Beast of Gévaudan
Encyclopedia
The Beast of Gévaudan is a name given to man-eating
wolf-like animals alleged to have terrorized the former province
of Gévaudan
(modern day département of Lozère
and part of Haute-Loire
), in the Margeride
Mountains in south-central France from 1764 to 1767 over an area stretching 90 by. The beasts were consistently described by eyewitnesses as having formidable teeth and immense tails. Their fur had a reddish tinge, and was said to have emitted an unbearable odour. They killed their victims by tearing at their throats with their teeth. The number of victims differs according to source. De Beaufort (1987) estimated 210 attacks, resulting in 113 deaths and 49 injuries; 98 of the victims killed were partly eaten. An enormous amount of manpower and resources was used in the hunting of the animals, including the army, conscripted civilians, several nobles, and a number of royal huntsmen. All animals operated outside of ordinary wolf packs, though eyewitness accounts indicate that they sometimes were accompanied by a smaller female, which did not take part in the attacks. The story is a popular subject for cryptozoologists
.
saw a large, lupine animal emerge from the trees and charge directly toward her, but it was driven away by the farm's bulls.
On June 30th, the first official victim of the beast was Jeanne Boulet, 14, killed near the village of Les Hubacs, not far from Langogne
.
The beast also seemed to target people over farm animals; many times it would attack someone while cattle were in the same field.
On January 12th 1765, Jacques Portefaix and seven friends, including two girls, were attacked by the Beast; they drove it away by staying grouped together. Their fight caught the attention of King Louis XV
, who awarded 300 livres
to Portefaix, and another 350 livres to be shared among the others. He also directed that Portefaix be educated at the state's expense. The King had taken a personal interest in the attacks, and sent professional wolf-hunters, Jean Charles Marc Antoine Vaumesle d'Enneval and his son Jean-François, to kill the beast. They arrived in Clermont-Ferrand
on February 17th 1765, bringing with them eight bloodhound
s which had been trained in wolf-hunting. They spent several months hunting wolves
, believing them to be the beast. However, the attacks continued, and by June 1765 they were replaced by François Antoine (also wrongly named Antoine de Beauterne
), the king's harquebus bearer and Lieutenant of the Hunt. He arrived in Le Malzieu on June 22nd.
On September 21st 1765, Antoine killed a large grey wolf measuring 80 centimetres (31.5 in) high, 1.7 metres (5.6 ft) long, and weighing 60 kilograms (132.3 lb). The wolf was called Le Loup de Chazes, after the nearby Abbaye des Chazes. It was agreed locally that this was quite large for a wolf. Antoine officially stated: "We declare by the present report signed from our hand, we never saw a big wolf that could be compared to this one. Which is why we estimate this could be the fearsome beast that caused so much damage." The animal was further identified as the culprit by attack survivors, who recognized the scars on the creature's body, inflicted by victims defending themselves. The wolf was stuffed
and sent to Versailles where Antoine was received as a hero, receiving a large sum of money as well as titles and awards.
However, on December 2nd 1765, another beast emerged in la Besseyre Saint Mary, severely injuring two children. Dozens more deaths are reported to have followed.
, at the Sogne d'Auvers on June 19th 1767. Later novelists (Chevalley, 1936) introduced the idea that Chastel shot it with a blessed
silver bullet
of his own manufacture. Upon being opened, the animal's stomach was shown to contain human remains.
Controversy surrounds Chastel's account of his success. Family tradition claimed that, when part of a large hunting party, he sat down to read the Bible
and pray
. During one of the prayers the creature came into sight, staring at Chastel, who finished his prayer before shooting the beast. This would have been aberrant behavior for the beast, as it would usually attack on sight. Some believe this is proof Chastel participated with the beast, or even that he had trained it. However, the story of the prayer may simply have been invented out of religious
or romantic motives.
Various explanations were offered at the time of the attacks as to the beast's identity. Suggestions ranged from exaggerated accounts of wolf attacks, to a werewolf
, all the way to the beast being a punishment from God
. Jay M. Smith, in his book Monsters of the Gévaudan, suggests that the deaths attributed to the beast were more likely the work of a number of wolves or packs of wolves.
Another explanation is that the beasts were some type of domestic dog or crosses between wild wolves and domestic dogs, on account of their large size and unusual coloration. This speculation has found support from naturalist
Michel Louis, author of the book La bête du Gévaudan: L'innocence des loups (English: The Beast of Gévaudan: The innocence of wolves) and an episode of Animal X. Louis wrote that Jean Chastel was frequently seen with a large red coloured mastiff
, which he believes sired the beast. He explains that the beast's resistance to bullets may have been due to it wearing the armoured hide of a young boar, thus also accounting for the unusual colour. He dismisses hyenas as culprits, as the beast itself had 42 teeth, while hyenas have 34.
Certain cryptozoologists suggest that the Beast might be a surviving remnants of a Mesonychid
seeing how some witnesses described it as a huge wolf having hooves rather than paws and it was larger than any normal sized wolf.:
In October 2009, the History Channel aired a documentary called The Real Wolfman which argued that the beast was an exotic animal in the form of an Asian Hyena
, a long haired species of Hyaenidae now extinct in Europe.
traveled through the region in 1878 and described the incident in his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes
, in which he claims that at least one of the creatures was a wolf:
In the Patricia Briggs
novel Hunting Ground, the Beast is a French werewolf named Jean Chastel, who has a penchant for hunting women and weak people.
There are two recent films based on the attacks of the Beast: Brotherhood of the Wolf
(2001), directed by Christophe Gans
, and La bête du Gévaudan (2003), directed by Patrick Volson.
Brotherhood of the Wolf took several creative liberties in order to make the story more entertaining. Rather than a wolf or wolf-dog crossbreed, the movie portrays the creature as the offspring of a lion crossbred with another unknown big cat, equipped with armor to make it seem more threatening. The Beast is the instrument of the film's titular secret organization, which attempts to undermine public confidence in the king and ultimately take over the country by stating that the Beast is a divine punishment for the King's indulgence of the modern embrace of science over religion.
In episode six of the 2011 MTV drama Teen Wolf
, the character Allison learns that her werewolf hunting family was responsible for slaughtering the Beast of Gévaudan while doing a research project for school.
Man-eater
Man-eater is a colloquial term for an animal that preys upon humans. This does not include scavenging. Although human beings can be attacked by many kinds of animals, man-eaters are those that have incorporated human flesh into their usual diet...
wolf-like animals alleged to have terrorized the former province
Provinces of France
The Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the establishment of the département system superseded provinces. The provinces of France were roughly equivalent to the historic counties of England...
of Gévaudan
Gévaudan
Gévaudan is a historical area of France, nowadays situated in Lozère département. It took its name from the Gabali, a Gallic tribe subordinate to the Arverni.- History :...
(modern day département of Lozère
Lozère
Lozère , is a department in southeast France near the Massif Central, named after Mont Lozère.- History :Lozère is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
and part of Haute-Loire
Haute-Loire
Haute-Loire is a department in south-central France named after the Loire River.-History:Haute-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
), in the Margeride
Margeride
Margeride is a mountainous region of France, situated in the Massif Central, inside the départements of Cantal, Haute-Loire and Lozère.-Location:...
Mountains in south-central France from 1764 to 1767 over an area stretching 90 by. The beasts were consistently described by eyewitnesses as having formidable teeth and immense tails. Their fur had a reddish tinge, and was said to have emitted an unbearable odour. They killed their victims by tearing at their throats with their teeth. The number of victims differs according to source. De Beaufort (1987) estimated 210 attacks, resulting in 113 deaths and 49 injuries; 98 of the victims killed were partly eaten. An enormous amount of manpower and resources was used in the hunting of the animals, including the army, conscripted civilians, several nobles, and a number of royal huntsmen. All animals operated outside of ordinary wolf packs, though eyewitness accounts indicate that they sometimes were accompanied by a smaller female, which did not take part in the attacks. The story is a popular subject for cryptozoologists
Cryptozoology
Cryptozoology refers to the search for animals whose existence has not been proven...
.
History
Attacks
The first attack that provided a description of one of the creatures took place on June 1 1764. A woman from LangogneLangogne
Langogne is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France.-External links:* *...
saw a large, lupine animal emerge from the trees and charge directly toward her, but it was driven away by the farm's bulls.
On June 30th, the first official victim of the beast was Jeanne Boulet, 14, killed near the village of Les Hubacs, not far from Langogne
Langogne
Langogne is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France.-External links:* *...
.
The beast also seemed to target people over farm animals; many times it would attack someone while cattle were in the same field.
On January 12th 1765, Jacques Portefaix and seven friends, including two girls, were attacked by the Beast; they drove it away by staying grouped together. Their fight caught the attention of King Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
, who awarded 300 livres
French livre
The livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins.-Etymology:...
to Portefaix, and another 350 livres to be shared among the others. He also directed that Portefaix be educated at the state's expense. The King had taken a personal interest in the attacks, and sent professional wolf-hunters, Jean Charles Marc Antoine Vaumesle d'Enneval and his son Jean-François, to kill the beast. They arrived in Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne region, with a population of 140,700 . Its metropolitan area had 409,558 inhabitants at the 1999 census. It is the prefecture of the Puy-de-Dôme department...
on February 17th 1765, bringing with them eight bloodhound
Bloodhound
The Bloodhound is a large breed of dog which, while originally bred to hunt deer and wild boar, was later bred specifically to track human beings. It is a scenthound, tracking by smell, as opposed to a sighthound, which tracks using vision. It is famed for its ability to discern human odors even...
s which had been trained in wolf-hunting. They spent several months hunting wolves
Eurasian Wolf
The Eurasian Wolf , also known as the, European, Common or Forest Wolf is a subspecies of grey wolf which has the largest range among wolf subspecies and is the most common in Europe and Asia, ranging through Mongolia, China, Russia, Scandinavia, Western Europe and the Himalayan Mountains...
, believing them to be the beast. However, the attacks continued, and by June 1765 they were replaced by François Antoine (also wrongly named Antoine de Beauterne
Antoine de Beauterne
M. François Antoine, Officer of the Royal Bedchamber, Knight Equerry of the Royal Military Order of Saint Louis, served as Gun-Bearer to the King and Lieutenant of the Hunt under Louis XV of France, and is most notable as having pursued and slain the Beast of Gévaudan, its mate, and its whelps...
), the king's harquebus bearer and Lieutenant of the Hunt. He arrived in Le Malzieu on June 22nd.
Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...
and sent to Versailles where Antoine was received as a hero, receiving a large sum of money as well as titles and awards.
However, on December 2nd 1765, another beast emerged in la Besseyre Saint Mary, severely injuring two children. Dozens more deaths are reported to have followed.
Death of the second beast
The killing of the creature that eventually marked the end of the attacks is credited to a local hunter, Jean ChastelJean Chastel
Jean Chastel was a local farmer and inn-keeper, noted for killing the Beast of Gévaudan on June 19, 1767 at Mont Mouchet. According to tradition and several subsequent novels, he positioned himself on a prime spot to get first bids on the beast and opened the Bible...
, at the Sogne d'Auvers on June 19th 1767. Later novelists (Chevalley, 1936) introduced the idea that Chastel shot it with a blessed
Blessing
A blessing, is the infusion of something with holiness, spiritual redemption, divine will, or one's hope or approval.- Etymology and Germanic paganism :...
silver bullet
Silver bullet
In folklore, the silver bullet is supposed to be the only kind of bullet for firearms that is effective against a werewolf, witch, or other monsters...
of his own manufacture. Upon being opened, the animal's stomach was shown to contain human remains.
Controversy surrounds Chastel's account of his success. Family tradition claimed that, when part of a large hunting party, he sat down to read the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and pray
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
. During one of the prayers the creature came into sight, staring at Chastel, who finished his prayer before shooting the beast. This would have been aberrant behavior for the beast, as it would usually attack on sight. Some believe this is proof Chastel participated with the beast, or even that he had trained it. However, the story of the prayer may simply have been invented out of religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
or romantic motives.
Identity of the beasts
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
, all the way to the beast being a punishment from God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. Jay M. Smith, in his book Monsters of the Gévaudan, suggests that the deaths attributed to the beast were more likely the work of a number of wolves or packs of wolves.
Suggested species
Richard H. Thompson, author of Wolf-Hunting in France in the Reign of Louis XV: The Beast of the Gévaudan, contended that there can be satisfactory explanations based on large wolves for all the Beast's depredations.Another explanation is that the beasts were some type of domestic dog or crosses between wild wolves and domestic dogs, on account of their large size and unusual coloration. This speculation has found support from naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
Michel Louis, author of the book La bête du Gévaudan: L'innocence des loups (English: The Beast of Gévaudan: The innocence of wolves) and an episode of Animal X. Louis wrote that Jean Chastel was frequently seen with a large red coloured mastiff
Dogue de Bordeaux
The Dogue de Bordeaux, Bordeaux Mastiff or French Mastiff or Bordeauxdog is a breed of dog that is strong, powerful, and imposing. The Dogue de Bordeaux is one of the most ancient French breeds. They are a typical brachycephalic molossoid type. Bordeaux are very powerful dogs, with a very muscular...
, which he believes sired the beast. He explains that the beast's resistance to bullets may have been due to it wearing the armoured hide of a young boar, thus also accounting for the unusual colour. He dismisses hyenas as culprits, as the beast itself had 42 teeth, while hyenas have 34.
Certain cryptozoologists suggest that the Beast might be a surviving remnants of a Mesonychid
Mesonychid
Mesonychia are an extinct order of medium to large-sized carnivorous mammals that were closely related to artiodactyls and to cetaceans...
seeing how some witnesses described it as a huge wolf having hooves rather than paws and it was larger than any normal sized wolf.:
In October 2009, the History Channel aired a documentary called The Real Wolfman which argued that the beast was an exotic animal in the form of an Asian Hyena
Hyena
Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
, a long haired species of Hyaenidae now extinct in Europe.
Other "Beasts"
The cases of other "Beasts" - always wolves - mainly occurred until the nineteenth century are less rare than it would be thought, and not only interested in France. Here is a list (incomplete):- Beast of Gubbio (Italy), 1220-22;
- Beasts of Paris (France), 1422;
- Beasts of Paris (France), 1439;
- Beasts of Paris (France), 1447;
- Beast of Riviera Benacense (Italy), 1457-58;
- Beast of Sabbio Churches (Italy), 1475;
- Beasts of Lugano (Switzerland), 1500;
- Beast of Bovegno (Italy), 1510;
- Beast of Marmirolo (Italy), 1518;
- Beasts of Bedburg (Germany), 1590;
- Beasts of Varese ( Italy), 1593;
- Beasts of Toulouze (France), 1605;
- Beasts of St. John of Casarsa (Italy), 1625-33;
- Beast of Caen (France), 1631-33;
- Beast of Evreux (France), 1633-34;
- Beast of Ventimiglia (Italy), 1641;
- Beasts of Gâtinais (France), 1655;
- Beast of Fontainebleau (France), 1669;
- Beasts of Oberviechtach (Germany), 1677-80;
- Beast of Ansbach (Germany), 1685;
- Beast of Orléans (France), 1691-1702;
- Beast of the Benais (France), 1693-94;
- Beast of Palazzolo Acreide (Italy), 1695;
- Beasts of Varese (Italy), 1704;
- Beast of Orléans (France), 1709;
- Beasts of Varese (Italy), 1714;
- Beast of Ghemme (Italy), 1728;
- Beast of the Auxerres (France), 1731-34;
- Beasts of Neuville-les-Dames (France), 1738;
- Beast of Benais (France), 1751;
- Beasts of Vienne (France), 1751;
- Beasts of the Lyonnais (France), 1754-56;
- Beast of the Avallon (France), 1755;
- Beast of Chaves (Portugal), 1760;
- Beast of Sarlat (France), 1766;
- Beasts of the Perigord (France), 1766;
- Beast of Cusago (Italy), 1792;
- Beasts of Nièvre (France), 1794;
- Beast of Chateauneuf-Brinon (France), 1796;
- Beast of Veyreau (France), 1799;
- Beast of Albiolo (Italy), 1801;
- Beast of Busto Arsizio (Italy), 1801;
- Beast of Novedrate (Italy), 1801;
- Beasts of the Auxerres (France), 1807;
- Beast of the Benais (France), 1808;
- Beast of Como (Italy) , 1808;
- Beasts of Lenta (Italy), 1809-15;
- Beast of the Cévennes (France), 1809-16;
- Beasts of Roasio (Italy), 1810-14;
- Beasts of Buronzo (Italy), 1811-15;
- Beast of Breno (Italy), 1812-13;
- Beast of Orléans (France), 1814;
- Beasts of Balocco (Italy), 1814;
- Beast of the Benais (France), 1814;
- Beast of Nettelhoven-Dernau (Germany), 1815;
- Beast of Trecate (Italy), 1815;
- Beasts of San Remo (Italy), 1815-16;
- Beast of the Auxerres (France), 1817;
- Beast of Bergamo (Italy), 1817;
- Beast of Gysinge (Sweden), 1820-21;
- Beast of Corfinio (Italy), 1829;
- Beast of Karelia (Finland), 1831-32;
- Beast of Pacentro (Italy), 1839;
- Beasts of Tampere (Finland), 1877;
- Beasts of Turku (Finland), 1880-81;
- Beasts of Kaunas (Lithuania), 1916-17;
- Beasts of Voronezhskiy (USSR), 1920;
- Beasts of Kuibishevskaya Oblast (USSR), 1935;
- Beasts of the Minsk Oblast(USSR), 1935;
- Beasts of Lyubanskiy (USSR), 1936-37;
- Beasts of Domanovichskiy (USSR), 1940;
- Beast of the Kirovskiy Oblast (USSR), 1944-45;
- Beasts of the Akhalkalakskiy-Bogranovskiy (USSR), 1945;
- Beasts of Dagestan (USSR), 1945;
- Beasts of Vladimirskaya Oblast (USSR), 1945-47;
- Beasts of Polenovskiy (USSR), 1946;
- Beasts of Ludinovskiy (USSR), 1946;
- Beasts of Kaluzhskaya Oblast (USSR), 1947;
- Beast of Losinoostrovskoye (USSR), 1949;
- Beast of the Kirovskaya Oblast (USSR), 1951-52;
- Beasts of Hazaribagh (India), 1981;
- Beasts of Ashta (India), 1985-86;
- Beasts of Khost (Afghanistan), 2005;
- Beasts of Naka (Afghanistan), 2005;
- Beasts of Vali-Asr (Iran), 2005.
In the arts and popular culture
Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
traveled through the region in 1878 and described the incident in his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes
Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes
Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes is one of Robert Louis Stevenson's earliest published works and is considered a pioneering classic of outdoor literature.-Background:...
, in which he claims that at least one of the creatures was a wolf:
For this was the land of the ever-memorable Beast, the Napoleon Bonaparte of wolves. What a career was his! He lived ten months at free quarters in Gévaudan and Vivarais; he ate women and children and "shepherdesses celebrated for their beauty"; he pursued armed horsemen; he has been seen at broad noonday chasing a post-chaise and outrider along the king's high-road, and chaise and outrider fleeing before him at the gallop. He was placarded like a political offender, and ten thousand francs were offered for his head. And yet, when he was shot and sent to Versailles, behold! a common wolf, and even small for that.
In the Patricia Briggs
Patricia Briggs
Patricia Briggs is an American author, well-known for the Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series. Briggs was born in Butte, Montana, and lived in various cities in the Pacific Northwest...
novel Hunting Ground, the Beast is a French werewolf named Jean Chastel, who has a penchant for hunting women and weak people.
There are two recent films based on the attacks of the Beast: Brotherhood of the Wolf
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Brotherhood of the Wolf is a 2001 French film directed by Christophe Gans, starring Samuel Le Bihan and Mark Dacascos, and written by Gans and Stéphane Cabel...
(2001), directed by Christophe Gans
Christophe Gans
Christophe Gans is a French film director, writer, and producer who specializes in horror, fantasy movies and video game adaptations.-Biography:...
, and La bête du Gévaudan (2003), directed by Patrick Volson.
Brotherhood of the Wolf took several creative liberties in order to make the story more entertaining. Rather than a wolf or wolf-dog crossbreed, the movie portrays the creature as the offspring of a lion crossbred with another unknown big cat, equipped with armor to make it seem more threatening. The Beast is the instrument of the film's titular secret organization, which attempts to undermine public confidence in the king and ultimately take over the country by stating that the Beast is a divine punishment for the King's indulgence of the modern embrace of science over religion.
In episode six of the 2011 MTV drama Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf (2011 TV series)
Teen Wolf is an American television series that currently airs on MTV, and in reruns on TeenNick. The series premiered on June 5, 2011, following the 2011 MTV Movie Awards. Teen Wolf is a supernatural drama series that follows Scott McCall , a high school student and social outcast who is bitten by...
, the character Allison learns that her werewolf hunting family was responsible for slaughtering the Beast of Gévaudan while doing a research project for school.
See also
- List of wolves
- Wolf attacks on humansWolf attacks on humansA wolf attack is an attack on a human by a wolf or wolves. Under normal circumstances, wild wolves are generally timid around humans. Wolves usually try to avoid contact with people, to the point of even abandoning their kills when an approaching human is detected, though there are several reported...
- Wolf huntingWolf huntingWolf hunting is the practice of hunting grey wolves or other lupine animals. Wolves are mainly hunted for sport, for their skins, to protect livestock, and, in some rare cases, to protect humans. Wolves have been actively hunted since 12,000 to 13,000 years ago, when they first began to pose...
- Wolf of AnsbachWolf of AnsbachThe Wolf of Ansbach was a man-eating wolf that attacked and killed an unknown number of people in the Principality of Ansbach in 1685, then a part of the Holy Roman Empire.-History:...
- Wolf of SarlatWolf of SarlatThe Wolf of Sarlat attacked and wounded seventeen people in Sarlat, France, in June 1766. Unlike other wolves that had become man-eaters, it was notable in that it attacked only grown men, standing on its hind legs to get at the face and neck. A burgher of Saint-Julien, Monsieur Dubex de Descamps,...
- Wolf of SoissonsWolf of SoissonsThe Wolf of Soissons was a man-eating wolf which terrorized the commune of Soissons northeast of Paris over a period of two days in 1765, attacking eighteen people, four of whom died from their wounds....
- Wolves of ParisWolves of ParisThe Wolves of Paris were a man-eating wolf pack that entered Paris during the winter of 1450 through breaches in the city walls, killing forty people. A wolf named Courtaud, or "Bobtail", was the leader of the pack...
- Wolves of PérigordWolves of PérigordThe Wolves of Périgord were a pack of man-eating wolves that plagued the northwestern regions of Périgord, France, in February 1766. According to official records, the wolves killed eighteen people and wounded many others before they were eliminated....
External links
- La Bête du Gévaudan Website
- Dans l'Ombre de la Bête Website Includes a compendium of all publicly available historical documents about the Beast (in the original French)
- Robert Darnton, The Wolf Man’s Revenge, The New York Review of Books, June 9, 2011; review of Monsters of the Gévaudan: The Making of a Beast by Jay M. Smith (Harvard University Press, 2011).