The Beast of Gévaudan

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From Wikimedia Commons

During the 1760’s sightings of a wolf like monster became the most feared killing creature in Gévaudan, France. In the online article, The Cryptid Zoo: Beast of Gévaudan author Jamie Hall, writes about some of them.  According to Hall, the creature known as, “La Bèstia de Gévaudan”, and it terrorized the former province of Gévaudan France.  The beast first recorded attack was during the summer of 1764. A young woman was tending to her cattle near a city called Langogne in the eastern part of Gévaudan, when she saw the beast coming towards her. However the bulls in the herd charged the beast away. The next first official victim of the beast was 40-year-old Emmet Mardén who was killed near the town of Langogne. (Hall, Werewolves) 

After both encounters according to Jamie Hall, eyewitnesses were able to describe the wolf-like animal. Witnesses said that the beast was quadruped the size of a horse reminding them of a bear, hyena, and wolf all at the same time. It has a long wolf-like nose, and a mouth so large that you can see all of its teeth. Its neck is long and strong, the tail resembled a panther and its’ so strong that the beast uses it as a weapon. The beast’s feet are like cloven hooves. Some people believe that the beast was a werewolf, or even a shape-shifter. The beast's fur was the color red and its back had a streak of black. It also had a terrible smell. (Hall, Werewolves).

Image by Beastwarlock27 from deviantart.net

From July 1764, to June 1767, wolves terrorized the regions of Gévaudan France attacking 210 people, which 113 were killed. During October of 1764 two hunters reported spotting the beast and shooting it from a distance. The wolf fell to the ground then immediately rose to its feet, they then fired a second shot into the creature and again it fell to the ground again. This time the creature rose slowly but managed to get away. As it escaped the hunters fired two more shots into the beast and each time the beast would fall to the ground only to rise again. The hunters saw the blood trail and were sure that the beast was dead.  Instead of finding the body of the beast, they found the body of several more victims. (C. H. D. Clarke, Hunting)

 The people of Gévaudan were tired of living in fear and joined together in a hunt to kill the beast which consisted of several royal huntsmen, nobles, and civilians. This action was taken by the King of France, Louis XV. The King hired Jaques Portefaix and eight other people to kill the beast. They killed all the wolves they could find, but the attacks continued, and wolf hunters were replaced by other professionals. The last beast on record was killed by Jean Chastel, on June 19, 1767. Chastel killed the beast with a silver bullet, took the corpus and displayed it for everyone to see. - Since then Gévaudan has not seen or been attacked by any wolf like creatures. (Waite, Killings)

The question everyone is asking now is if the beast is still at large, or is it hiding, waiting to come back and take over Gévaudan, France? I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Image from Brotherhood of the Wolf. Shared by Newanimal.org.

Works Cited:

“Beast of Gevaudan”. Wikipedia. N.p. Web. 8 Oct 2013.

Clarke, C. H. D. “The Beast of Gevaudan”. Wolves. N.p. Web. 1971. 8 Oct 2013.

Godfrey, Linda S. “20 Years of Beastliness.” Lindagodfrey’s Blog. Wordpress.com, 31 Dec. 2011. Web. 09 Oct. 2013.

“The Cryptid Zoo: Beast of Gevaudan”. New Animal. N.p. Web. 2009. 15 Oct 2013.Godfrey,

“Unknown Creatures: Beast of Gevaudan”. Unknown Creatures.N.p.n.d. Web. 16 Oct 2013

  Waite, Mitchelle. "Cryptozoology--The Beast of Gevaudan (France)." Examiner.com. Clarity Digital Group LLC, n.p. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

Links for Further Research:

Unknown Explorers

http://www.unknownexplorers.com/beastofgevaudan.php

Here is what happened during the times of the beast.

Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7kyYexEj-Q

This video gives you the story of the beast

Unexplained Monsters

http://www.unexplainedmonsters.com/beast_of_gevaudan/beast-of-gevaudan.html

Here is some “facts” from various websites.