Les Dames Blanches -- Witches or Wols

I photographed this street sign for Impasse de la Dame Blanche in a hamlet called Les Viaullières. It set me wondering who the eponymous White Lady was. Does a white robed woman appear to the gullible and hypersensitive if they hang around this corner in the dark of night? What dire event might she be warning us about? Or was one of these houses once occupied by a wise woman, one who had a reputation for being able to cast spells and enchant the unwary?

Local opinion dismisses the idea that the street is named after a ghostly apparition, or a reference to a witch, both of which might be referred to as une dame blanche. It seems to be more likely that the passage is named after the presence in the area of Barn Owls, sometimes called les Dames Blanches in French, although usually referred to as les Chouettes effraies. Superstitiously they are viewed as a bad omen (the name means 'scary owl') and in local Berrichon traditions are associated with witches. Barn Owls, one of the few bird species that has an almost global distribution, are largely snowy white and can emit blood curdling screams whilst in flight.

And -- just around the corner there is a very clear witch mark, on the windowsill of a barn...

Symbols like this, intended to ward off witches attempting to enter, were drawn on buildings in proximity to openings.