Limousin: the Land of Wolves and Witches

“But what comes to my mind are mountains of savage beauty, ancient castles, werewolves and witches – a land of magical obscurity”.

This is a quotation from the best-selling book ‘The Historian’ by Elizabeth Kostova and she is describing Transylvania not Limousin! But if you replace the word ‘mountains’ with ‘landscape’ or hills, then this description goes a long way to summing up both the magnificence and mystical qualities of this hidden region of France.

The Historian is about Vampires and part of the story centres, amongst other places, around a monastery perched on the top of a mountain in the south west France. If you are reading this and are inspired by this breath-taking building and planing to visit this part of France, just north of Perpignan, you might well choose to break your journey in Limousin and learn more about our folklore and legends in this hidden part of France. Stay at our homely farm and rest a while and conserve your strength for the climb to that miraculous monastery, perched high above the mountain town of Vernet-les-Bains Abbaye Saint-Martin du Canigou.

If you are lucky with your dates, or have had the foresight to plan accordingly, you could make sure that you stay in Rochechouart for the Medieval Festival. This year it will be held on the 14 August 2010. The festival includes, music, dancing, jousting, costumes, animals, including wolves on the streets, and finishes with a medieval feast. The main dish of this meal is pork from the whole pigs roasted on the roadsides during the afternoon. The whole festival takes place in the shadow of the massive and imposing chateau de Rochechouart. It sits on the rocky promontory overlooking the confluence of the rivers Vayres and Granine.

The wolves bear witness to the central place the wolf still has in the memory and imagination of Limousin people. The Limousin region, you’ll be relieved to know, is relatively free from Vampires, you can see the distribution of the Vampires on this handy map, but there has always been a strong correlation between the wolf and the vampir. In the original Dracula by Bram Stoker (P 15), he explains, “’Vrolok’ or ‘Vlkoslak’, both of which mean the same thing. One being Slovak and the other Serbian for something that is either were-wolf or vampire. Later in the same book (P 29), Stoker writes “Listen to them – the children of the nights. What music they make!”. The cry of the wolf is, indeed blood-curdling, and you can get a good idea of the fear that the wolves would have incurred from this video recording of the howling wolves.

You might think that the wolves are part of the distant medieval history or the fanciful legends of Rochechouart; but here you would be wrong. Wolves roamed Limousin at the start of the 20^th Century – in living memory. The last of the wolves was killed in Chateauneuf-la-Forêt, just 30 kilometers from our Bed and Breakfast in 1926.

The local library has a great number of children’s books about wolves – it was this that first alerted me to the fact that the wolf was of great local interest. Conservationists would like to bring back the wolf, but the farmers are, understandably, not too keen on this. As a compromise a park was established in 2001 for the wolf at Chabrieres, just outside the town of Gueret. The park is devoted to the history and legend surrounding these mythic creatures. You can also visit the planetarium, which takes advantage of the dark night sky of the Creuse. In the summer you can attend the nocturnal story-telling sessions, 'Spells of the Full Moon' which keep alive the legends and mysteries of times past.

La Pierre du Loup, Creuse

This stone, in the heart of the Forest of Chabrieres near La Cabane à Parrain Rocher, bears witness to times when villages lived in fear of wolves; this is the place where they reputedly slaughtered the young cubs.

as recounted by monsieur Pierre Louty, ‘Limousin Ensorcelé’

The Werewolves, or Loups-garous in French (though in the local patois, the languages of the grandmothers of this region, they are known as lous leberous), are thought to be in league with the devil himself.

The loups-garous run through the countryside in the night at full moon in the skin of a wolf, tormenting those souls who have the misfortune to be about so late. It was thought, in the Limousin that the curse is passed from parent to child when a gift is made of the skin upon the death of the were-wolf.

The werewolf, according to these Limousin legends, has develish talents. They can cause hail to fall from the sky, destroy a neighbours crops or to steal the fat from the cow. The Abbé Duléry, in a book consecrated at Rochechouart, wrote: Once upon a time, a century or so ago, the commune of Rochechouart contained a village called Roumagnat. In this village there was a family who suffered from this curse. The father, in the skin of the wolf, tormented his neighbours, especially those at Biennat, until, one day he fell ill. He looked around for someone to continue this mischief, and chose a nephew whom he called to his bedside. “Here,” he whispered, “take this as a symbol of my affection for you, for I am about to die. Take this present and don’t show it to anyone". The boy, thinking it to be a great treasure was full of joy. He opened the pack at nightfall and immediately the skin jumped upon his back. Suffocating, the boy arrived at La Crois de Blancharaux where, that very night, they celebrated the sabbat.

The Limousin was not only infected with werewolves, but was also plagued with Sorcieres, or whitches and superstitions, beliefs and stories abound.

On the 24th April 1630 the last person to be executed for witchcraft in Limousin, was killed on the site of the gardens d’Orsey, just outside the city walls of Limoges. The story comes originally from Pierre Robert (1599 – 1658) Lieutenant-General of Dorat. He tells of an explosion of witchcraft in the commune of Sereilhac, near Aix-sur-Vienne. Three old men were accused of having bewitched a young woman and a boy and numerous other people complained of “Malheurs”. The men were taken to Royal prisons of Limoges. Eventually these men were sentenced to be strangled, then hung. Their bodies were then burnt and their ashes were thrown onto the fire. When the third man was strangled, it was said that a demon in the form of a giant hornet sat on his shoulder, near his ear. When it flew of it buzzed horribly and left a trail of smoke from its tail. The woman and child, who attended the execution, declared that they had seen six small devils taking away the soul of the man, and this was backed up by many notable witnesses.

And accusations of witchcraft and black magic was not restricted to the poor and weak, but touched the highest in the land. Françoise de Rochechouart, the Marquise de Montespan, an astonishing beauty and a favourite of king Louis XIV was accused of taking part in black masses.

Again Pierre Louty is the main source for this material. You can find the stories in the book Sur les Sentiers de L’Histoire Limousine.

Health and healing were at the very centre of life in Limousin. Many of the fountains were thought to have waters that could heal various ailments and other ancient sources required that certain rituals were practiced and that they were linked to a particular saint. These were called Bonnes-Fontaines a Devotions. The picture is of the fountain de Notre Dame de La Paix in Saint Auvent. The notice behind says "On the 25 February 1853 the 9th apparition of the Virgin Mary commanded Bernadette to 'Go and drink of the fountain, and wash in it'. It was an invitation for internal purification".

There were many other recourses to magic and superstition in order to cure the sick. At the beginning of the 20th Century every village would have had its own healer. The sick would first consult the doctors, and, should that fail, they would go to their local 'gueriseur'. This is especially true of the 'herds' of people who pass by the surgeries of these modern-day witches. They were generally from the country, farming people first and foremost and the secrets of healing were passed down from one generation to another. They gave this service freely and didn't accept payment.

This is a story about a Limousin healer, Amelie the witch

Or how about some not too scary books to read to kids at Halloween?

Best Halloween Stories for Kids

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