Cliff Simon Tracks the Rougarou on Into the Unknown

One of the beasts Cliff Simon tracks on his new Travel Channel show, Into the Unknown, is the Rougarou, a fearsome werewolf-like beast that feeds on human flesh.

I have an affinity for “garous” of any kind because my very first novel, Beneath the Morvan Moon, involved loup garous (werewolves) in France. So I was really interested to see what Cliff Simon would find when we went in search of the Rougarou rumored to live in Louisiana’s Atchafalya Basin. 

The Rougarou Episode Description

Simon is determined to track down its lair, but that will mean fighting his way through the largest—and deadliest—swamp in America, the sprawling Atchafalaya Basin.

Covering 1.4 million acres of untouched Louisiana wetlands, narrowing down the search is critical. During his journey, Simon meets with a Cajun family who shares footage of a strange beast walking on two legs.

He also meets with a First Nations chief who describes her chilling encounter with a powerful shapeshifter.

Simon then heads into the bayou at night, alone, with his GPS tracker set for an ancient burial site. Along the way he uncovers a giant abandoned nest littered with bleached bones. Will he have his own encounter with the Rougarou?

Quick Into the Unknown Review

I don’t have cable anymore, so if I can’t stream something via Netflix, Hulu or Amazon for free, I’m not streaming it.

Which is weird, right? Because if you’ve followed Haunt Jaunts at all, you know I write an awful lot about Travel Channel shows. That’s all thanks to them sending me press releases, which I love. I’m always curious what’s on, because I do mostly enjoy the entertainment value of their shows when I get a chance to screen episodes ahead of new series or seasons, like I got to do with Into the Unknown.

However, I also find myself disappointed with the theatrics and over-the-top “darkness and demons” so many of the shows now seemed slanted towards. (In fact, wouldn’t Darkness and Demons be a better name for Travel Channel these days? But I digress…)

Anyway, I’m a huge Josh Gates fan. I loved, loved, loved Destination Truth. It was a good blend of infotainment with just the right balance of sarcasm and fun mixed in.

Cliff brings some of that spirit back with Into the Unknown. He doesn’t have Josh’s edge or sharp wit to him, nor does he have teammates. He’s a solo crew. (Well, apart from his cameramen.)

It’s hard not to draw the comparison between the two shows to some extent because Destination Truth also searched wild places and rugged terrain in the hopes of catching evidence to either support legendary beasts or debunk them.

That’s what Cliff does, and that’s why I loved the one episode I got to watch. (Note: This is one of the few series I would pay to watch if episodes are available on Amazon or something like they are for Ghost Adventures: Screaming Room and such.)

I like to think I’m semi-adventurous. I’ve had a few hair-raising jaunts in my time. However, there’s nothing “semi” about Cliff. He treks into places reserved for only the most intrepid and experienced of travelers. Places I wouldn’t go. Like he did in the Rougarou episode.

The Rougarou Episode 

Ahead of my chat with Cliff, I had a chance to screen the Rougarou episode. I used to spend summers with my Louisiana cousins. They had a cabin in the woods on a river and we’d swim with the gators –well, we’d keep a watchful eye out for any that wanted to swim with us.

We canoed, fished, hiked and in general enjoyed the great outdoors.

But we never headed deep into any bayous at night alone looking for werewolf or Bigfoot-like swamp creatures like Cliff does in this episode.

We also never visited any voodoo priests or priestesses for protection spells. (That’s one of my favorite parts during my interview with him, when he talks about a water mocassin who appeared in the water with them during the blessing ceremony.)

But before he heads out to look for the Rougarou and gets the protection ceremony, he talks to eyewitnesses to learn more about where they were when they had their strange encounters, what they say, and what he should keep a look out for.

The Testimonies

Among those he talks to about the Rougarou are Dana Holyfield, an Atchafalaya bayou native whose family has lived there for generations, and Shirell Parfait-Dardar, a First Nations’ Tribal Chief.

Holyfield shares her grandfather’s encounter with some unknown creature on Honey Island, where he used to often hunt. She describes her grandfather, Harlan, as being a tall man, 6’4″. When her grandpa talked about his Honey Island swamp monster encounter, he said it raised on its hind legs and was taller than him.

When Cliff asked why he didn’t shoot it, Holyfield said her grandpa didn’t want to because it was too human-looking. But he would’ve if it would’ve charged him.

Harlan also got plaster casts made of unusual prints he found after that face-to-face encounter. Harlan had never seen anything three-toed like that with a little dewclaw. Cliff said it also looked webbed to him and wondered if perhaps whatever made it also swims. Experts who analyzed the casts guesstimate whatever made the prints could’ve weighed as much as 400 lbs.

Holyfield also shared a clip from an 8 mm film reel her family found after her grandfather’s death. Is that the Rougarou? It looks more Bigfoot than werewolf and if it’s real it could be as important as the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film.

Then he spoke to Parfait-Dardar, who also had a mysterious encounter while driving with her husband early one morning. They stopped in the road when they saw it, but were afraid to move on for fear of drawing its attention because it was so massive.

Scientific Perspective

Cliff also sought a scientific perspective from biologist Tommy Michot, who has spent decades studying the Gulf Coast wetlands and its inhabitants –including the Rougarou.

He gave his assessment of what the creature’s physiology may be as discerned from eyewitness accounts. He also guesstimates it stands 7-10 feet tall, walks on hind legs, is carnivorous, has claws on its forelimbs, canine teeth, and great night vision. Which would explain the red “glowing” eyes many report, especially those who spot it at night.

Why He Sought Protection from the Voodoo Priestess

Of those he talked to most warned Cliff that they’d known people who had gone missing and died while looking for the mysterious beast.

It also came up time and again that many were taught and believed that the creature could steal your soul by looking into its eyes.

He didn’t want to disappear, die or chance having his soul stolen so as any good traveler knows: it’s always best to have insurance. In this case he got a spiritual policy by way of the voodoo priestess’ protection ceremony.

The Investigation

**Spoiler Alert**

Cliff does not find a Rougarou.

He does, however, head into the bayou in the depths of night amidst alligators and bugs to search for it. He heads into sacred burial grounds then ditches the boat for land and checks out Honey Island.

He also crawls into alligator wallows in search of Rougarou dens, and climbs 50-foot trees in search of possible nests.

He doesn’t find a lair either, but it’s exciting to watch all the same.

Could it be a case of mistaken identity? Cliff isn’t convinced the Rougarou is not a bear, but he is convinced the Louisiana swamp is holding tight to some strange secrets and the legend of the Rougarou lives on.

Check-In

Do you think the Rougarou is more werewolf or more Bigfoot, some combo thereof, or that it doesn’t exist at all?