The Beast Of Gévaudan

[lordmongrove]

But no one said males don’t hunt,just that females are the prides primary hunters.

Yes they are.

 

[lordmongrove]

The Dark Histories podcast didn't describe any such attacks, but Ben did say the beast appeared wary of cattle and had been chased away by oxen on a couple of occasions.
I'm fairly convinced that it was a series of wolf, wolf-dog hybrid and the occasional wild boar attack that gave rise to the legend.
The creature Chastel shot was very likely a wolf-dog hybrid he had bred himself for its size and hunting abilities. Whilst he didn't receive the full reward he was expecting, due to the king's hunter already having bagged that for killing a huge wolf, Chastel still gained a sizeable recompense and became a local folk hero, which probably made him feel that killing one of his own prized hybrid animals had been worthwhile.

There are some great books on the subject that details accounts taken at the time.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gévaudan-T...=tragedy+of+the+gevaudan,stripbooks,95&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beast-Were...refix=beast+of+gevaudan,stripbooks,163&sr=1-4

 

[lordmongrove]

The Dark Histories podcast didn't describe any such attacks, but Ben did say the beast appeared wary of cattle and had been chased away by oxen on a couple of occasions.
I'm fairly convinced that it was a series of wolf, wolf-dog hybrid and the occasional wild boar attack that gave rise to the legend.
The creature Chastel shot was very likely a wolf-dog hybrid he had bred himself for its size and hunting abilities. Whilst he didn't receive the full reward he was expecting, due to the king's hunter already having bagged that for killing a huge wolf, Chastel still gained a sizeable recompense and became a local folk hero, which probably made him feel that killing one of his own prized hybrid animals had been worthwhile.

Wolves simply don't kill in the way the beast did. The don't roar, they don't have long tails with a tassel on the end. They don't kill with claws. One women who tried to rescue her son that the beast had in her jaws. She leapt on it's back and tried to squeeze it's balls. She said it was a donkey it was the size of a donkey and she rode it in the struggle. It scalped her with it's claws and killed the boy. That's not any kind of canid.

 

[Druk]

Yes they are.

Correct,that’s what RaM said but your opening words were…….”That’s not true……:::”

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Wolves simply don't kill in the way the beast did. The don't roar, they don't have long tails with a tassel on the end. They don't kill with claws. One women who tried to rescue her son that the beast had in her jaws. She leapt on it's back and tried to squeeze it's balls. She said it was a donkey it was the size of a donkey and she rode it in the struggle. It scalped her with it's claws and killed the boy. That's not any kind of canid.

That raises a few issues. Firstly, perhaps Ben from Dark Histories was slightly selective in which accounts of the attacks he used? He does state at the start of the podcast though that his references were the original French reports, rather than any bastardised and sensationalised second or third-hand accounts.
Next, your account reinforces the hypothesis that there was no single beast, but a series of attacks perpetrated by different animals. If the woman described the animal as a donkey, I suspect it was a donkey. The following video shows how aggressive donkeys can be and states that they used to be kept to protect livestock from wolf or wild dog attacks. If a country woman, familiar with the local fauna says donkey, then I'm willing to believe her. Donkeys are, of course, herbivores and wouldn't kill for meat, but they sure as hell could cause some serious wounds, especially on a child. If the creature was rabid (rabies was widespread in continental Europe at the time) then it would act with enormous ferocity.

Attacks leagues apart on or around the same time throughout the Lozère region suggest strongly that an entire menagerie had become opportunist man-hunters. Wolves naturally, specially bred or inadvertent wolf-dog hybrids, wild boar and now I'll add at least one feral and possibly rabid donkey to the mix. I'm not saying that an ABC is completely impossible, just that Occam's razor demands we consider more plausible explanations, such as those proffered by the Dark Histories podcast.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Oh and here's a donkey roaring - around the 47 second mark:

 

[lordmongrove]

That raises a few issues. Firstly, perhaps Ben from Dark Histories was slightly selective in which accounts of the attacks he used? He does state at the start of the podcast though that his references were the original French reports, rather than any bastardised and sensationalised second or third-hand accounts.
Next, your account reinforces the hypothesis that there was no single beast, but a series of attacks perpetrated by different animals. If the woman described the animal as a donkey, I suspect it was a donkey. The following video shows how aggressive donkeys can be and states that they used to be kept to protect livestock from wolf or wild dog attacks. If a country woman, familiar with the local fauna says donkey, then I'm willing to believe her. Donkeys are, of course, herbivores and wouldn't kill for meat, but they sure as hell could cause some serious wounds, especially on a child. If the creature was rabid (rabies was widespread in continental Europe at the time) then it would act with enormous ferocity.

Attacks leagues apart on or around the same time throughout the Lozère region suggest strongly that an entire menagerie had become opportunist man-hunters. Wolves naturally, specially bred or inadvertent wolf-dog hybrids, wild boar and now I'll add at least one feral and possibly rabid donkey to the mix. I'm not saying that an ABC is completely impossible, just that Occam's razor demands we consider more plausible explanations, such as those proffered by the Dark Histories podcast.

Hi again, no she said it was as large as a donkey, she straddled it trying to save her son which it was trying to eat.. At the time the rich upper classes had allot of private zoos on the estates of French chateaus. There was even a big market that sold imported exotic animals. The Beast of Gevaudan is just the most well known case outside of France. There were many other 'beasts' loose in the 18th and early 19th century France, including one at Limousin.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Hi again, no she said it was as large as a donkey, she straddled it trying to save her son which it was trying to eat.. At the time the rich upper classes had allot of private zoos on the estates of French chateaus. There was even a big market that sold imported exotic animals. The Beast of Gevaudan is just the most well known case outside of France. There were many other 'beasts' loose in the 18th and early 19th century France, including one at Limousin.

Fair enough. I guess, 260 years after the events, we'll never know for sure which animal(s) carried out the attacks and all we can do is speculate (which is fun mind you!).

 

[Steven]

And it's also remarkable how frequent are the descriptions of a huge red and striped canid, different of a wolf.

Was thinking about this in relation to the Bengal Tiger, by way of the famous Tipu's Tiger. Though that particular automaton was built later than the Gévaudan attacks, apparently it was only one of a series - similar in theme - made earlier than the 1790s. Tipu Sultan himself 'closely collaborated with French troops', as it happens.