Beast of Gevaudan

Between 1764 and 1767, a large predatory animal terrorized the former province of Gevaudan in south-central France, in what is now the department of Lozere. The beast killed an estimated 100 to 300 people and injured many more, making it one of the deadliest animal attacks in recorded European history.

The first documented victim was 14-year-old Jeanne Boulet, found dead on June 30, 1764, near the village of Les Hubacs. Over the following months, the attacks escalated. Victims were often children and women tending livestock in isolated fields. The beast typically attacked the head and neck, and many victims were partially consumed. The attacks were savage enough that King Louis XV personally ordered hunts to destroy the creature.

Witnesses described the beast as larger than a wolf, roughly the size of a calf or donkey, with reddish-brown fur, a broad chest, a long tail with a tuft at the end, and an enormous mouth filled with large teeth. Some accounts mention a dark stripe along the back. The descriptions were notably inconsistent with a typical wolf, which led to speculation about more exotic animals.

The first animal killed as a candidate was a large gray wolf shot by Francois Antoine, the king's professional wolf-hunter, on September 21, 1765. The wolf was stuffed and presented at court, and the attacks were declared over. But they resumed within weeks.

The attacks finally ended on June 19, 1767, when local hunter Jean Chastel shot a large animal during a parish-organized hunt. According to legend, Chastel loaded his musket with silver bullets blessed by a priest. The animal's stomach reportedly contained human remains. The carcass was sent to Versailles but decomposed during transport and was never properly examined.

Historians and naturalists have proposed numerous identities for the beast: an unusually large wolf, a wolf-dog hybrid, a young or escaped hyena, or even a trained attack animal used by a serial killer. Cryptozoologists have suggested a relict population of Mesonychids, prehistoric predatory mammals. The most widely accepted modern theory is that the attacks were carried out by one or more unusually aggressive wolves, possibly supplemented by wolf-dog hybrids, in a region where rural populations were uniquely vulnerable due to the practice of sending children alone into pastures.