La Diablesse
On lonely Caribbean roads at night, a beautiful woman in a long dress walks ahead of you. Under the dress, one of her feet is a cow's hoof.
What was reported
La Diablesse, 'the she-devil', is told about on many islands of the eastern Caribbean. She appears at dusk or at night as an elegant woman in a long, old-fashioned dress and a wide hat that hides her face, walking along country roads.
Men who follow her are led deeper and deeper into the forest, until she vanishes and they find themselves lost, or at the edge of a ravine. The sign that gives her away is the long skirt, which hides one human foot and one cow's hoof.
Explanations offered
She is a folk figure brought together from French and West African traditions, and like many such tales she warns against walking alone at night and following strangers. Her story is still told at Carnival and in Caribbean literature.
- When
- Told for generations
- Where
- Martinique, Caribbean
- Witnesses
- Folklore of Martinique, Dominica, Trinidad and Grenada
- Status
- Legend
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.
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