B[^e]te noire

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Bete noire \B[^e]te" noire"\ [Fr., lit. black beast.]
   Something especially hated or dreaded; a bugbear.
   [1913 Webster]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

65 Moby Thesaurus words for "bete noire":
      Dracula, Frankenstein, Mumbo Jumbo, Wolf-man, affliction, anathema,
      bane, bogey, bogeyman, boggart, bogle, booger, boogerman,
      boogeyman, bug, bugaboo, bugbear, bugger, burden, calamity,
      crushing burden, curse, death, destruction, detestation, disease,
      evil, fee-faw-fum, frightener, ghost, ghoul, grievance, harm, hate,
      hobgoblin, holy terror, horror, incubus, infliction, monster,
      nemesis, nightmare, ogre, ogress, open wound, pest, pestilence,
      phantom, plague, revenant, running sore, scarebabe, scarecrow,
      scarer, scourge, specter, succubus, terror, thorn, torment,
      vampire, vexation, visitation, werewolf, woe