First, thanks to Cynthia for having me here during her Month of Monsters. I’ve enjoyed reading all the other posts so far. Some of them were good and scary! That Carolyn Jewel put a good fright into me!
Though I don’t live there now, Louisiana has always been “home” to me. My first two books are set there. Changing Times is in New Orleans. Everyone knows that New Orleans is one of the most haunted cities in America, but did you know about the surrounding areas? Well my second book, Changing Hearts, is in the bayou country of my home state. I want to tell you about a monster that may or may not be a monster. Depends on who you are talking to, cher.
Deep in the bayou, mostly late at night, if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, you may see a light moving – just over there. Now, some folks will tell you that ain’t nothing but swamp gas. You can believe that if you like…but let me tell you about Le Feu follet before you go off traipsing through the swamps. After all, it’s not just the gators you have to watch out for.

Black Bayou, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana
The older Cajuns will tell you Le Feu follet are the souls escaped from Purgatory – or maybe the souls of babies who were never blessed by the Church. Maybe you believe them to be the Fae or Elves – holding their dances over those marshy places just waiting to trap unwary wanderers in the swamps and bayous. Whatever you believe them to be, they certainly hold a place in Louisiana folklore.
Wandering into the bayou where the trees grow close together and the darkness holds sway, where the gators and water moccasins hold court, you might see those dancing lights. If you’re coming home after dark, poling your pirogue along that black water, don’t be surprised if those lights follow you along the shore – they can’t cross that water to get to you, so don’t be afraid. But you’d better be wary when you step back on land. Cold iron will stop those restless spirits from following you – take a pocket knife and thrust it into the ground behind you – that’ll hold ‘em for a bit. I was told once, by an old Cajun woman making her home far away from most, that she preferred pushing a needle into the ground as those restless feu follet just couldn’t resist trying to fit through the eye of that tiny bit of steel.

Abandoned boat house, Lake St. John, Louisiana
In Louisiana, to this very day, you can buy a beer in a local bar and listen to stories of those who just last week escaped the feu follet. Down in Gonzales, just outside of Baton Rouge, get directions from a local resident to the intersection of Narcisse and Cante Roads – listen to the warnings about those who follow the lights. Some will tell you the Gonzales feu follet is perfectly harmless – others tell a more compelling story of terror.
Have I ever seen Le Feu follet dancing across the bayou late at night? Well, once, gazing out my bedroom window while thinking about a boy I liked, a flicker of something caught my eye. I remember straining my eyes, trying to make that light come into focus, but it danced just at the edge of the water–mocking me. When I went to tell my Mama, she told me not to dare go “dancing with the Devil,” and to go back to bed. She might have called me a foolish child, but I saw her drive that steak knife into the front porch.
There are no feu follet to scare you or pull you deep into the bayou in my Lusting Wild books, just a bunch of shifters finding their mates and journeying through their lives. I hope you’ll take a look at the excerpts on my website then come back and share your own ghost stories with me.

Lusting Wild: Book 3
Changing Focus is book three in the Lusting Wild series. It was released September 2009. While not set in Louisiana, it does feature a few New Orleans scenes and some familiar faces from books one and two.
WHO: Marilu Mann brings the steaminess of the Louisiana bayous to her books and she doesn’t stop there. Marilu’s willing to travel to the frozen tundra of Wisconsin to heat up those northern nights and melt a little snow. She’ll also circle the world to Wales, Ireland, Scotland and back just to bring you books that make you sweat.
(Louisiana photos copyrighted to Stephanie Arwen Lynch. Book cover courtesy of Ellora’s Cave.)