La Diablesse
Oil painting by Rudolf Bissessarsingh
One of the most well-known characters in Trinidad and Tobago folklore, the La Diablesse (French for 'female devil'), is the temptress and seductress of our many characters. It is believed that she was born a human and through dealings with the devil was turned into a malicious spirit. She appears to be a beautiful woman adorned in Martiniquan dress, whose poise and figure catches the attention of men. Exquisitely dressed in a blouse and long, voluminous skirt, she uses to hide the fact that she has one cloven foot. She is also described as wearing a large, wide-brimmed hat or veil, sometimes both, to cover her face which resembles that of a corpse.
It is said that she only comes out at night, mostly when the moon is full, and walks the road with her cow's hoof in the grass at the side of the road. Different versions of the story places her at village dances or places where men are most likely to be walking alone. She is believed to go close to great towns at times as well. Immediately disliked by women, she charms her male victims and asks one of them to drop her home or leads them into the forest with promises of sexual favours. When they are deep within the forest, she disappears leaving the man lost and confused in the dark forest. He wonders the forest until he either falls into a ravine or river, or is attacked by wild hogs, and ultimately dies.
The origin of the La Diablesse is not particularly clear to me, with ties to both Grenada and Martinique folklore. However, the story of La Diablesse is French and most likely made its way to Trinidad by French settlers in 1783 during the Cedula de Poblacion. Furthermore, due to the style of clothing she is described to wear being closely relative to that of the French Antilles, it is largely believed that Martinique is likley the place of origin for the story.
Over the years the story has been adapted in various ways to fit in with the current lifestyle in order to be more believable. Even though towns may have grown into major cities, there will always be a place for this folklore as the chance of being alone and isolated is always a possibility. Let's just hope the only things you have to be worried about are angry stray dogs and not Madam La Diablesse herself.
Here is a video of one of the many adaptations for this folklore:
