In French and French-Canadian lore, the loup-garou (or lou-garou) is a man cursed to transform into a wolf or wolf-like creature, often as punishment for moral transgression or neglecting religious rites. Over time, the legend shifts: the beast prowls at night, howling under the moon, stalking innocent victims and often spreading its curse through blood or bite. Some tell of it appearing as a wolf, others as a hybrid beast part man, part wolf—sometimes shifting between forms. Folklorists note that elements of the loup-garou tradition were likely influenced by fearsome animal attacks in Europe, especially in the shadow cast by stories like the Beast of Gévaudan, where a mysterious predator slaughtered scores of people in 18th-century France. Though the Beast is generally thought to have been a real animal (perhaps a wolf or hybrid) rather than a supernatural werewolf, its terror and blur of myth and fact helped feed the cultural imagination that informs loup-garou tales today.