The French Club celebrated Halloween with a night full of francophone cryptids and Pokémon-inspired battles.
When you hear the doorbell ring on Halloween night, you never know who—or what—could be lurking on your doorstep. In the US, trick-or-treaters try to spook their neighbors by dressing up as goblins, zombies, and werewolves—but in other countries, creepy creatures and mythical beasts range from two-legged dragons to shape-shifting vampire fireflies. On Wednesday, October 30, 2024, the French Club introduced its members to francophone beasts and ended the night with a scavenger hunt and battle to find the strongest.
Meet the Monsters
Professor Jim Law (Historical Linguistics) led this French Club meeting to introduce students to a total of 15 different cryptids from francophone countries around the world, including Belgium, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Canada, Senegal, Switzerland, and Togo. Law believes that learning about different francophone cryptids—or monsters who have a disputed existence—will help students better understand the different cultures as well.
According to Tahitian traditions, the cryptid Puatutahi took the form of a big clam who lived at the bottom of the ocean and swallowed the boats of lost mariners. Eventually, King Rata—a legendary king in Tahitian mythology—killed the Puatutahi for revenge after it swallowed both his father and uncle. Despite its disputed existence, Puatutahi’s power to take lives using supernatural force brought fear to Tahitian sea voyagers, emphasizing the all-too-real danger associated with sea life.
Some creatures, like La Bête du Gévaudan (the Beast of Gévaudan), instill fear not because of its supernatural powers but because it really did exist. The Beast was first sighted in 1764 in southern France and was described as a large, wolf-like creature. In the years following, death records indicate that the Beast killed around 113 individuals—mainly children. Law explained that Jean Chastel, a local hunter, “took some medallions of the Virgin Mary, melted them down, and made them into silver bullets. [He] then went into the forest, prayed, and shot the beast.” Though this beast was killed in 1767, the story itself shows the importance of religion in their culture, as melted down medallions of the Virgin Mary ultimately restored peace in the countryside.
Scavenger Hunts and Epic Battles
Splitting the audience into groups of 3–4, Law then led a scavenger hunt, where groups ran across the third-floor of the Wilkinson Center in search of monster cards, which held the name and powers of each mythological creature he introduced. The teams then returned and paired up to battle their cryptids Pokémon-style. Using their deck of gathered cryptid cards, each team chose a monster and, after comparing their mythical powers, decided who would be victorious in a fight.
Through this series of light-hearted activities, Law showed students what fears and myths tell about a society’s culture. He said, “We can look to the kind of body that the cryptid has, the kind of powers that it has, and the stories that are told about it to reveal things about culture.”
Learn more about the events coming up in the French and Italian Department here!