Lougarou

The Caribbean island nation of Haiti has its own version of the infamous werewolf, which they call the je-rouges, or “red eyes.” It is also referred to it as the French loup-garou and by the Creole word lougarou. It is the Haitian equivalent of the Louisiana Rougarou and the Soucouyant of other Caribbean nations.

Explanations
George Eberhart suggests they represent lowland gorillas as remembered in the folk memory of African slave origin. Dale A. Drinnon, noting that primates do not have claws, suggests they are surviving Antillean ground sloths, which were smaller than mainland ground sloths and are believed to have survived into the colonial era. Their bones have been discovered in European middens alongside those of introduced domestic pigs.