New Versailles

The Baldcypress Tree
(Art by Chrisbonney)



Deep in the body of the Louisiana swamp, there exists a tale of a bleeding tree. Baldcypress trees are common within the murky depths, but what sets this one apart is the bone white bark stained by oozing sap, a dark, blood red in colour. But that is not the end of this tale.

It is not difficult to become lost within the swamps - it is an easy escape for those wishing to flee, and the perfect place for teenagers to test their courage in the alligator infested waters. It is said that the sap smells strongly of iron, but to those weak-willed, who find themselves with no place to go, become attracted to the scent.

They are drawn towards the tree, hypnotized to sit within its submerged roots. It is said that the tree offers them a feeling of hope, of oneness. They claim to hear a voice from within it that soothes and calms them, as it is often people who think of suicide who are drawn towards this cryptid. They grow so attached to the tree that eventually they do not move away from it, and remain at its side for days. It is then that the tree supposedly suggests that the only way it can protect them is if they allow themselves to to become one with it.

In a state of complete suggestibility, the victims submerge themselves within the watery roots of the tree, which is claimed that the tree commands them to do, and where it absorbs the body of the person into its trunk. It is said its roots grow further that day, and fresh sap oozes freely from its pale bark.

There are simply people who vanish without a trace, never to be seen again, and similar tales of caution across the world.

Legend Created by Sheogorath

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The Poisson-Garou

Deep in the bayous, mysterious creatures have long been hidden away from the eyes of man. Notorious in rumour, strange in truth, these creatures have only recently begun to attract the attention of those in the bigger city.

The Poisson-Garou, colloquially known as the Nightmare Fish, has been haunting the bayous for generations. Often considered the culprit behind near drownings (especially of children), these creatures are viewed by fear and suspicion by many. The few concrete facts truly known about these creatures have been collected, and will be listed below.

• They are comparable in height and weight to humans
• Their senses appear to be keen enough to track fleeing prey both on land and in water
• They appear to be able to breathe air just as easily as they breathe water
• A slimy secretion coats their bodies, making them especially difficult to get a hold of
• They have been known to steal fish from local fishermen. Some also report the fish monsters have stolen their beer.

It's been claimed that those who suffer a Nightmare Fish's attack will have nightmares about them for one hundred and one nights. The nightmares grow increasingly terrifying over the months, and have been said to grow into hallucinations if the sufferer tries to avoid sleep.

Legend Created by Corvus & Toasty

God's Children


Out beyond the parts of the swamp where moonlight reaches, skeletal trees moan with the occasional bluster of hot, stagnant wind. There is a house there, eaten by the creeping moss and ivy but still structurally pristine. No decay is seen upon it's gleaming, plantation styled exterior. Even as waters rise and hell threatens to reclaim this place, something keeps it shiny. Keeps it vivid and real in the dank, pitch darkness of the New Versailles swamps. There is no path, no drive or porch, because the backwash of the bayou water raises gradually with time to reclaim the sitting area at the house's front. This house is the place the locals talk about on Halloween. Very few have seen it, and many claim that they have. But it's name varies. Some call it Hell House, some refer to it as God's house.


Doctor Baptiste Gaudreux was a wealthy and prominent figure in early New Versailles. He was the talk of the state asylum and had chosen this parcel of land to build his mansion upon. Hailed in journals and papers alike for the way in which his unique treatments could heal those touched by lunacy. When Gaudreux built his sterling home, it sat on a beautiful plot of land. And he lived there with his wife, Manon. Unable to conceive a child, it was often spoken that Gaudreux's work at the Asylum, that his patients got the same care he'd give to his own brood. In the early 1800s, the halls of the Asylum were packed to the brim with not only the mentally ill, but now also with smallpox patients. He worked tirelessly, pouring all of himself into searching for a way to aid the people who began to fill his halls. After all, Manon Gaudreux had taken ill with small pox. And so very stricken by love for his wife, Baptiste refused to halt in his research. He knew that somehow, he'd find a way.

Sleep deprivation and stress eventually ate away at a man who was once considered a genius. Slowly but surely casting darkness in the light of his brilliant mind. His studies and work became more hurried, desperate, sloppy. Due to severe overcrowding, no one seemed to notice when one or two, or ten patients at a time began to go missing from the asylum. In the beginning, it was innocent enough. Testing transfusions and the like, from infected and insane. From the living and the dead. People stopped hearing from Manon. People stopped hearing from Baptiste shortly after. But there was no funeral. Baptiste continued down a path of wretchedness, playing God. Pieces and parts, experiments in reanimation. Baptiste was successful. That this one man with a mind to rival any of this era had brought his dead sweetheart back from the clutches of hell. Then got greedy. But no one knows for sure. When the silence on the Doctor's behalf became startling, far too long to be assumed as a working absence, his assistant went up to the mansion house to check on the Gaudreux family. The horror found inside of that house was unspeakable. Through their own babbling, the assistant claimed that what resided in that house was not beast, or man. That these 'shadows' feasted upon human flesh and bathed in dark depravity. He claims he narrowly escaped their clutches. At least a dozen stitched monstrosities, overblown with lesions and boils. Hissing like possums with eyes colorless. One thing in common being that each and every one of them was the size of a child no more than twelve, and no less than three years of age.

Doctor Gaudreux was found hanged by his own hand. Barricaded within the mansion's attic. His note scrawled hurriedly over the pages of research which plastered the walls. "NO WAY OUT. MANON IN CELLAR. CHILDREN CANNIBALS. FORGIVE ME." It is believed that an even more mutated creature was found in the basement, wearing a tattered wedding gown. The living dead. Muttering to herself in grunts and groans. She wore Manon's face..but the body parts of corpses. Two shots is what it took for the lawman to put her down. The screaming from the creatures that hid in the house's crevices was louder than any gunfire could have been. Mourning for their mother and father. Hungry for the flesh of the living.. That's what the story says, anyway. No trace of truth to this story can be found by digging. There are small hints, but most disregard it as something that was put together to describe the house. The one even Hell will not take. The funny thing is...no one who's truly seen Hell House will want to talk about it, or hear about it. Those lucky enough to escape the savagery of the feral creatures who live within it, anyhow. That is a rare demographic. They called him Doctor God, because he gave life. He'd fixed his wife. He'd given her "children". But just what did science do, all those years ago in the swamp? The legend says if you venture deep enough into the swamp, the starving wards of Doctor God will come out of the trees and the house, to pick your bones clean.

The legend changes, depending on who tells it. Kids get all excited around Halloween to barrel into the swamp and chase after the pitiful, forgotten children within it. To play a game of chicken with the damned. Old timers are spooked by the stories, but remember when they tried their hand all the same. Something about the noises, the sounds of creatures much bigger than a tree frog or a locust that surround the lands tend to disorient..while the pungent smell of rotting meat and decaying wood overtake that of swamp funk with relative ease. It is fairly often that a missing person's case will be blamed on "God's Children" or "Hell House Lookie Loo". These days, it is laughed off. But maybe, just maybe a trip out that way is a surefire way to become a happy meal for a cretin.

Legend Created by Mina.

Legend created by Rhay.

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Mama Espoir

They called her Mama Espoir. Mama Hope. In the early days of NV, the prominent and the poor, if they had a problem, they went to Mama. She didn't live in the city, no. She lived in the middle of the bayou, well away from the troubles of the budding town. The gators were her neighbors, the chorus frogs her music. She was old when she was young. Old timers would say she came from the womb playing with the spirits with hair as white as the dead, eyes black as the night, and the scream of a devil, but not a one could recall Mama's mother. No, she was always alone, out in that shack, way out in the middle of the swamp without a path to speak of, save the little colored glass bottles that hung from this tree or that. That was her fee, you see? The rich, the poor, the lonely and disparaged, when they had their problem, they came to Mama, her only fee was colored glass for her trees.

Now there was a woman. Rich, noble thing. Helena was prettier than a magnolia, with the temper of a cornered rattler. Her husband was getting ansty, banker he was, needed an heir. While his wife was pretty and young, he was getting on in years. But try as they might, they couldn't conceive. That is, until dear, awful little Helena got word about Mama. She traipsed down to the bayou, glass bottle in hand and with a pretty bat of those lashes, she asked Mama for a baby. And old lady Espoir, she was pleased to do so, because that bottle sparkled so nice in the light. A puff of smoke that smelled like the devil and burned the eyes cast over a vial of dubious material and Mama assured the girl, come the next moon, she'd have her a baby brewing.

A few months passed, and sure enough, Helena was heavy with child. Not one, but two. She went back to Mama, first time the girl ever wanted to thank anyone in her life, especially an old crone. Dolled up thing barely got down the muddy path in her pretty white clothes before Mama came out looking like she saw a ghost. "There's somethin' evil growing in you girl! You got that shadow baby," she whispered. "That one, you bring that one back to Mama." She could keep the other. Of course, this didn't sit well with the new mother who's temper immediately erupted. A flurry of curses were viciously spat at the old woman who took it all in silence. Even as Helena's temper grew so great she pulled down all those pretty glass bottles from the trees and smashed them into glittering dust on the soggy ground.

The moment all those bottles hit the ground, folks swear the bayou itself screamed like the ninth circle of hell. Out from each shattered bit of glass, crawled out horror after horror. Little things, no bigger than a house cat and leathered skin dark as the night, their mouths agape in jagged smiles that would put the devil to shame and filled with row after row of razor teeth. Arms and legs were twice as long as they had any right being and jointed backward, drawing chubby little bodies up from the ground like spiders. They swarmed like a hive, shrieking like a hungry infant and brought pretty Miss Helena to the ground and dragged her off, back into that decrepit shack. Ain't no one been able to find the path since, with no bright, happy glass to mark the way.

But everyone knows, them shadow babies always come home to Mama.

Legend Created by Jynx.