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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 ...
- What Is The Beast of Gévaudan?
- Characteristics
- History
- Explanations of The Creature
The Beast of Gévaudan was a monstrous, wolf-like creature who turned the mid eighteenth century into a terrifying bloodbath for the people of Gévaudan, a small province in south-central France. Although the Beast claimed 80-200 lives and left numerous eye witnesses in the wake of his attacks, he was never positively identified as any known predator...
Physical Description
Eye witness accounts of the Beast yield a motley specimen, a patchwork of traits from wolves, lions, hyenas, bears, dogs, and panthers. By all accounts, the Beast was huge. Many witnesses compared it to a small horse or a calf. The Beast’s hair varied in color. Usually, its base coat was reddish-brown, but its markings varied from a black stripe down its spine to patches of gray hair to spots on its hindquarters. It had long, vicious fangs and claws unlike any of the known predators in the re...
Behavior
The Beast was feared not just because of his terrible power but also because of his unusually brutal hunting techniques. Although he did prefer to attack victims when they were alone, he was clearly unafraid of adult humans, being six times more likely to attack an adult than your typical wolf. His attacks were almost always a surprise; he would appear suddenly from the bushes or even drop down on his victims from above, and he seemed to prefer broad daylight to the typical predator’s cloak o...
Killings
The Beast’s paws are bloodied with the death of 60-200 men, women, and children in the region of Gévaudan. His first attack took place in the summer of 1764, when he charged a woman who was out tending to her cattle. Fortunately, the woman’s herd included several bulls, who managed to fend off the Beast, but the his next victim, a 14-year old child, was not so lucky. Within months, the monster had claimed so many lives that mass hysteria began to set in. The hysteria was fueled by the Beast’s...
Hunts
Soon after the Beast’s killing spree began, local men began taking up arms against the monster that plagued them. In less than six months, these men had declared all-out war against the local wolf population, forming large hunting parties called “beats.” In total, these hunting parties would kill over 100 wolves before the hysteria subsided. In October of 1764, Captain Duhamel organized his soldiers into one of the largest hunting parties that ever trailed the beast. Fifty-seven men took on t...
Art and Literature
During the Beast’s reign, numerous artistic renderings were made of him, both to warn the public about him and to aid hunters in identifying him. He was a regular character in newspapers and wanted posters. Since his demise, the Beast has become a famous figure in werewolf lore. He made his literary debut with gothic novels like La Bête du Gévaudan and Wolves: An Old Story Retold. Since then, he has been handed down into contemporary werewolf media, such as the feature film Brotherhood of the...
Perhaps even more than he grips the imagination of paranormal fiction fans, the Beast fascinates historians and cryptozoologists. Unlike other “mythical” creatures, the monster who ravaged Gévaudan comes with a solid historical record. There’s no doubt that something was responsible for all the carnage, and scholars love to speculate about the true...
May 28, 2020 · Between 1764 and 1767 a mysterious creature called the Beast ravaged the rural region of Gévaudan, France. About 100 men, women and children reportedly fell victim to La Bête du Gévaudan.
- Joseph A. Williams
May 15, 2022 · The Beast of Gevaudan killed and harmed hundreds of people in 18th-century France, terrorizing the whole nation. Read on to discover more about the mysterious beast.
Jul 17, 2019 · 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”.
Oct 15, 2021 · Between 1764 and 1767, something evil stalked the hills of Gévaudan, France. The so-called Bête du Gévaudan, or Beast of Gévaudan, attacked hundreds of people, often tearing out their throats. No one knew what it was — or how to stop it.
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Oct 21, 2021 · As whispers of a werewolf began to circulate, the deadly creature became known as la bête, the beast. (These imaginary beasts fueled nightmares around the world.) It would terrorize Gévaudan...
