Tag: quebec

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Le Loup-Garou

There is a creature that has terrorized many villages across Europe before it made its way over the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. This creature hides among regular humans during the day and most nights but on the nights of the full moon, it cannot hide any longer. It attacks livestock and takes the form of a giant humanoid wolf. In English it is the Werewolf, in French it is called Le Loup-Garou. In 1700s Québec le Loup-Garou was considered a very real fear and now it is considered an old French legend.


On the Saint-Laurent River – James Pattison Cockburn, crédit: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, no d’acc 1934-39

            Le Loup-Garou terrorized the area of Québec for years but 21 July 1766 the Québec Gazette reported a werewolf attack at St. Rock, near Cap. Mouraska. Le Loup-Garou took the form of a beggar, asking for work and promising to do things that he could not do. Then at night a loup-garou would terrorize the village, destroying livestock all around the area. 2 December 1767 le Loup-Garou had returned, this time in Kamouraska and Québec City. Le Loup-Garou allegedly caused considerable destruction to the city and when the citizens attacked it and hurt it, le Loup-Garou just came back angrier.

            What happened after that? Did le Loup-Garou die? Were the citizens victorious?

            No one seems to know. It was as if the creature just disappeared. It was never reported again in a major newspaper but rumours of it surrounded the province of Québec.

            Now le Loup-Garou has become a folktale in Québec and there a two popular stories involving a Loup-Garou. Interestingly enough, both versions involve a man named Hubert who ends up being the werewolf.

            The first tale of le Loup-Garou comes from a small unknown village. In this village there was a miller by the name of Joachim Crête. Crête hired a stranger, who had shown up at his door, named Hubert. Hubert was a reliable hard-worker who did not ask for too much. After work every night the two of them would drink and play checkers, they were known for being too excessive in their drinking. Afterwards, Hubert would leave the house into the dead of night. Crête wasn’t suspicious of the behaviour, but he did think it was a little odd.

            Then a loup-garou began mauling sheep around the town. Hubert asked the miller what he thought of these stories and Crête just laughed, calling them silly rumours. It couldn’t be more than a pack of wolves.

            But one night the mill broke. The miller and Hubert went to fix it but the mill just wouldn’t budge. The miller lost track of Hubert and went back inside, deciding to fix the mill in the morning when they had light. Then a huge black dog, the size of a human, with massive fangs and glowing red eyes entered his house. Crête called for Hubert and the dog responded. It was at that moment that the miller believed his worker to be le Loup-Garou.

Crête fell to his knees to pray and that is when Hubert sprang on him. The miller grabs a sickle from the wall and cut off le Loup-Garou’s ear, as this is considered one way to kill a loup-garou. The beast disappeared and Hubert reappeared moments later, but he was missing an ear. The miller was hit with realization and Hubert fled from the area, never to be heard from again.

The second tale begins with a hunter and trapper named Hubert Sauvageau (French for savage) and his apprentice André. The two of them make a camp in the woods with a stranger name Léo. Rumours of a loup-garou were prominent at the time and Hubert asks André if he knows how to spot one and what to do if faced with one. Hubert tells him what he should do and gives him a good luck charm. If a werewolf attacks, André is to throw the good luck charm at the white spot in the middle of his head. The three of them tuck into their beds to go to sleep. Hubert leaves the camp when he believes the other two are asleep, but André is woken by Hubert’s movements.

There is howling and rustling in the forest around the camp and a massive white wolf appears. It drags a deer passed André and the sleeping Léo. It begins to eat the deer near the camp. As dawn comes, the wolf gets up and goes into the forest with Hubert reappearing moments later, instantly going to sleep in his bed.

André is convinced that his mentor is le Loup-Garou and wakes up Léo, telling him everything he had seen. He shows Léo the carcass of the deer but there are no tracks around it. It is said that a loup-garou never leaves tracks behind. Léo becomes convinced and they discuss what to do.

When Hubert awakens, the other two of them confront him. He admits that he is le Loup-Garou but he would never hurt them, they had proof of that last night. But Léo is not convinced and says Hubert can’t make any promises. Hubert asks them not to tell but Léo says he cannot keep it a secret and that he would kill a loup-garou if necessary.

The next night le Loup-Garou comes back and goes to attack Léo. André throws the good luck charm at the spot on le Loup-Garou’s forehead, drawing blood. It turns back into Hubert who thanks André for freeing him of the curse.

Le Loup-Garou – credit: Library and Archives Canada; Copyright: Canada Post Corporation

What do the Quebecois believe makes a person a loup-garou?

Well, it is said that anyone who misses their Easter duties seven years in a row is immediately cursed to be a loup-garou. In some cases, the only way to save this cursed person is to know who they are in their human form and draw its blood when they are a loup-garou. Or as previously stated, cutting off an ear of a loup-garou will destroy. A loup-garou can be very dangerous if it is not saved or killed.

In the area of Québec, it was truly believed that a loup-garou was terrorizing them and mauling the livestock. Whether it was a loup-garou or just a pack of wild animals is unknown for people who believe in the supernatural. Now le Loup-Garou lives as a folk legend in Québec culture. So when you go out in the wilds of Québec always be aware of the natural and supernatural dangers that lurk in the trees.

Bibliography

DStaff. “Werewolf-Legend of Quebec.” DME: Documystere (July 25, 2012). Updated February 12, 2014. Accessed April 11, 2019. documystere.com/monstres-creatures/loup-garou-legende-du-quebec/

Friedman, Amy and Johnson, Meredith. “The Loup Garou (A French Canadian Tale). Uexpress (February 28, 1999). Accessed April 11, 2019. www.uexpress.com/tell-me-a-story/1999/2/28/the-loup-garou-a-french-canadian

Langlois, Hubert. “Beware the ‘loup-garou’.” CBC Archives: Quebec Now (December 25, 1973. Radio Show. Accessed April 11, 2019. www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/monsters-and-myths-beware-the-loup-garou

Schmitz, Nancy. “Loup-Garou.” The Canadian Encyclopedia (March 12, 2007). Edited January 21, 2015. Accessed April 11, 2019. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/loup-garou

Summers, Ken. “Beastly Burdens: Investigating the Menacing Loup-Garou, Quebec’s Werewolf.” Week in Weird (November 8, 2011). Accessed April 11, 2019. weekinweird.com/2011/11/08/beastly-burdens-werewolf-quebec/

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Place Royale

Québec City is known for its beautiful old buildings and a feel of old European style buildings in North America. The buildings have been restored and maintained for several hundreds of years and it is impossible to tell what is actually older than the 1900s or what has been restored. Québec City, and Québec itself, has a strict cultural policy and maintaining its heritage buildings is incredibly important. Old Québec has been through a lot: fires, the English siege and the occupation of the English. The landscape and buildings have changed, but even if they are new buildings, the ghosts that are said to haunt the area have not. There is one place in particular that is considered very haunted: Place Royale and the surrounding area of Lower Québec.

In the early 1600s Samuel de Champlain began construction of the first habitation of Québec. It was built near the Saint Lawrence River to become an important trading post for the Kingdom of France. The habitation had buildings surrounded by a moat to keep it safe. It was during the building of this first habitation that an assassination attempt on Champlain was made and an act of treason against the French monarchy was planned.

Plan for The Settlement of Québec, 1613 – illustration found on Library and Archives Canada

The secondary locksmith of Québec, Jean Duval, along with four other men from the settlement, planned to kill Champlain and offer the Québec post to the Basques and Spaniards. Champlain was warned by a sailor and he invited the five men to his ship. They were all arrested and thrown in jail. Duval, being the leader, was punished immediately. He was hung and then beheaded. His head was put on a spike in the middle of the habitation so everyone around it, or living above, would see it. It was left as a warning to not go against Champlain and the King of France.

In the 1630s to the 1640s the site around the habitation grew and the moat was filled in. The growth included a town square called Place du Marché, later to be known as Place Royale. In 1682 a major fire destroyed most of what is considered Old, Lower Québec. It was after that time that new fire regulations were implemented in hopes to sedate any future fires. Buildings were rebuilt, but this time with stone rather than wood.

A Painting of Place Royale – Crédit: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1983-33-650

In 1686 Intendent Jean Bochart de Champigny thought that Place du Marché was the perfect place for a royal square. A place dedicated to King Louis XIV, the Sun King, like one that would be found in France during the time. Champigny had a bust of the King erected in the middle of Place du Marché, hoping it would become the Place Royale of New France. In the end it did, but just not at that time. The bust of King Louis XIV was removed as it was causing a disruption in the traffic. It was erected once more in the 1930s when France gifted a new bust of King Louis XIV to Québec City.

Place du Marché was still considered a prime spot for a Place Royale. It was the square where everything and everyone was. Merchants were there, booths set up, decrees were posted by the King’s Storehouse and even executions were held in this little square. For Monseignor François de Laval thought it was perfect and wanted to build a church. In 1688 the church was finally built under the eye of Monseignor de Saint Vallier, it is called Notre Dame des Victoires. After this it was finally considered a Place Royale.

Notre Dame Des Victoires Cathedral, 2019 – original photo by Piercing Moon Creations

Many buildings were destroyed during the English siege of Québec City in 1759 and many buildings have a noticeably British influence in architecture. Some of the buildings still hold a French taste to them. Even if the architecture is newer, the haunted feeling still surrounds the area of Lower Québec. It is in Place Royale and around Notre Dame des Victoires where people feel the most haunted. They feel as if the people who were executed there still watch them during the night. Even if the architecture has been renovated and restored, or is completely different from the 1600s, the ghosts who wander the square have not changed. Many believe Duval is one of these spirits lingering in Old Québec. With a city as old as Québec it’s not a wonder that something from the past has held on.

Bibliography

Cadeau, Carman. “How to Not Kill Samuel de Champlain.” All About Canadian History (May 23, 2017). Accessed April 9, 2019. cdnhistorybits.wordpress.com/2017/05/23/failed-assassination-of-samuel-de-champlain/

CBC “The Plot Against Champlain.” Le Canada: A People’s History/Une Histoire Populaire (2001). Accessed April 9, 2019. www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP2CH4PA5LE.html

Couvrette, Sébastien. “Place-Royale: Where Quebec City Began.” Encyclopedia of French Cultural Heritage in North America: Québec from Past to Present (2007). Accessed April 9, 2019. www.ameriquefrancaise.org/en/article-653/Place-Royale:_Where_Quebec_City_Began.html

Grignon, Marc. “Place Royale.” The Canadian Encyclopedia (February 7, 2006). Edited March 4, 2015. Accessed April 9, 2019. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/place-royale

“Habitation de Québec.” Wikipedia. Accessed April 9, 2019. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitation_de_Québec

Heritage Québec. “Place-Royale: Birthplace of French America.” Ville de Québec: l’accent d’Amérique (2019). Accessed April 9, 2019. www.ville.quebec.qu.ca/en/citoyens/patrimoine/quartiers/vieux_quebec/interet/place_royale.aspx

Marsh, James H. “Samuel de Champlain and the Founding of Quebec.” The Canadian Encyclopedia (July 2, 2013). Edited March 4, 2015. Accessed April 9, 2019. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/champlain-and-the-founding-of-quebec-feature

Sutherland, Joel A. “The Hangman’s Knot.” In Haunted Canada 4: More True Tales of Terror, 101-104. Toronto, Ontario: Scholastic Canada Ltd, 2014. Amazon Kindle ebook version.

Trudel, Marcel. “Duval, Jean.” In Dictionary of Canadian Biography Volume 1, 1966. Revised in 1979. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Accessed April 9, 2019. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/duval_jean_1E.html

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La Dame Blanche

Almost every rural area has a legend involving a Lady in White spirit. A Weeping Lady. A reason not to pick up hitchhikers. A vengeful spirit. These ladies haunt the area and surrounding areas where they died. Sometimes they can be terrifying but sometimes they are nothing more than an urban legend fueled by historic events or the fact that violence against a woman by men closest to her is so prevalent it is not unlikely that she might be murdered by them. In Canada, the most popular and well-known is La Dame Blanche at Montmorency Falls in Québec.

La Dame Blanche’s story starts in 1759 in the town of Côte-de-Beaupré. Tensions between the French and the English were very high. In Europe the two countries were engaged in what would be known after as The Seven-Years-War. This war spilled out of Europe and onto the North American continent, namely in Canada.

View of Montmorency Falls from Lévis, 2019 – original photo by Piercing Moon Creations

Two lovers refused to let the tension and war disturb their romance. The lovers were Mathilde Robin and Louis Tessier. The two of them fell deeply in love. They would always take walks along Montmorency Falls and had planned to have their wedding there. When they finally got engaged, Mathilde sewed herself the most beautiful, white wedding dress. There did not seem to be anything that would ruin their day. But, as most ghost stories begin, what was supposed to be the happiest day became a day of tragedy.

On 31 July 1759 the English attacked, under the command of General James Wolfe, Montmorency Falls. The women and children hid in the forest while the men helped the French soldiers, led by Commander Louis-Joseph de Montcalm. The Battle of Montmorency Falls lasted a few days and the French came out victorious. It was a happy day for everyone but Mathilde.

As the men returned Mathilde searched for Louis but she could not find him. She ran to his farm thinking maybe he had gone home first. He was not there. She asked all the men and the soldiers but no one had seen him. That was until Montcalm came to her and told her the news. Louis had not survived. He had died at the foot of Montmorency Falls.

Devastated, Mathilde ran to her home and put on her wedding dress. She went to the falls where she was supposed to get married, where Louis had died and where just days before they had taken their romantic walks. Crying and heartbroken, she jumped from the top, killing herself.

Her veil was caught by the wind and settled onto a new rock, just left of Montmorency Falls. There, it turned into a new waterfall called The Veil of the Bride, or more commonly known as Chute de la Dame Blanche, after Mathilde. Mathilde is seen wandering the area of Montmorency Falls, crying for her lost love. She is known as La Dame Blanche as she is seen dressed in her white wedding dress in the mist of the falls. She does not interact with the living and it is warned that the living should not interact or touch her or else they will die a gruesome death.

Location of Chute de la Dame Blanche and Chute Montmorency from Google Maps, 2019

While the Battle of Montmorency Falls in 1759 was a real battle and happened just before the Battle of The Plains of Abraham, there is no evidence of Mathilde or Louis being real people during this time. This suggests that it is just a legend from a pivotal point in Canadian history. A legend of a heartbroken woman and the effects of war on loved ones. It is the creation of Québec’s, and possibly all of Canada’s, most popular White Lady story.

What is a White Lady, a Weeping Woman or a Woman in White exactly?

White Ladies are common legends in rural areas and are most often linked to a local tragedy. In the case of Mathilde, the tragedy was the French loss at the Plains of Abraham and the Seven-Years-War to the English and the effect of war on women.

White Ladies are called this because they dress all in white and are either semi-transparent or fully transparent. White is both symbolic of death and purity in Western culture. White is the colour of bones and ash. White is also what brides dress in when they get married. It is thought that White Ladies are only seen in white not just because they have died but also because they are innocent. The events surrounding them are what led them to die, but they are often pure being who was gone before their time.

There are two common types of White Ladies. The first are the most common, especially in the media. These ones are the ones who are betrayed by a lover or a male close to them. They are either killed by the male or commit suicide because they were betrayed. The second are ones who have died of broken hearts and are seen weeping at the scene of their death. While the first usually seeks revenge, the latter is often just trying to find her lost love. It is due to the first one that White Ladies can be seen as harbingers of death but usually only to the people who are similar to those who killed her. An example, if a man cheated on his wife and she killed herself, she would exact revenge only on unfaithful men. Only men who bear some resemblance to the person who had initially hurt her.

White Ladies are very active spirits and are often seen haunting their grave sites or trying to find their loves. Commonly they are found on the side of the road or in hotels. Generally, they do not like scaring or harming the living but of course there are vindictive ones who will scare and harm and like it. They can be exorcised from their place of haunting but sometimes they just pretend to be exorcised and will resurface when the coast is clear. They are very attached to their hauntings.

Mathilde Robin is considered to be one of these spirits. She died of a broken heart and is considered a local legend seen dressed solely in white. She is never harmful but is just seen weeping at Montmorency Falls. She may not have been a real person but her story has come from a time when tragedy was striking and crucially changing New France. Thus, she has become an important figure of what war can do, not just to soldiers but to those left alive.

Bibliography

Duranti, Krista. “The Legend of the Woman in White.” Exemplore (November 26, 2018). Accessed April 7, 2019. exemplore.com/paranormal/The-Woman-in-White-A-Legend

Evans, David. “Chute Montmorency.” The Canadian Encyclopedia (February 7, 2006). Edited March 4, 2015. Accessed April 7, 2019. thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chute-montmorency

Fédération des Québécois de souche. “Légende de la Dame Blanche.” Fédération des Québécois d’origine (March 27, 2013). Accessed April 7, 2019. quebecoisdesouche.info/legende-de-la-dame-blanche

Grand Québec. “Legende la Dame Blanche.” GrandQuebec: Le Québéc dévoile ses mystères (July 2, 2017). Accessed April 7, 2019. grandquebec.com/legends-du-quebec/legende-dame-blanche/

Iles, Judika. “White Lady (1).” In Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods and Goddess, 1006-1007. New York: Harper Collins Publisher, 2009.

Sutherland, Joel A. “La Dame Blanche.” In Haunted Canada 5: Terrifying True Stories, 699-737. Toronto, Ontario: Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2015. Amazon Kindle Edition.

Tison, Marie. “The White Lady of the Montmorency Falls.” La Presse (March 10, 2014). Accessed April 7, 2019. https://www.lapresse.ca/voyage/destinations/quebec/201403/10/01-4746265-la-dame-blanche-de-la-chute-montmorency.php

“White Lady (Ghost).” Wikipedia. Accessed April 7, 2019. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Lady_(ghost)

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Marie-Josephte Corriveau

            The city of Québec is one of the oldest cities established in Canada by colonizers. Québec City was founded in 1608 by the French and since that time, it has played a significant role in the formation of Canada as it stands today. For a city that sits at over four hundred years old, it is not a wonder that it holds a great deal of history and tales of hauntings. One haunting in particular has captured the minds of citizens and visitors alike. It is the story of Marie-Josephte Corriveau, or La Corriveau. Marie-Josephte Corriveau was a young woman who was found guilty of the murder of her second husband and was sentenced to death in 1763. While her story has become inflated with magic, witches and dozens of murdered husbands, the tale of her life and execution seems like a normal story of the law doing its job – right or wrong. That does not mean her story lacks anything interesting but it is the idea that she lives on after her execution that makes it just that more eerie.

            Marie-Josephte Corriveau was born in Saint Vallier, Québec in 1733 to Marie-Françoise Bolduc and Joseph Corriveau. Out of the ten children birthed, Marie-Josephte was the only one to survive to adulthood. Not much is known about her childhood, except that her father had enough wealth for his child to live comfortably. Her story really began at age sixteen when she married her first husband Charles Bouchard, a farmer from Saint Vallier. Together they had three children, two daughters and a son. Most people agree that they had an average marriage with some arguments but generally a happy one. So when Bouchard passed away in 1760 no one really thought much of it. Although it was a bit of a surprise that fifteen months later she got remarried to Louis Etienne Dodier, another farmer from Saint Vallier. At this time in history a woman relied heavily on a man to provide for her, so Marie-Josephte was desperate to remarry for the sake of her children. However, her choice of suitor proved to be a poor one.

            Dodier and Marie-Jospehte had a very problematic relationship, Dodier was said to be extremely abusive towards his wife. Marie-Josephte had even begged to be allowed to separate from her husband to no avail. Two of her three children even went to live with their grandparents, who also disliked their daughter’s new husband. Joseph Corriveau is especially noted for his immense disapproval and dislike of Dodier. Joseph and Dodier had many altercations and people of Saint Vallier considered them to both be very violent men. The British officer, James Abercrombie, in command of the occupying British troops often took the side of Dodier, the Corriveaux had become a thorn in Abercrombie’s side. They always seemed to be making trouble, not that Dodier was much better.  

            In early 1763 things came to a climax and Dodier was found dead in his stable. His head was caved in and he had lacerations all over his face. While rumours immediately spread that Marie-Josephte and Joseph were somehow involved, it was swiftly ruled an accident. Dodier was said to have had his head kicked in by one of his horses. Captain Jaques Corriveau, nephew of Joseph and peacekeeper for the area, wrote a report to give to Abercrombie, who immediately disbelieved it, it was all too suspicious for Abercrombie. Also Dodier was buried hastily on 28 January 1763, only a day after he was found dead, this added on another layer of suspicion. Abercrombie did not let the issue lay and investigated further into Dodier’s death. It was ruled foul play when Abercrombie talked to a regimental surgeon who stated that the wounds could not have been made by horse hooves, especially ones who did not have horse shoes like Dodier’s. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Marie-Josephte and Joseph Corriveau were the ones involved. The two of them were arrested and sent to a jail in Québec, where they would await an English military trial.

Old Quebec – Original Photo by Piercing Moon Creations

            1763 marked the year when New France was handed to Britain at the conclusion of the Seven-Years-War and citizens were now tried by a court structured similarly to English law. Since British military occupation began in Québec around 1760 citizens were tried in martial courts by the British army. It was not until 1764 when news that New France was officially under English rule that civil courts, modelled after English civil courts, were established. Due to this, Marie-Josephte and Joseph were tried in a military court in front of thirteen officers.

           It took eleven days to come to the conclusion that the two of them were guilty. According to both Captain Corriveau and Claude Dion, a labouror for Dodier, Joseph had told them ‘some kind of misfortune would befall Dodier soon.’ Dion also stated Marie-Josphete had said something similar, to which, Dodier had responded by slapping her several times in the face. A cousin of Marie-Josephte, Isabelle Sylvain, was also asked to be a witness but committed perjury and was subject to thirty lashes and branded with a P on her hand. All the evidences and witnesses pointed to Joseph being the murderer and Marie-Jospehte being an accomplice solely due to gossip about her offering to pay soldiers to beat up her husband, telling Dodier she preferred Bouchard and being a drunkard. Although neither one could be placed at the scene of the murder. Joseph was found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang. Marie-Josephte was found guilty of being an accomplice and sentenced to sixty lashes with a cat of nine tails and branded with the letter M on her hand. It seemed as if everything was wrapping up with a neat little bow on top.

            Until the night before Joseph’s execution. He confessed that he did not murder Dodier, it was his daughter who had done it. In exchange for the truth he was to be set free with no punishment. So began a second trial where Marie-Josephte confessed to hitting her husband twice in the head with an axe while he slept. After, she begged her father to help her drag Dodier to the barn where it would look like an accident. Charges were dropped against Joseph and Marie-Josephte was sentenced to hang and then to be gibbeted as a warning. This was a sentence from English law, usually only reserved for males committing petty treason. Since Québec was under military law and during this time a woman was considered subservient to a man in both civil and criminal law, it seemed like a fitting punishment for her. Not only that but it seemed as though the British wanted the French to know that they were now in charge, crimes would not be tolerated. Marie-Josephte was executed around 18 April, 1763 on the Buttes-à-Nepveau beside the Plains of Abraham.

Streets of Old Quebec – Original Photo by Piercing Moon Creations

            After being hung, Marie-Josephte was gibbeted in a “cage” that she had to pay for, at Pointe-Lévy, present day Lévis. Her cage was more like a metal harness that measured about five feet in length and was used to hold her body straight. Her body hung at a crossroads in Lévis between Bienville and Lauzon, most likely present day Rue Saint Joseph and Rue de l’Entente, for about thirty-eight to forty days, less than what was sentenced. Her corpse was likely removed due to complaints about the sight of her blackened and peeling skin, her hair falling out, and animals picking at her. It was a grotesque sight mixed with an even worse smell, so her body was taken down. She was buried, cage and body, in the cemetery by Saint-Joseph-de-la-Pointe-Lévy Church. Her story seemed to lay forgotten, only ghost stories and rumours surrounded her until 1849 when work on the cemetery began. Her cage was unburied and put in the church’s cellar for storage. After, it was to be reburied but what happens next is a bit hazy and not at all intended.

            It is said that the cage was stolen by the P.T. Barnum who brought it to his New York Museum. It was later acquired by The Boston Museum with a place card that simply read “From Québec.” After, the cage ended up in yet another museum, this time it was in Salem Massachusetts. Société d’histoire de Lévis negotiated with the museum and brought the cage back home to Québec where is sits on display at the Musée de la Civilisation to this day. Thus, the conclusion of Marie-Josephte Corriveau and her cage is here, but her story lives on, inflated and intertwined with the supernatural.

            Marie-Josephte Corriveau, or La Corriveau as she is generally referred to, is said to not rest in peace. At the crossroad where her body was left to rot people are said to hear sounds of metal scrapping, bones clattering, and moans. Sometimes they even hear their name being spoken by a female voice, begging them to carry her across the Saint Lawrence River. Not only are there sounds but there are physical sensations such as cold spots, the smell of decay, feelings of being watched and being rushed at by someone with decaying hands. All of these combined with the rumours and elaborations of her story have made a sensational tale. People claim she has had more than just two husbands, who she killed and was only caught after Dodier. They claim she has done many more crimes and added more and more gruesome details to her stories. Some also consider her a sorceress or a witch, especially after her cage ended up in Salem, saying she killed her many husbands for magic. While her story happened a long time ago and accusing women of witchcraft is common, there is no denying that she is considered a charged murderess and possibly a restless spirit.

            The haunting of La Corriveau may be contentious but there is no arguing that she remains one of the most famous murderers and murder stories in the city of Québec. It is a tale that is told and retold again and again. Warnings of a ghost are whispered to each other when walking in Old Québec and Old Lévis. There may have been a time that Marie-Josephte Corriveau would not have been punished so harshly, she was subject to the laws of her time. Now her story and possibly her spirit live on to tell their tale in the streets of Québec and Lévis.

Bibliography

Conliffe, Ciaran. “Marie-Josephte Corriveau.” Headstuff: History (March 13, 2017). Accessed March 19, 2019. www.headstuff.org/culture/history/marie-josephte-corriveau/

Dickinson, John a. “La Corriveau.” The Canadian Encyclopedia (December 15, 2013). Accessed March 19, 2019. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/la-corriveau

Greenwood, F. Murray and Boissery, Beverly. “The Many Trials of Marie-Josephte Corriveau.” In Uncertain Justice: Canadian Women and Capital Punishment, 1754-1953, 39-59. Toronto, Ontario: Dundurn Press, 2000. Google Books version.

Hay, Douglas. “Legislation, Magistrates and Judges: High Law and Low Law in England and the Empire.” In The British and Their Laws in the Eighteenth Century. Edited by David Lemmings, 59-79. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, 2005. Google Books version.

“Marie-Josephte Corriveau.” Wikipedia. Accessed March 19, 2019. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Josephte_Corriveau

Marzannia. “La Corriveau.” Spooky Canada (June 15, 2018). Accessed March 19, 2019. spookycanada.wordpress.com/2018/06

Sutherland, Joel A. “Rotting in a Cage.” In Haunted Canada 4: More True Tales of Terror, 7-11. Toronto, Ontario: Scholastic Canada Ltd, 2014. Amazon Kindle ebook version.