The Dahu
In the French and Swiss mountains, people tell newcomers about a goat-like animal whose legs are shorter on one side, so it can only walk around the mountain one way.
What was reported
The dahu is a wild animal of the Alps and the Jura, rather like a chamois, with legs on one side shorter than on the other, so that it can stand upright on a steep slope. There are two kinds: those that walk clockwise around the mountain, and those that go anticlockwise.
The famous way to hunt it is at night: one person waits downhill with a sack, and the others whistle behind the dahu. It turns round to look, loses its balance because its short legs are now downhill, and rolls into the sack.
Explanations offered
It's a joke played on visitors and newcomers, who are sent out with a sack on a cold night while the locals go home. There are similar jokes in other countries, like the snipe hunt in the United States.
- When
- Told for generations
- Where
- Jura mountains, France
- Witnesses
- Generations of tricked newcomers
- Status
- A joke
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
More from France