Nain Rouge (Detroit's red dwarf legend)

The Nain Rouge (French for "red dwarf") is a folkloric figure tied to early Detroit history; local tradition holds that Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac encountered a red, impish creature and cursed the settlement in 1701. The legend is commonly associated with the site of the original French Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit in present-day downtown Detroit. In contemporary Detroit the Nain Rouge figures in an annual civic pageant and banishment-themed events that have taken place at downtown gathering spots such as Campus Martius Park.