Classification: Legendary & Supernatural Humanoids

Temporal Range: 18th Century

Geographic Range: Quebec, Canada

Diet: Nothing due to being stuck in a gibbet

Horde: Wretched Mortals

In Quebec, if you pass by a crossroads and see a gibbet hanging from a tree, we strongly suggest turning heel and walking the other way. If you don’t, it’s very possible that La Corriveau will get you. Executed for killing her second husband, La Corriveau’s punishment didn’t end there and now she’s doomed to hang from that gibbet for eternity and torment travelers who dare to pass her.

When alive, Marie-Josephte Corriveau (La Corriveau’s full name) was accused of killing not only one husband but two. Her first husband died of “putrid fevers” and her second died of several wounds to the head. While a doctor says these wounds were possibly caused by a horse (he was found dead in a stable), La Corriveau became the prime suspect. She went to trial for the death of her second husband but this instantly sent up suspicions around the death of her first.

Initially, La Corriveau’s father was arrested and she was a mere accomplice but after he claimed that his daughter was the one to blame, her sentence was changed from lashes and branding to hanging followed by her body to be put on display in a gibbet.

Many years after death, the iron cage she was hung from was found and even put on display in P.T. Barnum’s museum and all manner of tales have been told about her. Some say she was a witch that killed her husbands for power, others claim she was a direct descendant of professional sorcerer and poisoner La Voisin. All we know for sure is that if you see an iron gibbet swinging from a tree at a crossroads in Quebec, best leave it alone or the vengeful spirit of La Corriveau may decide she’s in need of a new victim.

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