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Beast of Gevaudan, The |
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Also referred to as Le Bête de Gevaudan. This creature terrorized the south-central formal province of France called Gevaudan. (Now called Lozere) It attacked and killed many, possibly hundreds of people between the years 1764 and 1767; most of its victims were women and children. The first known sighting was in June 1764, by a shepherd girl. As it approched her she ran, but the bulls and cows she was watching over chased the beast away. The animal was described as large -- some say cow sized -- with a long tail with a tuft of fur on the end like a lion, a greyhound-like head, and long protruding teeth. It was furry; some say it had stripes or a brindle pattern. It was finally killed in 1767 by a well known wolf hunter called Jean Chastel. No one at the scene was able to indentify what animal the beast was. Today, some theories are that it was a hyena, a Mire wolf (although extinct for thousand of years), or a wolf-dog cross. - entry provided by Meghan A. H., rozie_bell13@yahoo.com
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