Jim Bradshaw: Seeing foreboding signs, feux-follets and loup-garous

I’d always thought that the feux‑follet, will‑o‑the‑wisp, and  loup‑garou, werewolf, were not discovered by the Acadians until they reached Louisiana.
But apparently they were with our Cajun ancestors even in old Acadie.
Philip H. Smith, one of the first historians to record the life and exile of the Acadians, wrote “Acadia, A Lost Chapter in American History” in 1884.
He said this: “[In Acadie], particularly in remote French settlements, superstition holds powerful sway. The headlands of the coast are haunted with the lost spirits of the victims of numberless wrecks strewn among the rocks; weird lights flicker about the seas on wild and stormy nights; strange voices inhabit the air, and foreboding signs appear in the sky; while the spectral feux‑follets and the dreaded loups‑garous prowl about the country on watch for souls.
It is here that the passion for the finding of hidden treasures has the strongest hold on the people —the fact that the French Neutrals [Acadians] buried much of their treasure at their extirpation, being a pre‑disposing cause.”
According to Acadian folklore, common folk could be turned into a dread loup-garou by being attacked by one or simply by falling under its evil eye.
If you had the misfortune to be attacked by one, the remedy was to keep it a secret for a year and a day. After that, the person who was attacked would be freed from the evil spell — and the loup-garou who made the attack would also be returned to normal.
 The old tales say also that it was pretty easy to outsmart a loup-garou.
One way to guard against them was to put 13 small stones next to every door and window of your house. This gave protection because the loup-garou had to count them before he could get in. The dummies didn’t know how to count past 12, so they either stayed outside trying to count the stones, or simply gave up and went someplace else.
The feux-follet was tricky and also not to be messed with, but maybe not quite as fearsome as a loup-garou. This “dancing light” or “foolish light,” as the Cajuns called it, had several superstitions attached to it.
Some people thought they were souls that escaped from purgatory. They came back to earth to beg for prayers to get them into heaven. Some other folk said they predicted evil and sometime even death.
One of the most common beliefs in Louisiana was that the feux-follet appeared to mislead people into the swamp, where they would be lost forever. Others thought they danced over places where Jean Lafitte buried gold.
If you meet up with a feux-follet, there are several things to do to protect yourself. One is to stick a knife into the ground between you and the light. The feux-follet will stop and spin around it. Another is to try to put a bayou between yourself and the spirit. A feux-follet supposedly will not cross water.
Enlightened people say the Louisiana feux-follet is nothing but swamp gas that ignites by spontaneous combustion, no fearsome spirit at all.
You can believe that if you want, but that doesn’t explain the “spectral feux-follets” Smith described in old Acadie, nor does it jibe with the idea that the spirits don’t like water and so wouldn’t be hanging around a swamp in the first place.
You can accept that enlightened theory if you want, but I’d still carry a pocket knife, just in case.
You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.