A favourite Christmas pastime in old Quebec was telling ghost stories and one of the favourite of such tales was that of the “Chasse-Galerie”. (It’s a curious term that, derived from the original version of the story in medieval France where an aristocrat named Galerie is condemned to take part forever in the Wild Hunt.)
In the Québecois version, a group of lumberjacks is stranded deep in the woods, far from their loved ones and unable to take part in holiday festivities. In order to make it back in time for the New Year’s Eve parties they strike a deal with the devil: he will provide them with a flying canoe to take them to town and back but should they blaspheme on the trip or touch the cross on a church steeple, they will forfeit their souls.
The story is a popular one with illustrators but my favourite version is that on a 1991 Canadian stamp.
How does it end?
There are several versions but the woodsmen usually escape perdition.