In 1987, I was 14 years old and living in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. A friend of mine told me he had a song he wanted me to hear. It was called, “The Legend of The Parlangua” by a band I had never heard of called Cahoots. I listened to it. It intrigued me. The song was about a swamp monster and how the singer goes out to kill it for killing his father and brother. In the end, he too is killed. I thought it was interesting but thought nothing more of it.

Years later, I was living in Gulfport, Mississippi when I played the song to someone I knew. They seemed to become tense and after the song told me of a run in they had at a rest area with the thing. I was shocked. I had thought it was just a great, creepy song.

Fast forward to last year and the television show Beasts of the Bayou. One of the episodes was about the Parlangua. I know you’re wondering to yourself, what the heck is a Parlangua? Well the story goes something like this: In the early 1960s, a driver lost control of their car and swerved off the road into the swamp in Rapides Parish and was attacked and drug from the vehicle by a half human, half alligator type of creature. It stood on two legs. Both legs of the victim were bitten off as well as his head. Since then, it has been seen in the bayous of Louisiana.

Apparently, even alligators fear this creature. It seems to kill and eat people, dogs, gators and fish indiscriminately. But just what is it? A mutated human? A mutated alligator? Some sort of human/reptile hybrid produced from Government testing? Or is it just a legend of the Cajun people? One may never know unless they go out to the swamps in Rapides Parish.

And I thought it was just a great, creepy song.

If you would like to learn more about the Parlangua or hear the song, both are on YouTube.com.