#3lau

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There is a French legend about the Beast of Gévaudan, a monstrous wolf that terrorized the providence of Gévaudan in the 1760s. It has been described as 'like a wolf, but not a wolf'.

the beast himself (ft. slightly creepy 18th century art)

"The Beast was consistently described by eyewitnesses as something other than a typical wolf. It was as large as a calf or sometimes a horse. Its coat was reddish gray with a long, strong panther-like tail. The head and legs were short-haired and the color of a deer. It had a black stripe on its back and “talons” on its feet. Many drawings of the Beast at the time endow it with lupine characteristics." (source)

Another characteristic of the beast was its fear of cows. The first reported attack of the beast was in summer of 1764. A young cow herder, Marie Jeanne Valet, encountered the beast in a forest in east Gévaudan. It charged her, but was fended off by her cows. Marie fought off and slew the beast, inspiring this epic statue.

The Beast of Gévaudan reportedly attacked over 600 people, resulting in 500 deaths and 49 injuries. The primary victims of the wolf were women and children, often on their own, but it occasionally attacked lone men. 98 of the victims were found partially eaten. Most of the maimed victims were found with their heads missing or necks mutilated.

The beast was shot by the king's gunbearer, Francois Antoine, in 1765. But the beast rose again. In June 1767, Jean Chastel, a Gévaudan local, shot and killed the beast, and it never rose again.

Some popular theories of what the beast might have been include: a hyena or lion escaped from a zoo; a pack of wolves roaming the countryside; something actually supernatural, similar to a skinwalker or cynocephaly; or (this seems the most plausible to me) Jean Chastel was faking the whole thing for attention and/or money. Wolves or large dogs covered in boar skins to give the striped/maned look, the beast disappeared after Chastel 'shot' it, and more clues point to him being behind it (I'm too tired to look all that stuff up right now).