The “woofagator”

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As I was pinning on Pinterest tonight I came across a pin on a New Orleans board about the Louisiana folklore of the “Rougarou”. Growing up down da road I’m sure we all heard about it. If not you can read the pin below that I found on Pinterest.

Anyway, it reminded me of the similar story Corn Pop used to tell me when my mama & Papa Joe used to live down on Bayou Rd about the “woofagator”. The woofagator according to Corn Pop was half wolf and half alligator, it had a wolf head and an alligator body, and it lived in the water. He warned to stay away from the water because the woofagator would eat children that got too close to the water. Of course as a little kiddo I took that warning serious and had no desire to ever come face to face with a woofagator so I stayed my bum away from that water! Now as an adult I realize he was just trying to protect me with some good old fashion folklore to keep me out of that water and keep me safe. And that he did, even if it did scare the bejesus out of me at the time, ha ha. One day when Budah was about five or six we were sitting in the living room with Corn Pop and I brought up the woofagator. I saw this gleam in Corn Pop’s eyes, he was so tickled, but kept a straight face. Budah of course thought I had to be pulling his leg, clearly there was no such thing, right? But sure enough once Corn Pop started telling the story of the woofagator and how he had seen it with his own eyes Budah sat there wide eyed hanging on to every word. Now of course at this point Budah is eighteen, and well I hope he doesn’t still believe in the woofagator? But it is a memory I will always cherish, watching Corn Pop pull his great grandson’s leg the same way he had pulled mine when I was a little girl. He sure was convincing that fella he was! So if you happen to be down da road you might want to watch out for that woofagator!IMG_1551.PNG

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