the beast of gevaudan

some 200 and somethin years ago in the southern gevaudan region of france, over 300 people were brutily killed by a ravenous beast known as "le bete de gevaudan" or the beast of gevaudan. the first encounter of the beast was lucky. when the beast charged at a young shepardess to move in for the kill, her herd charged at the beast, driving it back into the woods. the shepardess said that the beast was the size of a cow, had a puff at the end of its tail, and had a white stripe down its stomach. after the first encounter, dead bodies started showing up everywhere. mainly women and children or ppl who could not get away in time. the wolf was the prime suspect of the killing (of course). ao when the king of france sent his top hunting man to kill the beast, they only killed a very large wolf. though the killings stopped for a while, the killings continues soon after.

finally, the villagers pleaded Jean Chastel to kill the beast. Chastel was a wolf hunter and wolf hound breeder who hunted troublesome wolves. he was also one of the only men in the area to own a gun, which was rare at the time. so on June 19, 1767 (or somethin or other) Jean Chastel and 300 other hunters and beaters made their way through the forests to bring out the beast. in a clearing, Jean Chastel laid and waited, with his gun, a prayer book, and two blessed silver bullets. soon, the beast emerged and stood right in front of him. Chastel took is gun and aimed at the beast's throat. he shot and the beast was stunned for a minute and then fell. the beast of gevaudan was no more.

though the beast was finally dead, the mystery still remains. the description from chastel or ne of the wittnesses did not match to being a wolf or a heyena (second prime suspect). from the puffy tail and white strip, many historians and crpytozoologists think that the beast may have been a wolf- dog hybrid; where the father was a wolf and the mother was a dog. many think that the monster was a part of a plan to over through the king of france. but who was behind it. was jean chastel part of the murder, or were there others...

the wolf is clearly innocent in the case of the beast of gevaudan, but what was it???

the beast of gevaudan by gunslingergirlvy_c_e July 11, 2005