Case file · Folklore / legend
The douens
Douens are the spirits of children who died before baptism. They have no faces, wear wide straw hats, and their feet point backwards; they lure living children into the forest.
1950 CE · 10.70, -61.30 · status: legend
The account
Parents avoid calling a child's name aloud outdoors, lest a douen learn it. Douens are often said to follow Papa Bois. The year is an approximate 20th-century attestation in Trinidad folklore collections.