You can't hear birdsong here and you can only get around by boat. Fragments of dried trees stick out of the water between small islands, and around the solid swamps of thick black and blue color. Manchak is a swamp complex located in Louisiana (USA) near New Orleans.
According to legend, here in 1915 a voodoo cult minister, who possessed enormous magical powers, was burned at the stake. Before her death, she forever cursed the place, henceforth called "swamps of ghosts."
Curse of the voodoo queen
It was in 1915 that they tried to drain the Manchak bogs - but the entrepreneurs failed. The terrible curse came true almost immediately: a powerful hurricane wind fell on several settlements of workers, which destroyed dwellings and took many lives.
But this is not the only surprising thing. The most striking thing is that the corpses of workers still continue to emerge from the swamp. For some reason, they are not touched by alligators, which are literally teeming with swamps and which have very little other food. Bodies rise to the surface - and after a while they again plunge into the depths, and others emerge to replace them.
The inhabitants of the surrounding villages claim that after the curse of the voodoo queen, people began to disappear in the area, and instead of them, the ghosts of those who had passed away long ago appeared. Indeed, since the days of American slavery, many fugitive black residents of the United States hid in the swamps - and all of them were eventually eaten by crocodiles.
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This ominous place is literally shrouded in secrets that attract tourists. Hundreds of people go here to see with their own eyes the ghosts of the dead and to appreciate the stories of unknown monsters. Here on the surface of the water you can see whole flocks of dead birds - alligators mainly feed on them. Why birds die when flying over the Manchak swamps is another mystery that does not yet have a clue.
For those who prefer extreme tourism, they organize night boat trips by the light of lighted torches. It is at night here that you can find obscure and mysterious shadows above the water, which are said to be the souls of people cursed by a voodoo cult. On the islands, one can discern vague silhouettes that resemble not only a person, but also incomprehensible creatures, many of which seem to be covered with wool.
Before such excursions, each tourist agrees in writing with the rules, which indicate: if he accidentally falls out of the boat, no one will pull him to the surface - because of the huge number of alligators, this is too dangerous for other passengers.
Who howls at night?
Locals say that from time to time a huge animal comes from the side of the swamp, looking like a dog or a panther. At night, it regularly appears on the surrounding farms - and in the morning the owners discover that dozens of sheep have been torn to pieces.
Some farmers managed to photograph the mysterious beast. Unfortunately, due to the darkness, the pictures were not very clear, but you can see an animal resembling a leopard.
At night, here, over the swamps, you often hear an eerie howl, reminiscent of a wolf, despite the fact that wolves are not found in Louisiana. They say that they are shouting to rugaru (from French loup-garou - "werewolf"), people with wolf or dog heads.
According to the legends of the first settlers of Louisiana, rugaru hunt Catholics who break Lent. And in order to turn into a werewolf yourself, it is enough not to fast for seven years in a row. Rugaru are in the werewolf position for 101 days.
During this time, the curse can pass to the person whose blood the rugaru drank. At the same time, during the day, the creatures look like ordinary people, their animal nature manifests itself only in sudden outbursts of anger. The nightly transformation of monsters takes place without any physical discomfort or pain. Becoming werewolves, they acquire incredible physical strength.
It is believed that a rugaru can be killed with a shot or a knife, but after that the corpse must be burned, otherwise the werewolf will come to life again.
Swamp Yeti?
Researchers of anomalous phenomena are convinced that creatures similar to large apes - bigfoots (English, bigfoot - "big foot") also live in the Manchak swamps. They move on two legs, although sometimes they can descend on four limbs. Bigfoot leaves traces of a large size, which is why it got its name. This is something like our Bigfoot, whose habitat is the United States and Canada.
Most researchers in the field of cryptozoology do not deny the existence of big feet. Documentary evidence describes them as being 1.8 to 3 meters tall, covered with dark brown or dark gray hair. They have large eyes, pronounced brow ridges and a low forehead.
Eyewitnesses also mention a strong unpleasant smell accompanying these animals. They are believed to be omnivores and are mostly nocturnal.
There is well-known documentary evidence of Harlan Ford, an air traffic controller from New Orleans. He was the first to tell about the unknown creatures he met on the Honey Island in the middle of the Louisiana swamps. The island got its name from the wild bees that once took a fancy to it, but soon disappeared. It is the largest land area in the Manchak swamps, measuring 3 to 7 miles wide and 15 to 20 miles long.
In 1963, Harlan and his friend Billy Mills went on a duck hunt here and along the way decided to look at an old abandoned settlement, once discovered by Harlan from the air - he knew how to fly an airplane and often flew over the swamps.
The friends got to the island and found a clearing with ruins. There was no one around, and the arrivals were about to leave - but suddenly they saw a huge creature standing on all fours in the nearby bushes. They screamed in fright. The creature rose on its hind legs - and then disappeared.
Harlan and Billy with loaded rifles at the ready tried to find him on the trail, but the mysterious beast disappeared.
Returning home, Harlan spoke about what had happened. He described the animal as: at least seven feet tall, strong build, covered in short, dark gray hair. I especially remember his eyes - they were very large and had an amber color.
Then few people believed Harlan. History was gradually forgotten.
Mysterious footprints
Ten years later, Harlan and the same friend Billy were again on a duck hunt in the same place. In the swamp thickets, they stumbled upon the carcass of a large wild boar with its throat torn out. The dead animal had been lying for several days. His death could not be the result of an alligator attack - the boar was too far from the water, in addition, the crocodiles eat their prey, and do not leave it to rot.
The next find surprised and frightened them even more. A mile away from the first, the hunters discovered another wild boar, recently killed. He, too, was lying with his throat torn out, and the blood was still flowing.
Near the carcass, Harlan and Billy saw unfamiliar tracks, similar to those of a bear, but with much smaller claws. The hunters did not want to stay here, fearing that an unknown creature would come for prey, and they urgently left the island.
However, after a few days, both friends decided to visit there again. And just in case, they took with them a special solution to make casts of the found traces.
On Honey Island, they easily found the remains of a second wild boar, which were much smaller than before. Traces of the creature survived, and the hunters made casts, which Harlan handed over to zoologists at Louisiana State University, telling them everything. According to the casts, scientists were able to determine the approximate weight of the creature - about 400 pounds (more than 180 kilograms).
Harlan spent the rest of his life in search of the mysterious animal. He often traveled to the swamps, found a few more tracks, made casts of them - and even saw the Bigfoot several times from afar. The former air traffic controller appeared on television with his stories - and in response he received many letters with similar stories about unknown inhabitants of the Louisiana swamps.
Harlan's granddaughter recalled that one day he took a goat to the island to use it as bait - in the hope of luring a mysterious creature and filming it on a movie camera.
How strong is the voodoo curse? What lies behind the legends of the werewolf-rugaru? Why do the bodies of workers who tried to drain the Manchak swamps remain untouched by the crocodiles? Where does Bigfoot come from and where does it disappear?
All these questions remain unanswered so far. The Manchak swamps are not going to reveal their secrets to people.
Victor SVETLANIN
