The Beast of Gévaudan (, ; ) is the historic name associated with a man-eating animal or animals that terrorized the former province of Gévaudan (consisting of the modern-day department of Lozère and part of Haute-Loire), in the Margeride Mountains of south-central France between 1764 and 1767. Other sources claim the animal or animals killed between 60 and 100 adults and children and injured more than 30. On 1 July, this victim was buried "without sacraments" because she could not confess before her death. However, the burial certificate specifies that she was killed by "the ferocious beast" (French: la bette [sic] féroce), which suggests that she is not the first victim but only the first declared. A second victim was reported on 8 August. Aged 14, she lived in the hamlet of Masméjean, in the parish of Puy-Laurent. These two victims were killed in the Allier valley.

From the end of August and in September, other victims were recorded in the Mercoire Forest or its surroundings. Throughout the remainder of 1764, more attacks were reported in the region. Very soon, terror gripped the populace because the beast was repeatedly preying on lone men, women, and children as they tended livestock in the forests around Gévaudan.

Increased attention

thumb|left|An 18th-century print of the fight of Jacques Portefaix and his companions against the beast. One of the children holds his cheek, partly torn off by the animal.

By late December 1764, rumours had begun circulating that there were a pair of animals behind the killings. This was because there had been so many attacks in a short space of time and because many of the attacks appeared to have occurred or were reported nearly simultaneously. Some contemporary accounts suggest the creature was seen with another such animal, while others report that the beast was accompanied by its young.

On 31 December, the Bishop of Mende Gabriel-Florent de Choiseul-Beaupré, also Count of Gévaudan, called for prayers and penance. This appeal has remained in history under the name of "commandment of the Bishop of Mende". All the priests of the diocese had to announce it to their faithful. In this long text, the bishop described the beast as a scourge sent by God to punish men for their sins. He quoted Saint Augustine in evoking the "justice of God", as well as the Bible and the divine threats uttered by Moses: "I will arm the teeth of wild beasts against them". Following this commandment, prayers of Forty Hours' Devotion were observed for three consecutive Sundays.

In spite of these divine pleas, the massacre continued. On 12 January 1765, Jacques Portefaix and seven children from the village of Villaret, in the parish of Chanaleilles, were attacked by the beast. After several attacks, they drove it away by staying grouped together. The encounter eventually came to the attention of King Louis XV, who awarded 300 livres to Portefaix and another 350 livres to be shared among his companions. The king also rewarded Portefaix with an education at the state's expense. He then decreed that the French state would help find and kill the beast.

By April 1765, the story of the beast had spread throughout Europe. The Courrier d'Avignon and English journalists made fun of the impotence of royal power in the face of a simple animal. Meanwhile, the local bishop and the intendants had to deal with an influx of mail; people from all over France suggesting more or less eccentric methods to overcome the beast. The court also issued depictions of the beast in Gévaudan so that "everyone [was] less terrified at his approach and less likely to be mistaken" and so that the packs of hunting dogs could be trained to chase the beast thanks to an effigy "executed in cardboard".

Royal intervention

thumb|An 18th-century print showing (also known as the "Maid of Gévaudan") defending herself from the beast

First Captain Duhamel of the Clermont Prince dragoons and his troops were soon sent to Gévaudan. Although extremely zealous in his efforts, non-cooperation on the part of the local herders and farmers stalled Duhamel's efforts. On several occasions he almost shot the beast, but was hampered by the incompetence of his guards. When the village of Le Malzieu was not present and ready as the beast crossed the Truyère river, Duhamel became frustrated.

When Louis XV agreed to send two professional wolf hunters, Jean Charles Marc Antoine Vaumesle d'Enneval and his son Jean-François, Captain Duhamel was forced to stand down and return to his headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand. Cooperating with d'Enneval was impossible as the two differed too much in their strategies; Duhamel organised wolf hunting parties while d'Enneval and his son believed the beast could only be shot using stealthy techniques. Father and son D'Enneval arrived in Clermont-Ferrand on 17 February 1765, bringing eight bloodhounds that had been trained in wolf hunting. Over the next four months, the pair hunted for Eurasian wolves, believing that one or more of these animals was the beast. However, when the attacks continued, the D'Ennevals were replaced in June 1765 by François Antoine (sometimes wrongly identified with his son, Antoine de Beauterne), the king's sole arquebus bearer and lieutenant of the Hunt, who arrived in Le Malzieu on 22 June.

On 11 August, Antoine organised a great hunt. That day saw the feat of the "Maid of Gévaudan". Marie-Jeanne Vallet, about 20 years old, was the servant of the parish priest of Paulhac. In the company of other peasant women, she was taking a footbridge to cross a small stream when the beast appeared. The women took a few steps back but the beast threw itself on Marie-Jeanne. The latter managed to plant her spear into its chest. The beast dropped into the river and disappeared into the woods. The story quickly reached Antoine, who went to the scene. He found that the spear was indeed covered in blood and that the traces found were similar to those of the beast. In a letter to Saint-Florentin, Minister of the King's House, comparing Marie-Jeanne to Joan of Arc, he nicknamed her the "Maid of Gévaudan".

On 20 or 21 September, Antoine killed a large grey wolf measuring high, long and weighing . The wolf, which was named Le Loup de Chazes after the nearby Abbaye des Chazes, was said to have been 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. Hence, we believe this could be the fearsome beast that caused so much damage." The animal was further identified as the culprit by several attack survivors, who recognised the scars on its body inflicted by victims defending themselves.

After the report was written, François Antoine's son loaded the animal onto his horse and set off for Paris. At Saint-Flour, he showed it to Monsieur de Montluc. In Clermont-Ferrand, he had it stuffed. The other pup was shot and hit and was believed to have died while retreating between the rocks. Antoine returned to Paris on 3 November and received a large sum of money (over 9,000 livres) as well as fame, titles, and awards.

Final attacks

thumb|left|An 18th-century print showing the beast attacking a woman

The month of November passed without any attacks being reported, leading the populace to hope that Antoine had indeed killed the beast. In a letter from 26 November, the syndic Étienne Lafont affirmed to the intendant of Languedoc: "We no longer hear of anything relating to the beast". Before long, however, new attacks were reported around the communes of Saugues and Lorcières, suggesting that the beast was either still alive or had been replaced by another. The first incident, on 2 December, saw the targeting of two boys aged 6 and 12; the beast tried to take the youngest, but it was successfully fought off by the older boy. Soon after, fatal attacks were reported, with a number of witnesses observing that the current beast showed no fear around cattle at all. A dozen more deaths are reported to have followed attacks near La Besseyre-Saint-Mary.

Until the beginning of 1766, the attacks remained sporadic, and no one knew if they were caused by the beast or by wolves. However, in a letter to the intendant of Auvergne on 1 January 1766, Monsieur de Montluc seemed convinced that the beast had indeed reappeared. The intendant alerted the king, but Louis XV no longer wanted to hear about a ferocious beast that, as far as he was concerned, his arquebus bearer had already killed. From then on, newspapers no longer reported any of the attacks that occurred in Gévaudan or in the south of Auvergne.

In March 1766, the attacks multiplied. The local gentlemen now knew that their salvation would not come from the court. On 24 March, the Particular Estates of Gévaudan were held at Marvejols. Étienne Lafont and the young Marquis d'Apcher, a local nobleman, recommended poisoning the corpses of dogs and carrying them to the usual passages of the beast. Dr. Boulanger's post-mortem report on the animal, along with survivors' testimony of the beast's attacks, was transcribed by the royal notary Roch Étienne Marin and is known as the "Marin Report". The results of the examination were consistent with a large wolf or wolf-dog, but the remains were incomplete by the time Boulanger acquired them, precluding conclusive identification of the animal. It had an elongated head similar to that of a greyhound, with a flattened snout, pointed ears, and a wide mouth sitting atop a broad chest. The beast's tail was also reported to have been notably longer than a wolf's, with a prominent tuft at the end. The beast's fur was described as tawny or russet in colour but its back was streaked with black, and a white heart-shaped pattern was noted on its underbelly.

Behaviour

Several accounts claimed the beast was, or seemed, invulnerable, as it was said to pick itself up and escape after being hit by the bullets of reputedly skilled marksmen. The beast was also said to be extremely agile, said to be able to easily jump over walls that a dog would have trouble with. In addition, it was held that the beast seemed to be everywhere at once; it was reported to sometimes make two or more attacks in one day, in locations several kilometres from each other. However, in many cases, these distances could be covered by a single animal within a reasonable period of time. Two of the beast's most singular traits were its familiarity and its boldness. It was also reported that, at least until François Antoine's departure, the beast seemed to have no fear of man. When it encountered resistance, it would move "40 paces" away, sometimes sitting on its hindquarters for a few moments, and, if not pursued, would attack again. Then it would move away at a walk or a short trot. Several victims were attacked in the middle of villages and most of the testimonies related to attacks during the day. Finally, the beast was noted for being unusually aggressive, with some feeling that its attacks were too determined and ferocious to be driven entirely by hunger.

The "Marin Report"

On 20 June 1767, the day after the death of the animal killed by Jean Chastel, the royal notary Roch Étienne Marin wrote an autopsy report at the Marquis d'Apcher's Château de Besque in Charraix. Preserved in the French National Archives, this memoir was discovered in 1952 by the historian Élise Seguin. It provides precise information on "This animal which seemed to us to be a wolf; But extraordinary and very different by its figure and its proportions from the wolves that one sees in this country." These wolves are known to have a reddish summer pelt, dark stripes on their backs and tails, and a distinctive skull shape compared to other wolves, which somewhat tally with contemporary descriptions of the beast.

The Marin Report itself, while admittedly working from a decaying, incomplete specimen, describes the creature as a wolf of unusually large proportions: "This animal which seemed to us to be a wolf; But extraordinary and very different by its figure and its proportions from the wolves that one sees in this country. This is what we have certified by more than three hundred people from all around who came to see it."

  • The Beast of Gévaudan is the main subject of the French video game La Bête du Gévaudan (1985).
  • Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001), directed by Christophe Gans, is an action film based on the legend. In the film, the Beast is a lion dressed up in armor to mask its identity.
  • Netflix will make a feature film produced by Blumhouse Productions.
  • The Cursed, a 2022 movie set in late-19th-century France, features the beast as a gypsy curse placed on a French village.
  • In 2022, German power metal band Powerwolf released a single titled Beast of Gévaudan.
  • MTV series Teen Wolf featured La Bete du Gévaudan as the primary antagonist in the second part of its fifth season, with the episode 'Maid of Gevaudan' retelling the original legend. It was first mentioned in the season 1 episode 'Magic Bullet' linking the legend to the Argent family, which is later explained in the fifth season.
  • In Patricia Briggs' novel Hunting Grounds the Beast of Gévaudan and Jean Chastel are one and the same. He is one of the most feared Alpha wolves in Europe.
  • The Beast is a central antagonist of the 2025 Metroidvania video game Chronicles of the Wolf, in which it is a werewolf.
  • There is a passing mention of the Beast in T. Kingfisher’s novel Snake-Eater.
  • The werewolf character in the AtmosFear game series is named Gevaudan.
  • There is a Webtoon series called Moonlight upon Gevaudan which is loosely inspired by the Beast of Gévaudan
  • In 2026 the game Reverse 1999 featured the beasts in the event "A Flowing Feast" in which they play the part as one of the main threats for the city of Paris.
  • In 2026 author Cameron Sullivan published The Red Winter, which retells the tale with a mythical twist.
  • The manga and anime series Miss Kuroitsu From the Monster Development Department features a character named Wolf Bete. She is an artificially created monster based on the Beast of Gévaudan legend.
  • The Case Study of Vanitas retells the story of The Beast of Gévaudan in volumes five through eight of the manga and part two of the anime.
  • Artist Ramshackled Trickster is working on an unnamed project, retelling the tale of the Beast of Gévaudan

See also

  • List of wolf attacks
  • List of wolves
  • Peluda, or the Shaggy Beast
  • Wolf of Ansbach
  • Courtaud

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • 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).
  • Solving the Mystery of the 18th-Century Killer "Beast of Gévaudan" (National Geographic)
  • Beast of Gévaudan web site (various languages)