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The Beast of Gévaudan (French: La Bête du Gévaudan, IPA: [la bɛt dy ʒevodɑ̃]; Occitan: La Bèstia de Gavaudan) is the historic name associated with a man-eating animal or animals that terrorized the former province of Gévaudan (consisting of the modern-day department of Lozère and part of Haute-Loire), in the Margeride Mountains of south-central France between 1764 and 1767.
- 'Like A Wolf, Yet Not A Wolf'
- King Louis XV Dispatches Hunters
- Large Wolf Is Shot by King’s Gunbearer
- Description and Behavior of The Beast
- Beast Theories
- Striped Hyena?
- Lion?
- A Wolf?
The first recorded fatal attack of the Beast occurred on June 30, 1764 when a 14-year-old shepherdess, Jeanne Boulet, tended a flock of sheep. Boulet was not the creature’s first victim. As historian Jay M. Smith writes in Monsters of the Gévaudan, about two months prior, a young woman tending cattle was attacked by a creature “like a wolf, yet not...
Even children were celebrated for taking on the Beast. On January 12, 1765, the Beast attacked10-year-old Jacques Portefaix and a group of seven friends ranging from ages eight to 12. However, Portefaix led a counterattack with sticks driving off the creature. The children were rewarded by Louis XV, and Portefaix was given an education paid by the ...
On September 20, 1765, Francois Antoine, the king’s 71-year-old gunbearer, and his nephew shot a large wolf near an abbey at Chazes which was assumed to be the Beast. Antoine was awarded with money and titles and the corpse of the animal was stuffed and sent to the royal court. But attacks started again in December, according to an account in the 1...
The Beast was consistently described by eyewitnesses as something other than a typical wolf. It was as large as a calf or sometimes a horse. Its coat was reddish gray with a long, strong panther-like tail. The head and legs were short-haired and the color of a deer. It had a black stripe on its back and “talons” on its feet. Many drawings of the Be...
Historians, scientists, pseudoscientists and conspiracy theorists have all proposed theories about what the Beast was. Among the suspects: a Eurasian wolf, an armored war dog, a striped hyena, a lion, some kind of prehistoric predator, a werewolf, a dog-wolf hybrid and a human. Of the candidates the most fanciful is the werewolf. Also unrealistic i...
Some depictions of the Beast—and the animal slain by Chastel—suggest it resembled a striped hyena. It is possible that a striped hyena may have been in a person’s private holding and then escaped. Since it was not native to France, it would have appeared unusual. However, striped hyenas are not known to attack humans.
Karl-Hans Taake, a biologist and author of The Gévaudan Tragedy: The Disastrous Campaign of a Deported ‘Beast,'argues the Beast may have been an immature male lion. Like the hyena, it is possible that a lion escaped from captivity. The Beast reportedly was an ambush hunter that seized prey by the neck and could possibly decapitate a victim. A lion,...
Among the theories considered most credible is that wolves perpetuated the attacks. As Smith tells Smithsonian, “Gévaudan had a serious wolf infestation.” He believes that large lone wolves were attacking individual communities across the region or that it was a wolf pack. Wolves are native to the region and had attacked humans before—some statisti...
- Joseph A. Williams
The beast was bound to be perceived as strange and anomalous because its ravages coincided with the emergence of modernity itself.Expertly situated within the social, intellectual, cultural, and political currents of French life in the 1760s, Monsters of the Gévaudan will engage a wide range of readers with both its recasting of the beast narrative and its compelling insights into the allure ...
Jun 26, 2017 · June 26, 2017. The beast of Gévaudan terrorized French villagers for three years, killing around 100 and injuring nearly 300. Wikimedia Commons. The monster’s first victim was Jeanne Boulet, a ...
- Lorraine Boissoneault
On August 11, 1765, the beast attacked a young woman named Marie-Jeanne Valet as she and her sister were making their way across the River Desges. Valet quickly took a bayonet attached to a pole and stabbed its chest with the weapon. The beast escaped and Valet became famous as the “Maid of Gévaudan” and the “Amazon.”.
Jul 17, 2019 · First published: July 17, 2019 by Chloe Govan 2. By Chloe Govan. Inside the legend of the murderous creature and the cross-dressing soldiers enlisted to defeat it. The year was 1764, and villagers across the land were hysterical with fear over the mysterious “Beast of Gévaudan” and its “reign of terror”. A sharp-toothed, wolf-like ...
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Dec 24, 2017 · Introduction: The beast and its world -- Sounding the alarm -- Monsters real and imagined -- Digesting defeat -- A star is born -- The perils of publicity -- Heroes and skeptics -- Exaggerated expectations and extraordinary endings -- Narrative echoes past and present -- Conclusion: The beast in history -- Note on place names Print version record
