Barkers

In Brittany and several other places, there was an unexplained phenomena that caused people to bark like dogs. Some are said to have communicated through barking, while others were merely reduced to unintelligible barking and never spoke again. de Plancy, J. C., (1863). Dictionnaire Infernal. 6ed. pg.3
According to Dr. Champouillon, it was caused by a violent fright. As evidence, he cited a case from 1853, where a conscript was called before the Board of Review and demanded exemption due to barking. He claimed that, while working on a coaster, he had been thrown overboard by the wind, and had been so terrified that the breathing difficulties his terror caused prevented him from speaking for a week, and when he was able to speak again, his sentences would be interspersed with cries and later with barks. For this he was discharged. 
Some people in Brittany are said to be born with this affliction, with some claiming it to be the result of an evil spell cast on the family. 
One man is said to have died in agony, after three days of pain. For those three days, he was able to communicate only by barking. This man was said to have taken part in the desecration of churches in 1793 by locking his dog in a tabernacle. 
There is also a reported case where a mute couple had a number of children. They were unable to teach their children how to speak, and so the children could only communicate with inarticulate cries. 
== References ==
Category:Dictionnaire Infernal