The Beast of Gévaudan

koala · Site Admin Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 712

The Beast of Gévaudan (French: La bête du Gévaudan) was a creature that terrorised the general area of the former province of Gévaudan (in today's Lozère département), in the Margeride Mountains in south-central France, from about 1764 to 1767. While a number of attacks took place, estimated to be about one-hundred victims, there has been debate regarding the identity of the culprit. The story is a popular target of conspiracy theorists, and some consider the creature to be the French equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster.

Attacks
The first attack that provided a description of the creature took place in May/June of 1764. A girl from Langogne was working a farm in the Forêt de Mercoire when she saw a large, wolflike animal charge from the trees in a straight line toward her. The farm's dogs retreated as the beast drew closer, until the bulls from the farm's herd of cattle menaced the creature enough to drive it back into the forest.

The Beast of Gévaudan as depicted in a contemporary drawingFor the next three years attacks by the same beast occurred. It was described as being a wolflike creature the size of a cow with a wide chest, a long sinuous tail with a lion-like tuft of fur on the end, and a greyhound-like head with large, protruding fangs. It was also noted making huge leaps approaching thirty feet in length (from the tracks left). The victims were almost entirely children (of both sexes) and women. The widely accepted figures are fifteen women, sixty-eight children, and six men (figures of those dead, another 30 wounded or mauled). La Bete's preference towards women and children is thought to be since women and children worked the country-side farms in small pairs or alone making themselves easier targets. Men, however, tended to have objects that could be used as weapons, sickles, etc, and often worked the fields in large groups.

While other authority figures failed to stop the slaughter, on January 12, 1765, young Jacques Portefaix and six friends, attacked by the Beast, were able to put it to flight by staying grouped, and they all survived. Their heroic fight caught the attention of King Louis XV, who gave 300 livres to Jacques and his six friends. The King then sent Jean-Charles-Marc-Antoine Vaumesle d'Enneval and the huntsman's son Jean-François, two of the best wolf hunters in France, to kill the beast.

The duo arrived on February 17, 1765 in Clermont-Ferrand with eight bloodhounds specialized in wolf-hunting. They spent several months hunting wolves, believing them to be the real beast. The wolf killings lasted as long as the creature's attacks, over the general span of three years, and had no effect on reports of the beast or its killing. One of the curiosities surrounding their technique in trying to kill 'La Bete', is they often hunted her at night, although most of the attacks were at dawn and dusk.

They were replaced by François Antoine aka Antoine de Beauterne, the king's harquebus bearer and chief huntsman, who held the title of Great Louvetier (wolf hunter) of the realm and wore the Cross of Saint-Louis. He arrived in le Malzieu on June 22, 1765.

On September 21, 1765, Antoine killed a big gray wolf. The animal was 80 cm high, 1.7 m long, and weighed 60 kg. The wolf was called 'Le Loup de Chazes,' due to the nearby estate the Abbaye des Chazes. All the people at the castle of the Besset agreed that this was quite a big wolf. Antoine officially stated: "We declare by the present report signed from our hand, we never saw a big wolf that could be compared to this one. Which is why we estimate this could be the fearsome beast that caused so much damage."

The wolf was stuffed and sent to Versailles where Antoine was received as a hero, receiving a large sum of money as well as lands, titles and awards.

However, on December 2, 1765, the Beast attacked again in la Besseyre Saint Mary, severely injuring two children. Dozens more deaths followed.

The killing of the creature that eventually marked the end of the attacks is credited to a local hunter, Jean Chastel, at the Sogne d'Auvers.

A controversy surrounding Jean Chastel exists due to the account of the death of La Bete. It is said that Jean Chastel was part of a large hunting party after The Beast, and he sat reading the Holy Bible and praying. During one of the prayers the creature came into sight, staring at Chastel. After taking the courtesy to finish his prayer, Chastel raised the gun, fired and killed La Bete. The controversy being that The Beast, usually being a quick-kill predator waited for Chastel to finish the prayer and stood still as Chastel shot her (La Bete is almost always refferred to as 'her'). Some believe this is proof Chastel participated with La Bete, or that even he owned and had trained La Bete.

Of note is the fact that the creature had a strange method of killing, often ignoring the usual areas targeted by predators (legs and throat to incapacitate and kill, respectively) and instead concentrating on the head, cutting it off and sometimes crushing it. It also seemed to have a particular taste for humans, as even when cattle and other farm animals were more easily attainable it often ignored them completely to attack the person tending them. Strangely however, a standing statement is that during many accounts, La Bete seemed to have a fear of cattle. There were differing reports on the beast itself, which was sometimes reportedly seen with a man and was several times reported to be with another beast, or with young.

Explanations
Various explanations were offered at the time of the attacks. They ranged from exaggerated accounts of wolf attacks, to a loup-garou (werewolf), all the way to the beast being a punishment from God, to being an unholy creature summoned by a sorcerer.

Current opinions offer up the interesting theory that the attacks were actually a serial killer, or group of serial killers, using wolf attacks to cover their own murders. Also sometimes mentioned are the theories that the beast may have been a Dire Wolf,[1] a marginally larger, extinct relative of modern wolves; as well as the theory that the animal may have simply been an escaped captive exotic animal such as a hyena or lion.

It is to be noted that there is no proof of human involvement, and that all descriptions of the animals killed point to canines (wolves, dogs, or hybrids).

Yet another theory is that the creature was a specially bred wolfdog hybrid used for hunting, such as those bred and used by the Spanish in the 16th century.

Certain cryptozoologists believe that it may have been a mesonychid, while other individuals may think it is a creodont.[citation needed]

Some believe it to be a Thylacine (also called the Tasmanian Tiger), though it is said this extinct (last verified specimin died in 1936) animal could not have been strong or vicious enough for the job.