is green. It is bountiful.

It is overflowing with friendship and love and bonus content. And if anyone steps a foot out of the line, a big hairy foot out of the line,

so Ron, aka Rory, is going to smite him. You're going to get smouted. Over on Patreon, Patreon is a place to be, folks. It's the best way

to support the show while getting access to some of the best rewards that we have, which is behind the scenes bonus audio content where we talk about making the show. We documented our UK live tour. We talk about future plans. We answer Q&A questions. We talk about recently in episodes we've been doing like weekly paranormal news. It's true. The amount of times people

message us and say, hey, did you see this in the news? Did you see this in the news? And it's not really enough to talk about for a full episode. But we love talking about paranormal news, whether it's UFO sightings, whether it's mummies that have been discovered in the ground with sickles wrapped around their necks. It's been a lot of fun to talk about that on the after parties. So, hey, check it all out. It's available for as little as five bucks a month. And at the very least, you can get every episode ad free. There's a whole freaking if you're listening to this part of my life on the main feed,

you are floating on a fucking raft in the middle of the ocean when there's a whole middle earth of this paranormal life content just waiting for you to be discovered and explored. Hell yeah. And I know you little hobbits are loaded. I know you little hobbits, because I can shake you and hear the coins jingle. One of you little f***ers has the ring to start.

You have a bad attitude towards our listeners, I think. And one of those rewards for Patreon is getting a shout out at the end of the episode. That's what we're going to do right now. So special thank you to Shane Jonestown. Shane Jonestown owns a ghost town. That's right. You hear classic, classic Western ghost town that's been abandoned over the years. His still a few residents.

Not quite a ghost town yet, but he's, you know. He's working on it. He's, yeah, you know, he's freaking them out. He's jumping out from closets trying to give some of the oldies heart attacks. And yeah, it soon will be a ghost town. Thanks also to Worsenary. Worsenary is the commune mercenary. I know what you're thinking.

Yeah, well, don't make machine gun noises. Say hello to my little friend. No, no, no, no, no. A lot of people have asked us, why does the commune need a mercenary? And, you know, it's for everyone's... For taking out our ops, baby. Yes, but the operations are... Oh, you mean opponents?

I mean opponents. Okay. The opponents are things like famine. You know, those are our opponents. Famine. Eliminating famine. Exactly. Injustice.

We eliminate that as well. Sometimes criminals. If they deserve it, yes. But of course, mouthing off is a crime in the commune so just be warned running your mouth is a crime about your lords

thanks to Sam Webb a Sam Webb is actually something you can have for lunch similar to a Sam Wedge but instead of you know turkey or ham or cheese between two loaves of bread, it's a spider. You eat a

spider for lunch. A Sam Web. I just have one question which will determine my interest in this. Is it in the meal deal? Yes, it is. Okay, well, come in. Back in. Alright. Get a spider, get a Diet Coke, and a bag of crisps. Thank you to Tana Hayes.

Tana Hayes can run for days. And it's probably for the best, too, because the commune mercenary is coming after you. Oh, no. That's right. We heard you've been mouthing off about your commune lords. I don't know if this is fair or right or good. Your last meal? A spider sandwich. A spider, yeah. That's illegal. Or good. Your last meal? A spider sandwich.

A spider, yeah. So keep running. Thanks to Tessa Stewart. Tessa, I, Stewart, hope you got a good pair of running shoes on you. Because, you guessed it, the mercenary's coming. Tessa, we're going to arrest you. We're going to arrest you and throw you in the slammer. The mercenary's been drinking.

Thanks to Connor Walland. Connor Walland from the Walland region of Louisiana. Whoa. Connor, yeah, a Cajun gentleman who has seen many. Don't say it. We made it so close to the end of the episode without saying it again. Say it in French.

In a French accent. Connor, if you could do us a favor and say it a few times yourself and kind of pull it in your direction. Because I think there's a couple of them coming for us. Rougarou. I think that's how they would say it. Thanks to Nat04.

Nat04 sounds like a beer or an alcoholic drink that you would have. Throw me an icy nat of 0.4% alcohol. It gives me natty zero or natty ice. Natty ice zero. If this is an alcoholic beverage, maybe you'd like to invest your company and your beverage in the Paranormal Commune where we are trying to eliminate drought and thirst deaths.

But it's a challenge. No one said there's thirst deaths, alright? Holy moly. That's a challenge. Two words that should not be said on a comedy podcast. So if you'd like to maybe airdrop a few beverages into the commune, we would appreciate it.

Or water. Or running water. Thanks to Karine Belair. Karine, the fresh princess of Belair. Karine, I'm going to cut the shit for a second. Do you have any water? Any drinking water? Just even a single bottle of Evian right now would go down a treat.

Because the commune does not need a prince or a princess but if you're packing agua you're in. You're in. Thanks also to Natasha Dubois. Natasha the Stasha. Hmm? Natasha is one of those people who is ready

for the apocalypse 24 7. She's got a stash, yeah? Whatever you need. Guns, ammo, spiders to eat. She's got it all. Sounds like an arms dealer. Sure. She deals a couple arms waiting for the apocalypse.

Kind of egging it on a little, you know. Stirring political discourse trying to eat. She's very excited about the apocalypse. This is so bad. This is so dark and bad. Thanks also to Alex Chokbangbun. Come on down to Alex Chokies. That's right, a candy shop

where children from all over the world can come and eat spiders. No, no children are coming from the other side of the world to eat spiders. They're chocolate dipped and ready to go. Sigh, nobody. We're out of chocolate. So Alex is selling live spiders in a box. And it's called Alex's Chockies.

Yeah, Alex's Chockies. That is just nefarious. Thanks to Scott Littlewood. Scott Little. A sequel pitched for the popular animated movie Stuart Little, where they thought, you know, hey, Stuart was successful. What about Scott Little, who is a angry skunk adopted by criminals? They tried to do like, you know how Stuart Little was a little rat

adopted by like a posh family? I think he was a mouse, sir. It wasn't a little rat. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Scott is a skunk adopted by drug lords and he's kind of just

spraying people who don't pay in the eyes and it didn't really catch on like Stuart Little. But check it out. Scott Little. You can find it on

I think it's on Netflix and Amazon Prime. It's not. I'm typing it in right now. Rory just made up the entire thing. This is so f***ed. Thanks to Daniel Gomez.

Danny G. So cold because whenever he gives you a hug, it is several G-forces. Whoa. Talk about a bear hug. It's insane. Wow. People black out. Okay.

I don't think that's a hug anymore. I think he's trying to kill people. Danny G., let's maybe just stick with a high five. Thanks, lastly, but not leastly today, to Anthony Ramirez. Anthony Ramirez, can ya hear us? We're telling you to keep running, brother. Because the commune mercenaries coming after ya. You honestly might as well keep going too, because there is no water.

No, no, no. Don't tell them that. Don't tell them. Things are doing great. We're doing great, man. I'm coming clean. We're doing great. At the end of the episode here.

No, no, no. We're doing great. We're doing a really good job. We're in a bad situation. So please join the Paranormal Commune. I'm so thirsty. Well, you shouldn't be thirsty, because we have some of the water. There's water for everyone.

And the amount that we have is proportionate to everyone else's amounts of water. My throat is dry, though. The people are thirsty. It is dry. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of This Paranormal Life. It's just... It's a horrible noise to make. I might...

I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. I might honestly eat this laundry detergent. That's... I might... Don't do that. It's got some liquid content. I might survive. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode into the Wolfman.

I can't think, bro. I'm so thirsty. So dehydrated. We will be back next week, right, bud? Maybe. For how long? I don't know. We'll be back next week for a brand new...

I don't know. For a brand new... Whenever people come next week, just bring an Evian, please. Okay. An Evian. The big bottle, the two liter bottle, please. I don't think you get to be... If you're this thirsty, you don't get to be picky about the brand.

Please. No, no, no. You don't have to ask. No, no, no. Well,'t think you get to be if you're this thirsty, you don't get to be picky about the brand. Please, no, no, no. You're going to have to ask. No, no, no. Well, let's not get crazy. Don't bring me a River Rock or a Ballygallon. Of course not. You want an Evian specifically? And the Fiji water is environmentally unfriendly. Please, Evian, please.

If you're in the paranormal commune, hang in there. I think you can suck some moisture from the moss on the rafters of your dormitories. But until then, we'll be back next week with another paranormal tale.