The Mélusine Tower.

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© D. Herbreteau

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  • A little tour in the south of Vendée, in Vouvant, a town in which the Tour Mélusine hides a strange legend and a mysterious secret.

  • Disturbing cries related to the legend of the fairy Mélusine would escape from the tower on Saturday.

45 m high, it offers an exceptional panoramic view of the Mervent-Vouvant forest massif and the village of Vouvant in the south of Vendée.

It is called the Mélusine Tower because legend says that it was the fairy of the same name who built it in 1242. Today, Thomas Thiriot, guide lecturer at the Fontenay-le-Comte Vendée tourist office , tells (a bit in the second degree) that "if you stick your ear to the wall of the Tower on Saturday, and not another day, you can hear screams".

And why these disturbing cries "in bad weather", as it is sometimes also asserted?

You have to tell the story of the fairy Mélusine to try to understand the origin of these roars.

Here is a brief summary ...

The Mélusine Tower by day.

- © D. Herbreteau

It hangs over the fairy Mélusine, a terrible curse.

Her mother, to punish her for her wickedness towards her father, condemned her to the sad immortality of the fairies, unless she marries a little curious knight, who agrees not to see her on Saturdays.

Because, on that day, he was obliged to take a bath and in doing so to see his long slender legs turn into a horrible scaly tail.

But if one day, her (future) husband surprises her in such a state, she will never again take on human form.

One fine day, Mélusine meets a man named Raimondin.

The latter, who will have ten boys with her, does not understand why his sweetheart, who is a fairytale beauty, locks himself up every Saturday?

He seeks to unravel the mystery, therefore betrays his wife and surprises her, one Saturday, in her bath, combing her long blond hair and waving… her horrible fishtail!

Horrible screams from the Tower

Thomas Thiriot explains the consequences of this "curse made public".

“Mélusine then circled the tower three times, uttering horrible cries.

She then disappears.

He also said to himself that she flew out the window, uttering terrible threats against the fortresses she had built in Pouzauges, Tiffauges, Mervent etc.

As a result today, the fairy would still haunt the place.

“Rather on Saturdays…”, specifies the guide.

Marie Vivies, guide in Vouvant, tells more or less the same legend, but considers "that the howls of the fairy around the tower are not heard with the ears, but with the heart".

She explains herself by referring to Raimondin's betrayal of his wife Mélusine: “I think that only people who are haunted by secrets, broken promises and betrayals in their personal lives hear these cries pushed by Mélusine.

Not the others.

It's a handful of people… ”A drama would even have taken place a few years ago at the top of this haunted tower, but the guide does not wish to say more, further thickening the mystery around the Mélusine tower…

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