FOLKLORE CHARACTERS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO:

A local artist's rendition of
Papa Bois

PAPA BOIS:  Half man, half goat, he is the protector of the forests.  He will not allow any trees of animals in his forests to be hunted or destroyed.  Death befalls anyone who violates the forest in his care.  His name is French, and translates as "Father of the Woods".

LA DIABLESSE:  Her name is French for "devil woman".  She is an evil spirit that roams quiet country roads in the form of a voluptuous woman, looking for men.  Any man she meets, she leads to his death.  She is recognisable because she always wears a large hat, and carries a fan, but most of all because one of her feet is normal and the other is a cloven hoof.

LOUPGAROU:  Local wolfman who terrorises people and animals during the night.  Can be killed with a silver bullet.

DOUENS:  Douens are the spirits of children who have died before they were christened.  They roam the nights in search of living children who are not yet christened to take with them.  They wear large straw hats that hide their faces and they walk around completely naked. Their feet are turned backwards.  They call children by making a mesmerising "whoop" sound.

SOUCOUYANT:  This is an old woman who has sold her soul to the devil.  Each night, she sheds her skin and takes the form of a ball of flame. She flies about going to houses to suck the blood of sleeping people.  She is also known to suck the blood of animals.  The only way to kill a soucouyant is to salt her skin when she leaves it to make her nightly flight.  People protect themselves from soucouyants by drawing chalk lines in their windowsills, for she cannot cross a line of white chalk

MAMA D'LEAU:  Her name translates as "mother of the water", and that is what she is. She is said to be the wife of Papa Bois, and his partner in protecting the environment.  Anyone Mama D'Leau catches polluting her streams, and rivers, she wraps in her long snake-like tail and drags to the bottom of the water.  She is occasionally seen combing her hair at the water's edge.

MAMA MALADE:  The spirit of a woman who has died in childbirth, Mama Malade roams the night in search of people whose spirit she wants to take with her to the other side.  She gets unsuspecting victims by waiting until the dead of night and making the sound of a crying child outside of a window.  Anyone who looks out of the window will be taken with her. 

MOONGAZER:  Moongazers are men who are 100 feet tall and whose faces cannot be seen.  They terrorise rural villages by standing with their long legs at either side of the road, while they gaze at the moon. If anyone tries to pass through their legs they quickly shut them and crush the person to death.

JHUMBIES:  These are invisible, evil spirits that roam both day and night.  They are often responsible for all sorts of mischief.  Babies are especially susceptible to their powers, and Trinidadian parents customarily put 'jets' (black beads) and 'acifecitur' (a strong-smelling compound similar to camphor) on their children to frighten jhumbies away.

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