The French Werewolf Epidemic and other fun things

Happy Halloween! Blessed Samhain! Heureux La Toussaint! and Boo! It’s All Hallows Eve! Le Belle francophile’s macabre sister is here today, Hello, with some random trivia of the spooky kind and some scary good noshing nibbles that I hope will light your lantern! Join me later for a midnight campfire under a rare Halloween blue moon! As the sibling that definitely leans toward the dark side and all things creepy, I am beside myself in the midst of this serendipitous passe! Pumpkin carving, scaring the bejesus out of myself and probably lots of spooky snacks will be savored! Bienvenue to The French Werewolf Epidemic and other fun things!

👻 I suggest listening to ‘Montana Cellists’ Frightful Fantasy’ for some eerie ambiance or amp up the eek! with ‘Halloween Horror, scary sounds and music.’ That one gave me the heebee-jeebees! Yay!

🕸“We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones” -Stephen King🕸

Werewolves are real and and the origin of the silver bullet in southern France, between 1764 and 1767 almost 200 hundred frenchies were torn to shreds, chewed on or partially eaten by a grouchy critter they called Razzi… hee no, it was called ‘La Bete du Gevaudan’ or the beast of Gevaudan. Scary! It’s attacks became so frequent that Louis XV put a bounty on it’s head. Enter Jean Chastel, also real. This brave villager killed the beast on June 19,1967 with a… Silver Bullet! According to lore this bullet, blessed by a priest, was made either from melting down the priests silver chalice or possibly Chastel’s war medals, also silver. It apparently worked when regular bullets did not. Most wolves were killed to near extinction during this time by trained Louveterie, horrible, but fear prevailed and so did the wolves. Whatever the Beast was, its legend contributed to the ongoing werewolf panic in France and beyond!

“I’ll stop wearing black when they make a darker color” -Wednesday Adams

Paris is creepy and we should go!

• Stories tell of when visiting the Gardens of Versailles , some have fallen into a frightening time slip, suddenly surrounded by ghostly revelers from an 18th century soiree including numerous sightings of original diva Marie Antoinette herself!
• 6 million people, some animals, are buried under Paris in the Catacombs! People disappear here, never to be heard from again! très effrayant, mais aussi cool!
• The Bastille ….Marquis de Sade…nuff said
• Brissac Castle in Angers, (really?) circa 1400’s, Jaques De Breze caught his hussy wife Charlotte 😬 with one of his huntsmen, uhh… “making macarons”… So, in a fit of rage, he killed them both. To this day, their wailing echos thru the castle as they haunt its halls for all eternity
  ….muuuaaaahahahaha…

“Shadows mutter, mist replies; darkness purrs as midnight sighs” -Rusty Fisher
☠🌙💀

Now grab your broomstick! We’re off to fetch a Guinness!! The legend of Stingy Jack. Jack So the story goes that Jack was a bit of an annoying drunkard, a man of low morals and possessed a miserly nature. He kept busy inflicting himself on the Irish countryside and then one night Death came for him. Jack wasn’t ready to die yet so he invited the Devil for a drink, then wouldn’t pay for it. Trickery ensued, the devil got turned into a coin and basically Jack had saved his life and soul for one more year.

Time passed and the Devil returned, again Jack bargained for his soul, and managed to fool the dark one again, this time gaining 10 years! Not amused, Beelzebub, in the end, dooms Jack to roam the Earth forever with only a hollowed turnip lit by a single coal to light his way. He thus came to be known as Jack of the Lantern and can be seen wandering the bogs in his misery. So Sláinte! Ireland and a big Thank You for bringing the tradition of Carving Pumpkins to the colonies!!… and turnips…sometimes potatoes…

Can you Hummus it? Why Yes!

Meanwhile back in Gotham …

We’re back over the pond now, In Hiawatha Kansas at the home of Elizabeth Krebs, who created, if you will, the way we here in the U.S. celebrate our modern Halloween!🎃 She just wanted pretty flowers! But hooligans on a sugar high had other plans! Click here for her story.

👻Time for Spooky Snacks & Morsures Saines!🦇

🍠Ma Souer is liking the health benefits of sweet potatoes but also a fan of donuts so these eerie vegan goodies exist – sweet potato donuts.

🍸Toss some of this infusion noire in your cauldron! Cleansing but also Vodka! Fabulous!

🎃Loving squash season but not ready to let summer go?⛱ This has a taste of both! Feel the healthy here with Kabocha Squash Stuffed with Black Quinoa!

🍕It is Friday so Pizza must be conjured!
Mediterranean Pumpkin Pizza, Appear!🔮 It has a pumpkin seed pesto and you’ll never miss the cheese! But if you do, may I suggest DIY vegan feta from A Virtual Vegan, it can be made soft like little dabs of my much missed goat cheese, it’s really good and quick! Grind the black quinoa left from the Kabocha recipe to flour for the crust! A twofer! Might sprinkle on some
capers for extra pop!😈

“There is a child in every one of us who is still trick or treating,
looking for for a brightly lit front porch”-Robert Brault

Have a Happy Halloween my minions of mischief, you’re never too old for tricks, indulge in some treats and scare yourself silly! Keep it Creepy!