La Diablesse
La Diablesse or Ladjablès is a character in Caribbean folklore. According to folklore, she was an enslaved African woman who made a deal with Le Diable (the Devil) to give her soul to him, becoming a demi-demon, in exchange for eternal beauty.
Depiction
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.[1][2]
To break the spell of La Diablesse, one must turn their clothing inside out, light a sacred candle, and walk home backward, away from the last area in which she was spotted.
In popular culture
- La Diablesse is also mentioned in The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste.
- 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].
- La Diablesse is the subject of a La'Diablesse Curse (2020), a horror short film by Trini director Jared Prima.[3]
See also
References
- Courtesy The Heritage Library via the Trinidad Guardian
- Myths and Maxims: A Catalog of Superstitions, Spirits and Sayings of Grenada, and the Caribbean
- Prima, Jared (2020-08-02), La'Diablesse Curse (Short, Fantasy, Horror), Andrew Guilarte, Kyle Hernandez, Pauline Mark, FSU Film, retrieved 2023-09-19