Lagahoo, from human to headless figure of terror

Lagahoo is a demon of Trinidad tradition.

A human by day, a headless figure with a coffin and chains by night.

DemonCaribbean

Lagahoo

Lagahoo is a werewolf-like shapeshifter of Trinidad folklore. By day an ordinary human, often interpreted as a sorcerer, by night he roams as a headless figure carrying a coffin with three burning candles and dragging a heavy iron chain behind him.

The name is a Creolisation of the French loup-garou, werewolf, into Lagahoo or Ligahoo. The being came to Trinidad with French planters and enslaved Africans after the Cedula of Population of 1783, merging the European werewolf with West African notions of shapeshifting witches and man-eating spirits.

In battle he passes through every form, dog, horse, cat, pig and bull, becomes raging waves of water, and finally dissolves into black mist.

At a glance: Lagahoo

Type: Werewolf-like shapeshifter and bloodsucker
Origin: Creolisation of the French loup-garou, brought to Trinidad from 1783
Texts: Popular-folkloric and literary tradition
Period: Folklore of Trinidad and Tobago since the influx of French Catholics from 1783
Appearance: a human by day, a headless figure with coffin, candles and chains by night, and a shapeshifter

Area of origin and sources

Period of the Texts

The folklore of Trinidad and Tobago has known the Lagahoo since the influx of French Catholics following the Cedula of Population of 1783.

Area of Diffusion

Trinidad and Tobago. He roams the streets at night, where he also threatens livestock.

Sources

Popular and literary: Popular and literary literature predominates for the Lagahoo; independent scholarly monographs are lacking.

Name and variants

Creole: The name is a Creolisation of the French loup-garou, werewolf, into Lagahoo or Ligahoo. Both spellings refer to the same being of Trinidad folklore.

Form and effect

Appearance

Headlessness, the coffin with three candles and the chains form a motif of death and damnation. The shapeshifting is the core of the being, which has no fixed form; chains and blood-sucking link it to motifs of punishment and vampirism.

Effect

The Lagahoo spreads nocturnal terror on the streets and is a bloodsucker, also attacking livestock. In battle he passes through every form, dog, horse, cat, pig and bull, becomes raging waves of water, and finally dissolves into black mist.

Profile: Lagahoo

The key aspects of the shapeshifter at a glance.

Tradition

Creole diaspora syncretism, combining the European werewolf with West African notions of shapeshifting witches.

Object of Influence

Night-time travellers on the streets of Trinidad, as well as livestock, which he attacks as a bloodsucker.

Depiction

A headless figure with a wooden coffin, three burning candles and a heavy, dragging iron chain.

Sphere of Influence

Nocturnal terror and blood-sucking; in battle he changes through several animal forms, culminating in waves of water and black mist.

Approach

A stick consecrated for nine days in holy water and holy oil dissolves the being in battle; the defence remains Christian in character.

Related is the Soucouyant, who shares the same loup-garou root, as well as the Jamaican Rolling Calf; beyond the Caribbean, the Slavic Vukodlak is closely related.

From the French loup-garou to the Lagahoo

The name is a creolisation of the French loup-garou, werewolf, into Lagahoo or Ligahoo. The being came to Trinidad with French planters and enslaved Africans following the Cedula of Population of 1783.

In this process, the Lagahoo merges the European werewolf with West African notions of shape-shifting witches and man-eating spirits into a distinct creole figure, tempered by Catholic warding practices with holy water and holy oil.

Afterlife in the literature of Trinidad

The Lagahoo is a fixed figure in the storytelling culture of Trinidad and Tobago and appears in literature, among others in the work of James Christopher Aboud and Tracey Baptiste.

From a religious-studies perspective, the Lagahoo is a pure diaspora syncretism in which the European werewolf meets African shape-shifting witchcraft, tempered by Catholic warding practices with holy water and holy oil. It is a colonial figure of nocturnal fear and an expression of suspected witchcraft directed at the ordinary person by day.

The consecrated stick against shape-shifting

Attested in sources is a stick that was placed in holy water and holy oil for nine days: striking the being with it makes it pass through all its shapes and dissolve into black mist. An amulet and cold iron are also held to work against the shape-shifter, as are the cross and consecrated signs of Christian-based warding.

Werewolves and shape-shifters compared

The Lagahoo traces back to the European werewolf, the loup-garou, and is related to the Slavic Vukodlak, the werewolf-vampire. As a creole shape-shifter it is also closely related to the Haitian Loogaroo and to the Soucouyant, which shares the same loup-garou root.

Frequently asked questions about the Lagahoo

What does the name mean?

Lagahoo is the creole form of the French loup-garou, werewolf.

What does it look like?

At night, headless, carrying a coffin and three candles with dragging chains, otherwise a shape-shifter.

How is it defeated?

With a stick that has been consecrated for nine days in holy water and holy oil.

Further links

Literature (selection)

Further standard works in the bibliography.

The Lagahoo is a Caribbean werewolf and shape-shifter of Trinidad: by day an ordinary person, by night a headless figure with a coffin and chains that shifts through ever new forms in combat until it disintegrates into black mist.