Cryptids – Beast of Gévaudan

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The Beast of Gévaudan was allegedly a terrifying wolf like creature from Europe, more precisely Gévaudan in south-central France (modern-day Lozére). The animal terrorized the people of this region from 1764-1767. Incredibly enough this wolf-like beast is estimated to have attacked as many as 210 people, mostly women and children. Out of the 210 attacks 113 resulted in death and 98 of the victims were partly eaten. The creature was feared all over France and an enormous amount of manpower was used to try to kill the creature. Many civilians, nobles, royal huntsmen and even the army tried to kill the beast.

On September 21st 1765 François Antoine shot an impressive wolf specimen measuring 1.7 meters (5.6 ft) long and weighing 60 kilograms (130 lb). It was widely believed that this creature was the Beast of Gévaudan but not for long. On December 2nd 1765 2 children were injured by a creature said to resemble the beast, but this wasn’t the end dozens of deaths followed. The killings first seized a couple of years later on June 19th 1767 when the local hunter Jean Chastel shot a beast both he and the locals believed was the creature. Chastel’s family tradition insists that when he saw the beast it was staring at him while he was praying. He didn’t just fire his firearm but finished his prayer and shot the wolf afterwards. This story is most likely more fiction than reality. But nevertheless the killings stopped.

That story has led some people to theorize that Chastel was in league with the beast and that he may have trained it. But what was this ferocious real life creature? At the time of the attacks people came up with explanations to the beast’s identity, some believed it to be a huge wolf others that it was a punishment from God. A newer explanation suggests that the animal was a cross between a wild wolf and a domestic dog or maybe even a hyena. But there is another theory that is more unlikely but definitely interesting! You see the Beast of Gévaudan was described by some witnesses as having hooves. This had led some cryptozoologists to believe that the monster in fact was a mesonychid a group of carnivorous mammals with hooves that mainstream scientists assure have been extinct for many, many years…

The Beast of Gévaudan has been absent for a few hundred years. The killings have stopped as well as the sightings but still many people have been fascinated by this tragic but mindboggling incident in French history. Sadly I fear we won’t ever come up with an explanation for the Beast of Gévaudan that is 100% correct. But luckily there are loads of theories to stimulate our imaginations… If you are interested in these kind of creatures be sure to check out the links to other cryptid articles below:

El Chupacabra
Loch Ness Monster
Nandi Bear
Mokele Mbembe
Bigfoot
Beast of Gévaudan
Megalania
The Mothman
The Ropen