# Père Malfait: Actual bogeyman legend, or invented for TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-malfait-actual-bogeyman-legend-or-invented-for-tv/658160 "2013-05-12T16:29:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-malfait-actual-bogeyman-legend-or-invented-for-tv/658160/1 "2013-05-12T16:29:08Z")
An episode of _Kolchak: The Nigh Stalker_ featured a swamp creature known as ‘Père Malfait’. (‘Father Evil Fact’? ‘Father Poorly Done’?) Does Père Malfait exist as a bogeyman legend, in the way that there are legends about Bigfoot, the Bunyip, and the chupacabra, for example? Or was Père Malfait something invented for an episode of a TV show? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-malfait-actual-bogeyman-legend-or-invented-for-tv/658160/2 "2013-05-12T17:04:58Z")
“Père Malfait” = “Father Does-Evil”. _Malfait_ appears to be a not-uncommon surname, and the most common word for boogeyman I know is _croquemitaine_, but you find things like “Maufait : ou MAUFÉ (mô-fé), n. m. Nom du diable dans tout le cours du moyen âge.” _Mau-_ is a reguar outcome of _mal-_ in this environment, and the rest says roughly “A name for the devil throughout the Middle Ages.” From [here](http://www.ebooksgratuits.com/html/meral_mots_rares_et_anciens.html) ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-malfait-actual-bogeyman-legend-or-invented-for-tv/658160/3 "2013-05-12T18:31:08Z")
Looking it up as… contiguous… **Malétroit** in Google only lists the Stevenson short story, ‘ **The Sire de Malétroit’s Door** ’, which indicates that it was invented for the purpose by him despite sounding as maleficently mediaeval French as all get-out. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-malfait-actual-bogeyman-legend-or-invented-for-tv/658160/4 "2013-05-13T02:21:32Z")
I love Kolchak. My mom and I used to watch it when i was little (6 or 7) back in the 1970s. I also own the series on DVD and pop it in from time to time. I also live in New Orleans and went to college in Lafayette (Cajun country) and never heard of Pere Malfait outside of the Kolchak episode. The only “boogey man” I ever remember hearing about in this area was the Loup Garou. There is even an artistic “rendering” of the Loup Garou in the Louisiana Swamp Exhibit at the Audubon Zoo here. I also remember hearing about the Honey Island Swamp monster when I was a kid, but I think that was just from a movie or something. [http://www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Loup+Garou](http://www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Loup+Garou) ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-malfait-actual-bogeyman-legend-or-invented-for-tv/658160/5 "2013-05-13T04:35:34Z")
> [@Shawn1767](#): > > I love Kolchak. My mom and I used to watch it when i was little (6 or 7) back in the 1970s. I also own the series on DVD and pop it in from time to time. I also live in New Orleans and went to college in Lafayette (Cajun country) and never heard of Pere Malfait outside of the Kolchak episode. The only “boogey man” I ever remember hearing about in this area was the Loup Garou. There is even an artistic “rendering” of the Loup Garou in the Louisiana Swamp Exhibit at the Audubon Zoo here. I also remember hearing about the Honey Island Swamp monster when I was a kid, but I think that was just from a movie or something. > > [http://www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Loup+Garou](http://www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Loup+Garou) You might also be remembering stories about The Fouke Monster. > **[Fouke Monster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fouke_Monster)** > > In Arkansas folklore, the Fouke Monster /ˈfaʊk/, also known as the Boggy Creek Monster and the Swamp Stalker, is purported to be a humanoid creature, similar to descriptions of Bigfoot, that was allegedly sighted in the rural town of Fouke, Arkansas during the early 1970s. The creature was alleged to have attacked a local family. It has since become a part of Arkansas folklore. Stories of the creature influenced the 1972 docudrama horror film The Legend of Boggy Creek, which became the 11t The c... This was the inspiration for the movie **The Legend of Boggy Creek**. > **[The Legend of Boggy Creek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Boggy_Creek)** > > The Legend of Boggy Creek is a 1972 American docudrama horror film about the "Fouke Monster", a Bigfoot-like cryptid reportedly seen in and around Fouke, Arkansas, since the 1940s. The film combines staged interviews with local residents who claim to have encountered the creature, along with reenactments of these encounters. Director and producer Charles B. Pierce, an advertising salesman, secured funding from a local trucking company and hired local high school students to help complete the fi... ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-malfait-actual-bogeyman-legend-or-invented-for-tv/658160/6 "2013-05-15T01:14:31Z")
Hell, when I was a kid, just the commercial for “The Legend of Boggy Creek” would scare the crap out of me. I had nightmares and never saw the actual movie. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-malfait-actual-bogeyman-legend-or-invented-for-tv/658160/7 "2013-05-16T08:58:14Z")
> [@Shawn1767](#): > > Hell, when I was a kid, just the commercial for “The Legend of Boggy Creek” would scare the crap out of me. I had nightmares and never saw the actual movie. I had the same experience as a kid. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-malfait-actual-bogeyman-legend-or-invented-for-tv/658160/8 "2013-05-16T09:21:21Z")
I saw the movie. The monster knocked over some flower pots (off camera) and that’s about it. The commercials were probably scarier. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-malfait-actual-bogeyman-legend-or-invented-for-tv/658160/9 "2013-05-16T13:09:33Z")
> [@Shawn1767](#): > > The only “boogey man” I ever remember hearing about in this area was the Loup Garou. I don’t remember where I heard of the loup garou, but it’s one of the things I like about the band [Loop Guru](http://www.amazon.com/Duniya-Loop-Guru/dp/B000003CA5). Not werewolfy, but I like the pun.