La Diablesse or Ladjablès is a character in
Caribbean folklore
Many elements of Caribbean folklore (the orally transmitted beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a group of people) are African in origin, given that slaves brought from Africa's West (or Gold) Coast made up a large majority of those brought to ...
. The legend says that she was born as a human, but her vanity leads her to make deals with the devil, giving him her soul for eternal youth, thereby being transformed into a demon.
To others, her poise, figure, and dress make her seem beautiful. However, her hideous face is hidden by a large brimmed hat, and her long dress hides the fact that one leg ends in a cow hoof. She walks with one foot on the road and her cow hoof in the grass at the side of the road. She smells distinctly of a mix of fine perfume and deadly decay.
She can cast spells on her unsuspecting male victim, whom she leads into the forest. When in the forest, she disappears. The victim, confused, lost, and scared, run around the forest until he falls into a ravine or river, or gets eaten by a wild dog and dies.
[Myths and Maxims: A Catalog of Superstitions, Spirits and Sayings of Grenada, and the Caribbean]
To break the spell of La Diablesse, one must turn their clothing inside out and walk home backward, away from the area she was spotted in.
In popular culture
* La Diablesse is also mentioned in ''The Jumbies'' by
Tracey Baptiste
Tracey Baptiste (born 7 March 1972) is a children's horror author from the Caribbean who uses folk stories in her novels.
Biography
Born in Trinidad in 1972, Tracey Baptiste moved to Brooklyn, NY, when she was fifteen. She received with an M.Ed. ...
.
* La Diablesse is referred by Derek Walcott in his play ''Dream on Monkey Mountain''.
* La Diablesse is mentioned repeatedly in the book series Dungeon Crawler Carl as the class chosen by Lucia Marr
* Junot Díaz refers to La Diablesse in the nickname La Jablesse for Jenni Muñóz in “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”(2007].
See also
*
Duppy
Duppy is a word of African origin commonly used in various Caribbean islands, including Barbados and Jamaica, meaning ghost or spirit.
*
Mami Wata
Mami Wata (Mammy Water), or La Sirene, is a water spirit venerated in West, Central, and Southern Africa and in the African diaspora in the Americas. Mami Wata spirits are usually female but are sometimes male., p. 1.
Attributes
Appearance
T ...
*
Madam Koi Koi
Madam Koi Koi (Lady Koi Koi, Miss Koi Koi, also known in Ghana as Madam High Heel or Madam Moke and in Tanzania as Miss Konkoko) is a ghost in Nigerian and African urban legend who haunts dormitories, hallways and toilets in boarding schools at ni ...
References
External links
Grenadien Folklore Characters
{{Grenada-stub
Caribbean legendary creatures
Grenadian culture