Choctaw
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Skatene
The Skatene is a bogeyman figure from the Choctaw Native Americans. Her story teaches children to not trust strangers, even if they seem nice. She appears as an old woman who could turn herself into an owl. There is a story where she befriends a child to gain access to the household, and then cut the fathers head off. She then fled with the severed head in a basket and threatened to blind any animals who asked about it. Some wildcats confronted her and ignored the threat. They saw the severed head and one held her down while the others grabbed a club. Skatene managed to escape in the form…
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Shampe
The Shampe are from Choctaw myth. They are massive hairy wildmen with incredibly good senses. Their vision is like that of an eagle. They can smell blood from miles away and will relentlessly stalk anyone who is injured or who has freshly killed game. They are sometimes described as having coarse hair, but sometimes described as hairless. They have hiding places and only emerge from them to consume human flesh. They are weakened and made sick by sunlight, so they only hunt at night. They are relentless in hunting prey once they’ve set their sights on something. They are virtually indestructible aside from their weakness to the sun. The best…
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Rougarou
The Rougarou is a creature that was thought to be a combination of the French Loup Garou and the Algonquin Wendigo. Various Louisiana Native American tribes believed the Attakapa to be a tribe of shapeshifting cannibals. Attakapa even means “man eater” in Choctaw. The story goes that after a difficult period of war, the starving Attakapas gained the ability to shapeshift from dark spirits who possessed them. After being possessed, they would hunt humans as their prey. During the summer they would take human form and live normal lives, only taking constant animal forms during the winter when food was more scarce. Particularly cruel Rougarou however would take animal form…
