Monster Lights From Louisiana Back to Blog
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.)
Hi Cynthia 🙂
Thanks for having Marilu Mann here today.
Thank you for the great post on an eerie Louisiana. I loved the pictures too.
All the best,
RKCharron
xoxo
Loved the post. Spooky things always intrigue me. The new book sounds great too.
Great spooky story! I think I’d be more afraid of the alligators and snakes(I really, really hate snakes). Thanks for sharing it 🙂
errie pics especially the first one. I will have to check your books out. Love NO and love shifters so they should be perfect.
Okay, I haven’t heard stories of the swamp lights since I was a little girl. They’re never far from the mind though as there’s probably nothing creepier than a swamp at night. The scariest story I heard was of a coffin floating along the bayou as an omen of death. Yeah. Okay, I have the frissons now!
Hi Cynthia, and of course Marilu 🙂
I enjoy the Lusting Wild series, and look forward to see what comes of your visits to Scotland, Ireland and my home town, Wales. You must visit Chester if England is on your agenda–a Tudor walled city with mostly original buildings – it’s an amazing site to see, as is York (England) and Conwy (North Wales). All three places have managed to keep their original charm and buildings in great condition. Hope you keep us posted on your travels, Marliu! Be nice to hear of the sights you see, remind me of home 🙂
Le Feu follet story is fascinating — love to hear about old myths and folklore!
Could tell you a million ghost stories, use to work for one of Britain’s most renowned exorcist.
I’ll share a childhood story, though, instead. I grew up in a small sea-side town of North Wales. Our house was a new build, and perfectly nice except for one thing. At the end of our backyard lived a cemetery. Not just any cemetery, but a cemetery rumored to have been moved some twenty years before, just a few yards, but that meant our backyard was once the graveyard!
Of course, as a toddler, I didn’t know any of that. All I knew was that some nights, a shadow figure (top hat and tails) would wake me. Once he had my attention, he’d flee the house and I’d lay awake, scared for the rest of the night.
I thought I’d be rid of the ghostly figure when we moved a couple of blocks away but no! Our first night there, I was visited by him — but never saw him again after that.
One more thing — our house was on a street with a Welsh name, a name that mean white stone avenue! LOL
Great story, Marilu! If I’m ever in the area, I’ll be sure to bring lots of needles with me.
Thanks everyone! For those that don’t know, Marilu Mann is the writing team of Cai Smith and Stephanie Arwen Lynch. This is the Arwen half writing.
That eerie bayou shot is actually caused by the camera being in a very cold house and then going out into the humid mid-morning. Grin, that’s just condensation on the lens!
But it does make for a great spooky looking shot! That’s my sister’s backyard. lol
Jo, the guy in top hat and tails might have been looking for a dance partner. HEE! Glad he left you alone.
Susan, the snakes and gators are far more afraid of you than you are of them! Honest!
Danica, shiver! I was in the New Orleans area for one of the floods (not Katrina) and coffins were found on porches. I’d have heart failure!
Thanks so much everyone! I hope you will continue to share your stories with us!
Thanks for writing such a beautiful post about the bayou…I love reading books that are set in Louisiana and the bayou lands…there is just something so eerie, spooky and mysterious about it. There’s a hidden sensuality in the darkness and the fog of the misty evening shroud that befalls the bayou..
Congratulations on your latest release!
Happy Reading!!!
Anna Shah Hoque
s7anna@yahoo.ca
I LOVE reading about LA and the Bayou…and what gorgeous pics. The mystery and beauty are such a draw. I love LA, but lol, could never live there. I thought the humidity was killer in KY ’til I hung out in New Orleans for a few weeks. I had to cut my way through it to go out on a boat to feed the gators…which was so much fun!! Thanks for a great post!!
I really enjoyed the post. I love all things eerie and dark!! Yep, alligators would sure put a scare in me!!!
Congrats on your release!!!
Valerie
in Germany
This is going to be one I pick up! I have always been very interested in the New Orleans hauntings stories.
The bayou has always fascinated me. I love reading stories set there. It’s sensual and spooky and did I mention sensual? Are you SURE that’s condensation on your lens … I think I see an eye. *g*
Hi Marilu! I can’t say that I know or have experienced anything really spooky or scary but I did visit NOLA for the first time last April for the French Qtr Fest. I absolutely loved it! I also seem to always have a craving for cajun food ( HMMM ). There is just something about the place and I can’t wait to go back. The series sounds great. Thanks for posting today.
What a great post–wonderful pictures. I’ve traveled down there 3 times and enjoyed it every time! Congratulations too on your release!
Wow. Terrific story, Marilu. Creepy stuff. I’ll have to remember to beware any strange lights if I ever visit the bayou.
I adore visiting New Orleans. That city is soooo rich in history, you can’t help but love it.
Nice pics Marilu, and good story. I love the cover of your book, great looking guy.
Hi Cynthia, your month of monsters is going good!
Those are some lovely pictures of Louisiana, Marilu. I enjoyed my trips to New Orleans two years ago and can definitely see how the stories sprang up. The bayous are a little creepy, even in the daylight and I’m not sure I would even want to be in them in any way once night falls.
I’ve done some ghost walk tours in England and Ireland and would’ve loved to do one in New Orleans, but I could never convince the people I was with to go.
Hi Everyone,
Thanks again to Cynthia for having us here! I’m the Cai half of Marilu Mann – I know Arwen has already visited the blog here. Thanks to all for your comments about our feu follet story – we’re glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks, also, to those who have read our Lusting Wild series – we certainly hope you enjoyed them. We’ll have a free read on the EC website soon – not exactly sure of the date on that one.
Anyone else have a good spooky story to share?
This is wonderful! My YA will start in south bama but moves to southern LA outside of New Orleans. Great info and I may sooo have to take a say trip over and check these stories out, no way will I dare go at night! I’m a chicken and not ashamed to admit it! Great post!
Sayde, our stories are NOT spooky! Grin, We don’t write horror at all. These are fairly sweet and definitely sensual tales of shifters.
Enjoyed the tales from the Bayou country!
Thanks for visiting and sharing with us!
Pat Cochran
Great post. Those dancing lights and the lure of going off to dance with the devil – I loved it.
Enjoyed learning more about the dancing lights. I love shifters and add a fun local and great read is happening. Great post.
That sounds spooky.I live in a haunted house once lights going on and off and draws opening and closing and thing moving but I never saw it whit my eyes just saw the things happening in the House.
sasluvbooks@yahoo.com
There’s definitely something mystic about Louisiana and the bayou in general. What a perfect setting!
There’s a tiny town about thirty miles from me that has an abandoned train track. If you sit in your car on the cracks with the lights out, it is said you will see the spook light, a ghost train from long ago.
Deidre
lol, meant to say on the tracks with the lights out.
Deidre
Love spooky books as long as I’m not there. LOL. Thanks for sharing with us. Love the pictures.
I love the Lusting Wild series. What a fantastic cover for Changing Focus!
I like spooky things. I need to read your books now.
I love books set in the bayou. Thanks for sharing your story!
The cover for Changing Focus is really cool! It sounds really good too. 🙂
Congratulations on your fantastic review in Publisher’s Weekly!!!
I live in Gonzales, La. and i remember when i was a kid my parents talking about “Light Lane”. It was in the Bayou Narcisse rd. area. They would say when the parked the car, and turned the lights out a light would appear and move about. They never let it get to close and would turn the lights on, and it would go away. Turn the lights off and they would reappear. Swamp Gas no way there is no swamp there.
I lived at the corner of Moran Lane and Cantee Rd. for 5 yrs. This is a short walk from where Cantee intersects Bayou Narcisse Rd where St. Marks Catholic church is. But we never called Bayou Narcisse Rd anything but “The Light Lane”. Everyone around there called it “The Liight Lane”. I never saw the lights. Folks said the lights stopped coming years before and that was 1974-1980. My parents had seen the lights. My school teachers had seen them. The light they said was a glow that traveled up and down the road. Mrs. Babin my 9th grade geography teacher said her and a group use to go to “The Light Lane” when she was in high school. They would all turn their car radios to the same channel and dance. She said when it got late they would turn off their radios and pile in the cars and get real quiet. Eventually they would see the light coming off in the distance. It would actually envelop them. But one girl always scream at that point and the light would immediately vanish.
This was told to us in class as a true event.
That’s just the tip of the ice burg regarding the super natural down there. Potent healing power, spirits being called to tip the table, most all knowledge of these things much less the power to do them are gone.
Sorry, the light lane was Roddy Rd. Not Bayou Narcisse.