The French for "werewolf" is "loup-garou"
Jul. 29th, 2015 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dhampyresaToday, I'm going to talk about one fascinating episode of French history.
The year is 1764 and the place is Gévaudan, a cozy little region in the south of France.
The Beast of Gévaudan's first official victim was killed on June 30.
However, she is not the first victim, merely the first one we have a record of. (We know this because the death declaration states that her death was caused by "la bête féroce", implying a specific "ferocious beast".) This victim is a 14 year old girl. This will become relevant later.
The Beast kills several other people, most of them in the forest of Mercoire.
On September 15, the local dragoon captain begins hunting for the Beast in the Mercoire with the help of both his 57 dragoons and the local villagers. The Beast is never seen.
The Beast flees the forest of Mercoire.
On October 7, they find the body of a girl killed by the beast. A week later, they find her head. This is the first case, as far as I know, of the Beast beheading one of its victims.
It is by no means the last.
The day following the finding of the head, the Beast attacks two young boys, in areas roughly 15kn/10 miles apart. At the second attack, hunters manage to see the Beast hanging around the boy, waiting to attack him again. They shoot it. It gets back up. They shoot it again. It gets back up again then runs away.
The forest is searched the next day and the Beast is not found.
The Beast continues killing.
Mid-december 1764, a prize of 2000 livres (~30 000$ in today's money) is offered to whoever kills the Beast.
On December 31 1764, the Beast is called "a scourge of God" ("fléau de Dieu") by the local bishop of the Catholic Church, who is also the count of Gévaudan.
The dragoons having been proven to be ineffective, one of the King's counseller sends France best wolk killer to Gévaudan to replace the dragoons. Denneval arrives in Gévaudan in February/March 1765.
Before that happens one of the most famous attacks from the Beast: it attacks a group of seven children, who manage to hold it at bay. They all survive.
On April 7, a young girl is killed and partially devoured by the Beast. This is not immediately obvious when they find her body though, because the Beast set her (detached) head down on the ground, with its hat upon it and her clothes laid out around her in such a way as to make it look like she was sleeping.
On May 1, the Beast makes the mistake of coming too close to a village. Again it is shot twice, again it falls twice before getting back up. It kills a woman the very next day.
In May, the King himself, Louis XV, sends one of his me to hunt the wolf. This man, François Antoine, believes the Beast to be nothing more than a big wolf.
Now, it should be mentionned that no one ever refers to the Beast as a wolf. These are people who know wolves. Come on, they live in the forest-y countryside of 18th century France, they know what wolves look like. The Beast is not one. (And wolves don't attack humans, much less on their own.)
On August 11, Marie-Jeanne Valet does what will earn her the nickname of "the Maid of Gévaudan" (a callback to Joan of Arc's "Maid of Orleans") by sticking a fucking lance in the Beast's chest. The Beast then falls into a river, because this fight happened on a bridge.
The Beast survives that, too.
On August 16, the Chastels are emprisonned for something that is only marginally related to the Beast. The father of the Chastel family, Jean Chastel, was commonly believed to be the son of a witch. While the Chastel are locked away, the ferocity and frequency of the Beast's attack lessens.
Well. Somewhat.
On September 9, first is found a lot of blood and part of a young girl's clothes, then the rest of her clothes, then her naked body.
On September 20, François Antonie shoots down a 130 pound wolf in a part of the region where the Beast has never been before. This wolf, le Loup des Chazes, is officially recognised by the King as being the Beast of Gévaudan.
"The Beast is dead, by decree of the King."
Someone utterly neglected to mention this to the Beast, though. Rumours of the Beast killing again are soon happening and by January 1 1766, the Beast is well and truly back.
(The Chastels were freed a few days after François Antoine left Gévaudan.)
The Beast keeps killing throughout 1766 and the first part of 1767. All appeals to the King are fruitless. "The Beast is dead, by decree of the King", remember?
So the villagers organise themselves and try everything they can to kill the Beast: they search the forst, they poison dead dogs and leave the corpses where it's known to go...
Nothing works.
On February 7 1766, Jeanne Delmas survives an attack of the Beast with a line of blood around her throat, probably as a result of the Beast trying to decapitate her.
At the beginning of June 1767, Jean Chastel takes the silver medals of the Virgin Mary he had on his hat, has them melted into bullets and blessed by a priest at one of the sites of pilgrimage in the area.
On June 19, Chastel shoots the Beast. Once. The Beast dies.
Chastel used one of the blessed silver bullets.
In the records we have of this event, we are told the Beast WAITED FOR CHASTEL TO SHOOT IT. All attacks by the Beast stop after this.
In three years, the Beast killed between 80 and 120 victims, possibly more. At least 15 of these were beheaded. In several cases (some of which I mentionned above), the victims were undressed, with their clothes either scattered in the area or the victims redressed. IIRC, in at least one case the clothes where found neatly folded next to the victim.
Some of the victims were attacked both in broad daylight and in the middle of a village.
To this day, no one knows what the Beast really was. Everyone's got a theory, of course. Some, like François Antoine, persist in believing it was only a wolf or sometimes more than one. A popular theory is a dog trained to attack. Another is a wolf/dog hybrid. (These two are sometimes combined together.) Because the captain of the dragoons several times compared the Beast to an African big cat (leopard or lion), the hypothesis of a hyena is often put forward. Other animals suspected of having been the Beast include: wolverines, tigons, baboons, brown bears and Tasmanian tigers.
Some people even believe the Beast could be a mesonychid or several. How this animal is supposed to ahve survived the 30 millions years since its extinction to suddenly reappear in 18th century France, I do not know.
(In case you're curious, the autopsy report of the Beast shot by Chastel was found in 1958. It hasn't helped.)
The theory that the Beast was "a sadistic madman" was floated even as soon as 1777 when a man pretended to be the Beast to kill and possibly rape a woman, causing people to wonder if the Beast itself might not have been people from the start. There are even conspiracy theories about who the Beast might have been and why they were never caught.
The problem with that, of course, is that the Beast was a real animal and a lot of eye-witness testimony proves it.
The problem with that, of course, is that animals neither behead nor undress their victims.
Look.
I'm not saying it was werewolves, but...
The year is 1764 and the place is Gévaudan, a cozy little region in the south of France.
The Beast of Gévaudan's first official victim was killed on June 30.
However, she is not the first victim, merely the first one we have a record of. (We know this because the death declaration states that her death was caused by "la bête féroce", implying a specific "ferocious beast".) This victim is a 14 year old girl. This will become relevant later.
The Beast kills several other people, most of them in the forest of Mercoire.
On September 15, the local dragoon captain begins hunting for the Beast in the Mercoire with the help of both his 57 dragoons and the local villagers. The Beast is never seen.
The Beast flees the forest of Mercoire.
On October 7, they find the body of a girl killed by the beast. A week later, they find her head. This is the first case, as far as I know, of the Beast beheading one of its victims.
It is by no means the last.
The day following the finding of the head, the Beast attacks two young boys, in areas roughly 15kn/10 miles apart. At the second attack, hunters manage to see the Beast hanging around the boy, waiting to attack him again. They shoot it. It gets back up. They shoot it again. It gets back up again then runs away.
The forest is searched the next day and the Beast is not found.
The Beast continues killing.
Mid-december 1764, a prize of 2000 livres (~30 000$ in today's money) is offered to whoever kills the Beast.
On December 31 1764, the Beast is called "a scourge of God" ("fléau de Dieu") by the local bishop of the Catholic Church, who is also the count of Gévaudan.
The dragoons having been proven to be ineffective, one of the King's counseller sends France best wolk killer to Gévaudan to replace the dragoons. Denneval arrives in Gévaudan in February/March 1765.
Before that happens one of the most famous attacks from the Beast: it attacks a group of seven children, who manage to hold it at bay. They all survive.
On April 7, a young girl is killed and partially devoured by the Beast. This is not immediately obvious when they find her body though, because the Beast set her (detached) head down on the ground, with its hat upon it and her clothes laid out around her in such a way as to make it look like she was sleeping.
On May 1, the Beast makes the mistake of coming too close to a village. Again it is shot twice, again it falls twice before getting back up. It kills a woman the very next day.
In May, the King himself, Louis XV, sends one of his me to hunt the wolf. This man, François Antoine, believes the Beast to be nothing more than a big wolf.
Now, it should be mentionned that no one ever refers to the Beast as a wolf. These are people who know wolves. Come on, they live in the forest-y countryside of 18th century France, they know what wolves look like. The Beast is not one. (And wolves don't attack humans, much less on their own.)
On August 11, Marie-Jeanne Valet does what will earn her the nickname of "the Maid of Gévaudan" (a callback to Joan of Arc's "Maid of Orleans") by sticking a fucking lance in the Beast's chest. The Beast then falls into a river, because this fight happened on a bridge.
The Beast survives that, too.
On August 16, the Chastels are emprisonned for something that is only marginally related to the Beast. The father of the Chastel family, Jean Chastel, was commonly believed to be the son of a witch. While the Chastel are locked away, the ferocity and frequency of the Beast's attack lessens.
Well. Somewhat.
On September 9, first is found a lot of blood and part of a young girl's clothes, then the rest of her clothes, then her naked body.
On September 20, François Antonie shoots down a 130 pound wolf in a part of the region where the Beast has never been before. This wolf, le Loup des Chazes, is officially recognised by the King as being the Beast of Gévaudan.
"The Beast is dead, by decree of the King."
Someone utterly neglected to mention this to the Beast, though. Rumours of the Beast killing again are soon happening and by January 1 1766, the Beast is well and truly back.
(The Chastels were freed a few days after François Antoine left Gévaudan.)
The Beast keeps killing throughout 1766 and the first part of 1767. All appeals to the King are fruitless. "The Beast is dead, by decree of the King", remember?
So the villagers organise themselves and try everything they can to kill the Beast: they search the forst, they poison dead dogs and leave the corpses where it's known to go...
Nothing works.
On February 7 1766, Jeanne Delmas survives an attack of the Beast with a line of blood around her throat, probably as a result of the Beast trying to decapitate her.
At the beginning of June 1767, Jean Chastel takes the silver medals of the Virgin Mary he had on his hat, has them melted into bullets and blessed by a priest at one of the sites of pilgrimage in the area.
On June 19, Chastel shoots the Beast. Once. The Beast dies.
Chastel used one of the blessed silver bullets.
In the records we have of this event, we are told the Beast WAITED FOR CHASTEL TO SHOOT IT. All attacks by the Beast stop after this.
In three years, the Beast killed between 80 and 120 victims, possibly more. At least 15 of these were beheaded. In several cases (some of which I mentionned above), the victims were undressed, with their clothes either scattered in the area or the victims redressed. IIRC, in at least one case the clothes where found neatly folded next to the victim.
Some of the victims were attacked both in broad daylight and in the middle of a village.
To this day, no one knows what the Beast really was. Everyone's got a theory, of course. Some, like François Antoine, persist in believing it was only a wolf or sometimes more than one. A popular theory is a dog trained to attack. Another is a wolf/dog hybrid. (These two are sometimes combined together.) Because the captain of the dragoons several times compared the Beast to an African big cat (leopard or lion), the hypothesis of a hyena is often put forward. Other animals suspected of having been the Beast include: wolverines, tigons, baboons, brown bears and Tasmanian tigers.
Some people even believe the Beast could be a mesonychid or several. How this animal is supposed to ahve survived the 30 millions years since its extinction to suddenly reappear in 18th century France, I do not know.
(In case you're curious, the autopsy report of the Beast shot by Chastel was found in 1958. It hasn't helped.)
The theory that the Beast was "a sadistic madman" was floated even as soon as 1777 when a man pretended to be the Beast to kill and possibly rape a woman, causing people to wonder if the Beast itself might not have been people from the start. There are even conspiracy theories about who the Beast might have been and why they were never caught.
The problem with that, of course, is that the Beast was a real animal and a lot of eye-witness testimony proves it.
The problem with that, of course, is that animals neither behead nor undress their victims.
Look.
I'm not saying it was werewolves, but...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-31 09:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-31 09:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-08-03 09:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-08-13 10:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-08-04 02:46 pm (UTC)... what made it stay absolutely fascinating to me was his account of the press hype: the Gevaudan monster sort of hit public consciousness at exactly the right time to help create the concept of tabloid journalism, and it became a self-sustaining news story throughout Europe - and something the King was obliged to be seen to be doing something about - based entirely on the new ability of newspapers to reach large parts of the population with sensational stories.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-08-13 11:17 pm (UTC)Idk, I think the fact that they refer to it as "la bette féroce" ("the ferocious beast") and not ever as a wolf (unless I'm missing something /not an expert) -- which they would have been familiar with -- kind of makes me think it wasn't wolves. In all honesty, it was probably some dog/wolf mix. Iirc one of the Chastel was a dog breeder, so he likely had a mastiff trained to attack.
(Of course it could be that all of France was infested with werewolves at the time. ^_^)
I can neither confirm nor deny.
Oh yeah, it definitely became famous because of press hype! Newspaper sales had taken a dive after the end of the Seven Years war, so the Beast was a good opportunity.
Maybe that's the real story: an evil journalist werewolf.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-29 11:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-31 07:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-30 12:47 am (UTC)So weird! Maybe a psycho killer with more than one trained animal?
(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-31 08:42 pm (UTC)The commonly believed theory is that it was either Chastel or one of his sons and one or more attack dogs. I checked the book I first encountered the story in and it says Antoine Chastel was kidnapped by/became a pirate and brought hyenas back from Africa, giving this as one possible explanation for the attacks. I don't know how accurate that is.
(Or it was werewolves. I would love it if references to this cropped up more often in werewolf fiction.)
(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-30 02:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-31 10:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-31 10:29 pm (UTC)I was just reading your post thinking where have I seen this mentioned before?
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-12 03:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-12 11:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-16 02:36 am (UTC)(Here via