Beast of Gévaudan

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Beast of Gévaudan
Image:Gevaudan-monster2.png
The Beast of Gévaudan,
as depicted in a contemporary drawing
Creature
Name: Beast of Gévaudan
AKA: La bête du Gévaudan (French)
Classification
Grouping: Unknown carnivore
Data
First reported:1764
Last sighted:1767
Country: France
Region: Gévaudan (Modern day Lozère)
Status: Truth

The Beast of Gévaudan (French: La bête du Gévaudan) was a mysterious wolf-like creature that terrorised the former province of Gévaudan (modern day Lozère département), in the Margeride Mountains in south-central France from about 1764 to 1767. Many attacks took place - between 60 and 100 people were killed - and debate continues as to the Beast's true identity. [1] The story is a popular subject for cryptozoologists and conspiracy theorists.

Contents

[edit] Appearance

The Beast 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 small straight ears and large protruding fangs. The creature was said to have red fur, and a peculiar black stripe that ran down the length of its back.

Although it was said to be able to leap up to thirty feet, this most probably results from an error in reading its tracks.[citation needed]

[edit] Attacks

The first attack that provided a description of the creature took place on 1st June of 1764. A woman from Langogne saw a large, lupine animal emerge from the trees and charge directly toward her, but it was driven away by the farm's bulls.

On the 30th of June the first official victim of the Beast was Jeanne Boulet, killed near the village of Les Hubacs, not far from Langogne.

The creature's reported method of killing was unusual for a predator, often targeting the head, and ignoring the usual areas targeted by predators, including the legs and throat. Often the head was crushed or removed. It also seemed to target people over farm animals, reportedly having an aversion to cattle; many times it would attack someone while cattle were in the same field.

There were some reports that the beast was seen with another such animal, or with young. No recorded testimony implies the presence of a man nearby.

Though it is difficult to establish an exact number of victims, an estimate based on official documents gives over 198 attacks, including 36 wounded and 88 dead. Other sources could expand these results to over 306 attacks, including 51 wounded and 123 dead. The Beast's preference towards women and children is perhaps due to their working the country-side farms in pairs or even alone, making themselves easier targets. Men, however, tended to have objects that could be used as weapons, such as sickles and scythes, and often worked the fields in large groups.

[edit] The hunt for the beast

On January 12 1765, Jacques Portefaix and six friends were attacked by the Beast; they drove it away by staying grouped together. Their fight caught the attention of King Louis XV, who awarded 300 livres to the boys. The King then directed professional wolf-hunters, Jean-Charles-Marc-Antoine Vaumesle d'Enneval and his son Jean-François, to kill the beast. He had taken a personal interest in the attacks.

They arrived in Clermont-Ferrand on February 17 1765, bringing with them eight bloodhounds which had been trained in wolf-hunting. They spent several months hunting wolves, believing them to be the beast. However the attacks continued, and by June 1765 they were replaced by François Antoine (also wrongly titled Antoine de Beauterne), the king's harquebus bearer and Lieutenant of the Hunt. He arrived in le Malzieu on June 22.

On September 20 1765, Antoine killed a large gray wolf measuring 80 cm high, 1.7 m long, and weighing 60 kg. The wolf was called 'Le Loup de Chazes,' after the nearby Abbaye des Chazes. It was agreed locally that this was quite large for a 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 titles and awards.

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

[edit] Jean Chastel

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 on June 19, 1767.

Controversy surrounds Chastel's account of his success. Family tradition claimed that, when part of a large hunting party, he sat down to read the Bible and pray. During one of the prayers the creature came into sight, staring at Chastel, who finished his prayer before shooting the beast. This would have been aberrant behavior for the beast, as it would usually attack on sight. Some believe this is proof Chastel participated with the beast, or that even he had trained it. However, the story of the prayer may simply have been invented out of religious or romantic motives.

[edit] Explanations

Various explanations were offered at the time of the attacks. They ranged from exaggerated accounts of wolf attacks, to a loup-garou (werewolf) [1] all the way to the beast being a punishment from God, or perhaps an unholy creature summoned by a sorcerer.

[edit] Wolf

Though wolves in the wild usually avoid contact with humans, they will attack livestock when their natural prey runs out. Conversely, the Beast itself was said to have taken exclusively human victims, ignoring the livestock present in the area. Some experts, however, state that wolves at the time may have been more aggressive than their modern-day counterparts, saying that today's generation of shy wolves is the result of natural selection favouring animals which were less prone to attacking humans with firearms.[2] The areas in the world today where wolf attacks are still a common occurrence are usually poverty-stricken with a general lack of predator control technology.[3]

[edit] Hyena

Other theories say the beast may have been an escaped captive exotic animal such as a hyena.[4] Two species have been known to attack humans: the striped hyena of Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and western India and the larger spotted hyena of Africa. Hyenas are known to inflict injuries similar to the Beast of Gevaudan, primarily biting the facial regions when attacking humans[5][6]; however hyenas do not have the smooth running gait ascribed to the Beast, and are not good at jumping. According to Loren Coleman's Cryptozoology A to Z, page 35, a taxidermist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, Franz Jullien by name, discovered that an animal similar to the description and listed as shot by Jean Chastel, had been stuffed and was on display from 1766 to 1819. It had been definitely identified as an African striped hyena.

[edit] Wolfdog

Another explanation is that the beast was some form of domestic dog or hybrid. This theory has found support from, among many others, naturalist Michel Louis, author of the book La bête du Gévaudan: L'innocence des loups (The Beast of Gévaudan: The innocence of wolves). The beast may have been a wolfdog, according to the TV show Animal X . Wolf-dog hybrids were usually noted as not sharing their wolf parent's fear of man and it would have also been quite trainable, perhaps lending further credence to the reports that the Beast was seen in the company of a human.

[edit] In the arts and popular culture

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)
For this was the land of the ever-memorable BEAST, the Napoleon Bonaparte of wolves. What a career was his! He lived ten months at free quarters in Gévaudan and Vivarais; he ate women and children and ‘shepherdesses celebrated for their beauty’; he pursued armed horsemen; he has been seen at broad noonday chasing a post-chaise and outrider along the king’s high-road, and chaise and outrider fleeing before him at the gallop. He was placarded like a political offender, and ten thousand francs were offered for his head. And yet, when he was shot and sent to Versailles, behold! a common wolf, and even small for that.
  • The legend surrounding the attacks spawned a movie, Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001), which, while based on the records of the creature, also took several creative liberties in order to make the story more entertaining. The movie portrays the creature as an Atlas Lion equipped with a type of armor to make it seem more threatening. Generating positive reviews and record business, it is primarily fictional.
  • A barely more accurate version of the historic events was shown in the TV-film La bête du Gévaudan, France 2003, first aired by the station ARTE in 2005, directed by Patrick Volson.
  • The creature was subject of an episode of the television series Animal-X.
  • The creature is incorporated into the plot of the novel Rogue Angel: Destiny.
  • The board game Nightmare features a playable character named "Gévaudan the Werewolf".
  • In Argentine Monster in My Pocket stickerbooks, the Beast of Gévaudan is referred to as "Jabalius." In Mexican materials, it is referred to as La Bestia de Gevaudan. It was never released in the United States.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Clark, Jerome (1993). Unexplained! 347 Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 0810394367. 
  2. ^ http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/a-wkp7-explaining-attacks.html
  3. ^ [http://www.aws.vcn.com/wolf_attacks_on_humans.html WOLF ATTACKS ON HUMANS]. T. R. Mader. Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ http://www.interplastgrandrounds.org/virtual_tour_hyena_attack.html
  6. ^ http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/1870/edition_id/28/format/html/displaystory.html

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Beast of Gévaudan

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