In French mythology or folklore, Dames Blanches (meaning literally white ladies) were female spirits or supernatural beings, comparable to the Weiße Frauen of both Dutch and German mythology.
Thomas Keightley (1870) describes the Dames Blanches as a type of Fée known in Normandy "who are of a less benevolent character."
They lurk in narrow places such as ravines, forest, and on bridges and try to attract passerby attention.
Another Dame was known on a narrow bridge in the district of Falaise, named the Pont d'Angot.
A. MacCulloch believes Dames Blanches are one of the recharacterizations of pre-Christian female goddesses, and suggested their name Dame may have derived from the ancient guardian goddesses known as the Matres, by looking at old inscriptions to guardian goddesses, specifically inscriptions to "the Dominæ, who watched over the home, perhaps became the Dames of mediæval folk-lore.