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France’s Beast of Gévaudan


Big Bad Voodoo

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Think it was a very large rare wolf or group of them, think they killed them all but it wasn't a were-wolf.

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Think it was a very large rare wolf or group of them, think they killed them all but it wasn't a were-wolf.

No one knows really what it was. Yet it must have left an incredible impact because the king Louis the XVth send troupes

On September 21, 1765, Antoine killed a large grey wolf measuring 80 centimetres (31 in) high, 1.7 metres (5.6 ft) long, and weighing 60 kilograms (130 lb). The wolf was called Le Loup de Chazes, after the nearby Abbaye des Chazes

This is from wiki

Apparently there was a second beast killed

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No one knows really what it was. Yet it must have left an incredible impact because the king Louis the XVth send troupes

This is from wiki

Apparently there was a second beast killed

Hey Paracelse are you near by? Any similar stories from Grandpa and Grandma ? B)

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Hey Paracelse are you near by? Any similar stories from Grandpa and Grandma ? B)

My Dad is an American of Polish ancestry and my mother was born in Poland... I live now in Lorraine about 450 miles from the Gevaudan. Sorry.

Problem is, this story happen right prior to the French revolution. In those days records were kept by the church and during the revolution much of those documents have been destroyed. We know the most about the Beast from documents found in Paris.

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Monstertalk did a great episode on the Beast back in September.

It's worth a listen: http://www.skeptic.com/podcasts/monstertalk/11/09/21/

Thanks the link Raft, I will listen to it later. I looked up the links on the man eating wolfs of Soissons and Sarlat (the Paris link doesn't work) and I found an intersting connection: the Soissons (Fairly large city East of Paris) case occurred in 1765 and the Sarlat (not really far from Gevaudan) case occurred in 1766. Knowing the period of attack by the beast of Gevaudan is during those years also. It would be interesting to know if more bizarre wolves like beast attacked elsewhere in the EU? Technically wolves are pack animals except those 3.

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Wolves sometimes get kicked out of the pack and have to fend for themselves, so that could of what happened but most wolves who are by themselves get killed by other packs

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Wolves sometimes get kicked out of the pack and have to fend for themselves, so that could of what happened but most wolves who are by themselves get killed by other packs

It was what I thought but I can't shake a strange feeling about 4 wolves appearing in fairly separate regions of France during the same period (2 extraordinary wolves were killed in Gevaudan) between 1764 and 1767: 1st wolf in Gevaudan killed in 1765. Then the wolf of Soissons also killed in 1765. 3rd the wolf of Sarlat killed 1766. 4th wolf killed in Gevaudan in 1767.

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It was what I thought but I can't shake a strange feeling about 4 wolves appearing in fairly separate regions of France during the same period (2 extraordinary wolves were killed in Gevaudan) between 1764 and 1767: 1st wolf in Gevaudan killed in 1765. Then the wolf of Soissons also killed in 1765. 3rd the wolf of Sarlat killed 1766. 4th wolf killed in Gevaudan in 1767.

EDIT: I read that wrong sorry, so all of them killed within 3 years?

Edited by Supernatural Reporter
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Thanks the link Raft, I will listen to it later. I looked up the links on the man eating wolfs of Soissons and Sarlat (the Paris link doesn't work) and I found an intersting connection: the Soissons (Fairly large city East of Paris) case occurred in 1765 and the Sarlat (not really far from Gevaudan) case occurred in 1766. Knowing the period of attack by the beast of Gevaudan is during those years also. It would be interesting to know if more bizarre wolves like beast attacked elsewhere in the EU? Technically wolves are pack animals except those 3.

As I learned from the podcast, wolf predation on humans was fairly common in Europe during that time. Hundreds of people a year were killed by wolves.

Apparently some wolves just had better press agents than others.

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As I learned from the podcast, wolf predation on humans was fairly common in Europe during that time. Hundreds of people a year were killed by wolves.

Apparently some wolves just had better press agents than others.

'Cept that those particular wolves were known to be heckofalot bigger than the normally one found in nature, thus the strangeness of the situation... remember a king such as louis the XVth who didn't give a cahoot about the peasants actually send some troupes.

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  • 4 months later...

Personally I think it must have been a wolfdog, or wolf-dog hybrid.

Two things: they are often much larger than their parents (wolf and dog), and because of conflicting instincts also often dangerous to humans.

The reason I think it's a wolfdog is because the story my father always told us.

My father was born and raised in a poor sthole of a town in the south of the Netherlands. His father wasn't known to be a 'loving father' for his kids (he treated them like cheap slaves) and all he gave his kids was food, but after he had fed the animals first (he was a farmer). The road my grandfathers farm was located at was nicknamed "Hunger Alley"; that was around the 20's of the past century.

My father must have been 15 or 16 years old (he was born in 1911) and if he didn't have to work on the farm he was playing in the fields or in the forests nearby. Sometimes a traveling salesman (I had to google, and I think the proper name would be 'huckster') who traded in all kinds of junk, and his 'house' was a turf hut near the edge of the forest. He lived alone - his wife had died and he had no kids - and sometimes he visited the area where my father lived.

The man always felt sorry for my father and my father's brothers and sisters because he knew how my grandfather treated them, and sometimes he just gave them something, be it food or some toy or whatever. One day my father was again playing near the forest, and the man came around, and told my father that if he wanted he could choose something he liked from the cart he was pulling along.

My father looked on the cart, and saw a young dog, and he immediately fell in love with this dog. He noticed that despite it being a young puppy that it had quite massive paws, and being the son of a farmer he knew that this dog would grow to be huge. The huckster said he got it from someone from Poland, and that it was a wolf-dog hybrid.

So my father took this dog home, but found out very soon this wasn't your avarage sweet little doggie... The dog grew fast - my grandfather had taken a liking towards the dog, perhaps because they had similar characters, lol, and fed the dog well.

My father was never too tired to tell us that he and everyone were scared shtless of this huge dog: the animal was almost twice the size of a German shepard, it was simply massive and had huge fangs. The only one the dog would obey was my grandfather, a guy people had given the nickname 'de beul van Schaijk' (the brute from Schaijk).

My grandfather knew this wasn't a dog you would let run around free and so he kept it on the barnyard behind a fence and on a chain. But apparently this wasn't enough to keep that dog in, because sometimes he was able to brake loose by snapping the chain and splintering the planks the fence was made of. The dog then stayed away for a day or so, to return later with its head covered in blood.

This grandfather of mine, being the guy he was thought nothing bad of it, and assumed his dog had only killed and eaten a rabbit. These were not modern times, with internet, television, or radio, and anything remotely 'civilized' was far away from that village. However, it soon became clear the dog had killed a bit more than a mere rabbit: he had killed several cows during his frequent escapes, and eaten large parts of these cows. The cows that were found had there intestines all over the place and their throats had been ripped open.

Of course it was known that it had been my grandfather's dog - someone had followed the dog from a great distance - and people came complaining and wanted to be paid for their dead cows, and wanted the dog to be put down.

But as I said, my grandfather was as scary as the dog he owned, so people didn't push their demands... and all my grandfather did was build a large iron cage for the dog.

The bars of the cage were as thick as a finger, and when someone passed the cage, the dog became a furious monster and grabbed the bars and rattle the whole cage.

Somehow the story of this huge dog spread around, and one day a couple of people came round to ask my grandfather about this dog and where it came from and so on. They were from the police of a city far away, and were accompanied by a dog trainer (a young man who was also a boxer according to my father). They wanted to buy this dog and have it trained so it could be used as a police dog (!!!).

Well, my grandfather's love for money was greater than his love for the dog, and so he sold it.

The end of the story is that in the end they had to put this monster of a dog down because no one was able to handle it, and because it had nearly killed a couple of policemen during those tranings.

End of story? Not exactly....

When I was 20 years old an old biology teacher (I followed a training for lab assistent) started telling a story one day.

This teacher was a huge hombre himself, and he had a low rumbling but gentle voice. His hands were equally huge, and when a girl from my class asked him, giggling, about it, he said he had been a boxer when he was still a young man.

Aside from having been a boxer, he told us he had been a dog trainer. Sometimes he assisted the police in finding suitable dogs to work as police dogs. One day he was invited to come along with the police to a tiny village in Brabant, a province in the south of the Netherands. He then said he met the largest dog he had ever seen in his life, and that he never saw one that size again.

However, he had also noticed this animal was ferocious and really dangerous and not much worth as a police dog. But the other men wouldn't think of leaving the dog there, and against his advice they bought the dog. Finally this teacher told us the dog had to be put down soon.

You can understand I was flabbergasted after hearing this story. I had many doubts and I wished my father had been still alive (he died the year before) so I could check his story for more details and then return to this teacher and tell him about it.

Somehow I postponed telling this teacher about my father, and I became totally focussed on studying for my exams. Years later I thought I'd visit this teacher again, but I learned he had died already.

.

Edited by Abramelin
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I found this:

Wolfdogs in the wild

Hybridization in the wild usually occurs near human habitations where wolf density is low and dogs are common.[18] However, there were several reported cases of wolfdogs in areas with normal wolf densities in the former Soviet Union.[19] Wild wolfdogs were occasionally hunted by European aristocracy, and were termed lycisca to distinguish them from common wolves.[20] Noted historic cases (such as the Beast of Gévaudan) of large wolves that were abnormally aggressive toward humans, may be attributable to wolf-dog mating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfdog

Many people, however, misinterpret wolf-dog hybrid behavior. In addition, in contrast to domestic dogs, wolves are unfamiliar with the subtleties of human social interaction, and so it is reasonable to assume that hybrids are subject to misinterpreting human behavior. This web of misunderstanding leads to frustration for the animal and owner and may exacerbate the animal’s aggressive or territorial behaviors. When problems escalate to this point, many people resort to caging or abandoning hybrids. Abandonment is particularly problematic, since few animal rescue services will accept hybrids into their facilities.

http://www.britannic...ns-best-friend/

.

Edited by Abramelin
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Just for extra, lol:

I think it was 78' or 79' of the past century when I was on a holiday in southern France. At some moment I wanted to buy a souvenir, entered a small shop and wandered around to find something nice.

Then my eyes fell on this wallet which had - I thought - the image of a dog on it:

Wallet.jpg

Wallet2.jpg

Years later I found out it this wasn't just some dog, but that it was the "Beast of Gévaudan". The village I had visited (forgot the name) was a stone's throw away from Gévaudan.

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And just for fun (and believe me, NOTHING MORE) I'd like to add that my family name is often pronounced as "Lycan" by Anglo-Saxon Americans, and Australians. It's off from how one should pronounce it, btw.

When I was still in basic school - a Roman Catholic hellhole - a blackrobe once asked me if I was a member of the "family Wolf". I really thought he meant a family with a surname "Wolf".

But he had a smirk on his face when he asked me, and I didn't know what to make of it. He smelled kind of bad too, so I was somewhat distracted...

Can't trust those Men In Black, heh.

.

Edited by Abramelin
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:tu: That's a very interesting story. That man who was your teacher had to have been the same man who came to your grandfather's place with the policeman for the dog.And your idea about the Beast of Gevedaun does have a real possiblity maybe of being true.

I wonder if the beast could have been a cross with some large dog like a great dane,or irish wolfhound or german shepherd maybe.

I don't know if we will ever find out the answer.What a neat story.

As far as the priest goes, don't know what the dutch word for wolf is, but lycan is sometimes used to refer to werewolves.Maybe that was why he smirked, implying that the family was a bunch of werewolves,which of course wasn't right.

I hope you post somemore stories,that was very interesting.

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:tu: That's a very interesting story. That man who was your teacher had to have been the same man who came to your grandfather's place with the policeman for the dog.And your idea about the Beast of Gevedaun does have a real possiblity maybe of being true.

I wonder if the beast could have been a cross with some large dog like a great dane,or irish wolfhound or german shepherd maybe.

I don't know if we will ever find out the answer.What a neat story.

As far as the priest goes, don't know what the dutch word for wolf is, but lycan is sometimes used to refer to werewolves.Maybe that was why he smirked, implying that the family was a bunch of werewolves,which of course wasn't right.

I hope you post somemore stories,that was very interesting.

The Dutch word for 'wolf is.... 'wolf', lol. (but the -o- is pronounced like the -o- in "not").

And yes, I wished I could have spoken to that teacher again. He was an old guy, just a bit older than my father was when they must have met. My father had been a boxer too (and not a very good one, lol), so when he - my father - said the bars were as thick as his pinky (when he was telling the story, he always raised that fat pinky of his), I was amazed. My father had quite large hands for the rather small guy he was (even his wife, my mother, was taller than he was, lol). But he had done manual labor for all of his life. And it showed.

Dolly, one thing I inherited from my father is this: the love of telling stories (and his love for nature: plants and animals, but also flying kites, but especially: birds and of course: crows).

It's just that I have to translate everything I think of or remember that makes it a bit difficult.

.

Edited by Abramelin
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I have personaly gotten to interact with wolf-dog hybrids, Not all of them are aggressive. Their characteristics are determined by both parents, so it's possible that the wolf-dog hybrid that your grandfather owned could have an ancestry that contains a bloodline from a domestic dog known for violence. That's why most breeders don't use pitbulls and the such, normaly they use german shephereds and malimutes.

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I have another story my father told me.

When he was even younger then when he got that wolf-dog hybrid, the same guy offered him a littlle cat.

But not just some cat, a cat with a very short tail, and with long hairs at the tip of its ears.

My father absolutely loved that cat. He told me that cat - a cat that grew to be much larger than any domestic cat - ws like a dog in cat's clothes, lol.

And when he told me that story, I showed him a book with many pics of all kinds of cats in it.

And what did he point at? : a bobcat, or a 'lynx' as we call it here in Europe.

He had always thought that that cat was some kind of weird distortion of Mother Nature, lol.

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I have personaly gotten to interact with wolf-dog hybrids, Not all of them are aggressive. Their characteristics are determined by both parents, so it's possible that the wolf-dog hybrid that your grandfather owned could have an ancestry that contains a bloodline from a domestic dog known for violence. That's why most breeders don't use pitbulls and the such, normaly they use german shephereds and malimutes.

I hope you got the message: my grandfather was't the nicest of guys.

I feel tempted to post his photo here, but I better not.

My feeling is that the dog got fkd up by my grandfather, and that is why he became so aggressive.

--

I feel quite **** now, so I tell you another thing.

My father once got beaten up badly by my granddfather.

His brother saw the ''result'.. and he told my grandfather, his own father... "I know you are now much stronger than I am,. But believe me, if you ever do THAT to me, and I grow up, you will not awake the next morning."

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I hope you got the message: my grandfather was't the nicest of guys.

I feel tempted to post his photo here, but I better not.

My feeling is that the dog got fkd up by my grandfather, and that is why he became so aggressive.

--

I feel quite **** now, so I tell you another thing.

My father once got beaten up badly by my granddfather.

His brother saw the ''result'.. and he told my grandfather, his own father... "I know you are now much stronger than I am,. But believe me, if you ever do THAT to me, and I grow up, you will not awake the next morning."

Sorry to hear about your father, noone deserves that. I was just pointing out that the dog-parents has something to do with the personality. But the personality of the owner can add to it. Both things could contribute to it. But seeing that the other parentage of the wolf-dog hybrid is unknown it could be a possibility.

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