The Karnabo story is known in the lower
Meuse valley in the Franco-Belgian
Ardennes. In folklore the Karnabo is described as the sexual offspring of a demon (in other accounts a 67-year-old
ghoul) and a Bohemian who travelled across the Ardennes in ancient times. By one account it resided for a long time in an abandoned slate quarry near
Regniowez. The Karnabo is said to have captured a young girl who approached its lair and dragged her into a cavern after which the girl and the Karnabo were never seen again. The wails of the girl and the trumpet of the Karnabo are said to be heard in times of stormy weather. Folklorist
Claude Seignolle writing in his 2015 second volume of
Contes, récits et légendes des pays de France [
Tales, stories and legends from the regions of France] considers the Karnabo a local variant of the wider Ardennes myth of the Mahwot. The Mahwot is reputed to be an amphibious lizard around the size of a calf that resides in the Meuse between the French town of
Revin and the Belgian city of
Liège. The Mahwot is said to leave the river only on exceptional occasions, which presages a disaster. The creature is reputed to have been last sighted at Revin and
Givet in July 1870, in the lead-up to the
Franco-Prussian War in which France would be defeated and lose territory. == References ==