France has many mountains, but only one Olympus: the puy de Dôme. In the 18th century it was the site of a notorious banquet of “demigods”.
The mountain hunters of past centuries have seen unaccountable and terrible forms in the mountain mists, and legends have carried the phenomena from the plainly
Obtained by a 19th-century physician, this ritual from Auvergne tells you how to become a become a werewolf.
“It was in Gévaudan that this wild beast had established his everyday encampment…Nevertheless, this monster repeatedly made incursions into Auvergne, especially in the region of
I fancied that Auvergne was a country far, very far off, where strange things were to be seen, and where one could not travel but
“Among the Auvergnats a host of tales and legends has grown up, including circumstantial accounts of wizard meetings on the puy de Dôme, stories of
“It was out of the ‘bottomless’ Lac Pavin that the sorcerers conjured wind and storm by casting a stone into its enchanted waters…” -Margaret Roberts
“In Auvergne, too, you will find again the homely farms, with great hearths and cupboard-beds…the strange superstitions and beliefs; the markets, the picturesque processions and dances,
“All nations have their omens drear, Their legends wild of woe and fear…” -Sir Walter Scott (1808) An interesting list of Auvergnat folk traditions was
Auvergne has a long tradition of loups-garous (werewolves). In fact, one of the most famous loup-garou legends first appeared in Discours execrable des Sorciers (1602), a book by
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Designed by Paolo Zappalà
