Lou Carcolh, or the Carcolh, is a mythical beast from French folklore. It is described as a large, slimy, snail-like serpent with hairy tentacles and a large shell. It is said to live in a cavern beneath Hastingues, a town in the Les Landes region in southwestern France.Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth, ABC-CLIO, Inc., Santa Barbara, California, 2000, 229, https://archive.org/details/giantsmonstersdr0000rose/page/228.
It is described to have a slime that could sometimes be seen long before the creature itself arrived, and its tentacles had a great reach that would be used to grab and drag prey into its cave without leaving.
The Carcolh is a nickname given to the city of Hastingues in the French department of Landes due to its situation on a rounded-shape hill. Furthermore, the men of Hastingues used to say, as a pleasant warning to young and pretty women, "the carcolh will catch you!".
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