Beast Read online

  Copyright © 2016 by Gustavo Sánchez Romero and S. R. Schwalb

  “France and the Gévaudan Region” map cartography copyright © David Lindroth Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

  Print ISBN: 978-1-63220-462-2

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63220-780-7

  Cover design by Rain Saukas

  Printed in the United States of America

  Readers interested in the cryptozoological artwork of Gustavo Sánchez Romero may contact him at [email protected]

  Table of Contents

  To the Reader

  Foreword

  The Main Characters

  Prologue

  Part 1. The Never-Ending Night

  1. The Apparition

  2. The Gévaudan

  3. Lafont

  4. Count Morangiès

  5. Le Petit Versailles du Gévaudan

  6. “Ferocious with Design”

  7. “Inconsolable”

  8. Wolf Month

  9. Wolf-Stalk

  10. “An Old Norman Gentleman Who Has Gone Gray in the Pursuit of Wolves”

  SIDEBAR: Artificial Women and Little-Girl Lambs

  11. “Courage, Hunters of France”

  12. “An Unfortunate Time”

  SIDEBAR: A Dickens of a Beast

  13. The Royal Gunbearer

  14. Chazes

  SIDEBAR: Another Version

  15. “A Short Truce”

  16. Ténazeyre

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Part 2. The Hunt for Truth

  17. Hypotheses

  18. Modus Operandi

  19. Werewolves of France

  20. Man-Beasts and Serial Killers

  21. Other Contenders: Prehistoric and Exotic Species

  SIDEBAR: The Man-Eaters of Tsavo: Parallels to La Bête

  22. What of Wolves and Hybrids?

  23. Two Dead Beasts

  24. Cold Winters, Killer Wolves

  25. Beasts Past and Present

  26. The Beast and Wolves Today in France

  Appendix: Details of the Autopsies

  Notes.

  Bibliography

  Acknowledgments

  Index

  To the Reader

  This book is inspired by true events that occurred in France from June 1764 to June 1767. The subject of this book is known as the Beast of the Gévaudan, but the Beast was actually two or more creatures that ranged south-central France in the Gévaudan and in neighboring Auvergne and the Vivarais. Something to keep in mind: La Bête (the Beast) is a feminine noun in French. Thus, in accounts quoted herein, such as that of the 1889 chronicle by the Abbé Pierre Pourcher, the Beast is referred to as female (“she attacked,” “she devoured,” and so on). For simplicity’s sake, we refer to the creature or creatures described herein as “the Beast.” Please note: To simplify comparisons of the animals discussed in this book, not all illustrations are to scale.

  We are fortunate in this journey to have the company of respected Beast researcher, documentarian, and author Phil Barnson, from Béziers in the south of France. Phil maintains the website www.labetedugevaudan.com.

  La Bête du Gévaudan identifiée, by Mademoiselle Marguerite Aribaud-Farrère. Phil Barnson.

  Foreword

  Once upon a time long ago in rural France, in a land known as the Gévaudan, a young shepherdess was found dead, slaughtered by a mysterious bête féroce, a ferocious beast. This bloodthirsty monster then attacked and killed others—children, women, and men—bringing about a never-ending night of dread that lasted three long years.

  The peasants who eked out hardscrabble livings during this reign of terror came to wonder every single day: Would they know the next victim? Would they be the next victim?

  ***

  I have been caught up in the clutches of the Beast since I was a boy growing up in the Languedoc region of France. Here, in the country of the Beast, the story has been passed from generation to generation since the occurrence of these horrifying events more than two hundred and fifty years ago.

  My father possessed a booklet about the creature, called La Bête du Gévaudan identifiée, by Mademoiselle Marguerite Aribaud-Farrère. It was stapled, with a stark orange-yellow cover, upon which was a black-inked illustration of a man dressed from head to toe in wolfskin, his face leering out of the open jaws of the dead wolf.

  I still have this booklet, and, as I look at it now, I recall poring over this picture many years ago, carefully studying the wolfman who menaced readers with his claw-like fingernails and vampire-like teeth, ready to leap out of a foreboding forest. My hair would stand on end as I eyed the monster, recalling the stories of the Beast’s ravages. It served as inspiration when I played in our family’s attic, imagining hunting the werewolf myself, accompanied by my worthy companions, action figures G. I. Joe and Big Jim. I’d pretend we’d gone back in time to Old France to find the Beast, and I’d peer into the darkest corners, searching for our prey. But if there was a sudden sound, such as a creak of the house settling or a branch scraping a window, I’d freeze, eyes wide, heart pounding, clutching the grip of an antique saber I kept hidden under the eaves.

  ***

  Years later, still on the Beast’s trail, I decided to create a website that I call In the Shadow of the Beast, www.labetedugevaudan.com, that would make the facts about the monster and its world available to all who were interested. And when I began sifting through the stories, I was surprised to find that most were never verified.

  So I decided to confirm as much as I could, with the help of as many professionals as I was able to contact. And I made the information available to all, with no need to register. Readers could also use the content freely; all I asked was that they just mention where it came from.

  ***

  People are often surprised to learn this is a true story. In France, so many things have been said and written about the Beast over the years that many believe this simply is “a story.” And those who are interested in the real account get lost in snarls of fact and fiction. They ask: When did this happen? How poor were the people? There was a king at that time, right? What, you say there were no roads?

  I like to think they can find all they need to situate the case well enough in history, and, more importantly, in reality, on my site. I try to be as objective as possible so those who visit can find rational facts and “almost scientific” explanations for something that has become legend. Who wouldn’t want to investigate a legend such as this?

  Today, though I believe www.labetedugevaudan.com is the most complete site on the Web, it remains far from exhaustive.

  For it does not solve the mystery.

  ***

  What was the Beast of the Gévaudan?

  Where did it come from?

  You see, some say it was a wolf.

  Some say it was a hyena or a lion, escaped from a menage
rie.

  Some say it was a man in wolfskin.

  Some have said it was a scourge sent from God.

  The only thing I am certain of is that no one will ever really know the answer, unless they could truly go back in time.

  But perhaps, in the long run, it does not matter. What might matter more is the story told by the information contained within French archives and parish records. There is extensive documentation of the Beast, and it has been studied by specialists from the nineteenth century through today.

  What the archives reveal is a story far bigger than one about a strange animal that killed children and women.

  From the remote French countryside to the royal court in Versailles, it’s about an entire microcosm with many components nested within each other, into which a number of complex agents were tossed: Social problems resulting from poverty in a land where justice was dispensed by religion, livestock succumbing to outbreaks of disease, a little ice age that made winter last from October to June, and a challenging landscape with no real roads of any kind.

  There you have a thumbnail of life in the Gévaudan at that time.

  Think things couldn’t get any worse? That’s what the peasants thought, too!

  ***

  I admit I have favorite theories myself. But I have no answer. I only tell people what I know, what I’ve learned along the way, and then I propose solutions that are always open to any correction.

  When Gustavo contacted me about this project, I wondered about there being one more book about the Beast. But this is not just “one more book.” It is a book which shows the case in a new way. Bringing in other information and historical events, this readable account transports you to a world where magic and superstition live side by side with nature’s “monsters.”

  A world where human hunters are outfoxed, shall we say, by other predators.

  A world where humans are prey.

  I will never say to anybody, “This is the answer,” but I like to think the case is well presented here, with the story of the attacks, the major characters, the hunts, and then, the hunt for truth—theories about the identity of the Beast.

  What you need to know to begin your own journey in the world of the Beast lies within these pages.

  Now—do you have what it takes?

  What will you find lurking in the darkest corners?

  Keep your saber ready.

  Phil Barnson

  dans l’Ombre de la Bête (In the Shadow of the Beast) www.labetedugevaudan.com

  Béziers, France

  The Main Characters

  King, Court, Authorities:

  Louis XV (1710–1774). King of France. A member of the Bourbon dynasty. Great-grandson of the Sun King (Louis XIV). Reign marked by the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years’ (or French and Indian) War. Avid hunter. Queen: Marie Leszczynska of Poland (1703–1768). Mistresses: Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry, among others. Taken sick while hunting late in April 1774, the monarch was diagnosed with smallpox, horrifying and incurable. Louis, realizing his time had come, determined to die a Christian death, and sent Madame du Barry away. He passed on May 10. His highly contagious body was quickly transferred to a lead coffin and taken to the royal crypt.

  Bishop of Mende (1688–1767), Gabriel Florent de Choiseul Beaupré. Co-ruler with the king of the diocese of Mende according to a paréage, or agreement, put in place four and a half centuries earlier. Member of an influential French family. Cousin of the secretary of state of foreign affairs. Conservative pro-Jansenist Catholic. Believed the Beast’s appearance was auspicious. At the time of La Bête, the bishop was seventy-six years old; he passed away the month after Chastel killed the second Beast, on July 7, 1767.

  Laverdy (1724–1793), Clément Charles François de Laverdy, or L’Averdy. Controller-General of France 1763–1768.

  Choiseul (1719–1785), Étienne François, Duc de Choiseul. Secretary of state of foreign affairs. Cousin of the Bishop of Mende.

  Saint-Florentin (1705–1777), Louis Phélypeaux, comte de Saint-Florentin. One of the King’s administrators and a Beast communications coordinator. Also an avid hunter; lost his left hand as a result of a hunting accident.

  Buffon (1707–1788), Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon. Prominent French naturalist. Curator of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. Author of the multi-volume Histoire naturelle. According to the journalist Frédéric Melchior, Baron von Grimm, Buffon thought the Beast was several wolves.

  Ballainvilliers (1721–1767), Simon-Charles, Baron de Ballainvilliers. Intendant of the province of Auvergne. Based in Clermont-Ferrand, France. The first Beast, the Chazes Wolf, would be destroyed within his jurisdiction, not in the Gévaudan.

  Saint-Priest (1732–1794), Marie-Joseph de Guignard de Saint-Priest. Intendant of the province of Languedoc (which included the Gévaudan). Based in Montpellier, France.

  Lafont, Étienne (1719–1779). Syndic or manager of the diocese of Gévaudan and subdelegate to province’s intendant, Saint-Priest. Local boy. Formerly an attorney in Toulouse, France. Diligent caretaker of his district. Refereed hunters. Considered a thoroughgoing foe of the Beast, though he could not challenge king and court with regard to an apparent second Beast after the official destruction of the Chazes animal in September 1765.

  Count Moncan. Jean-Baptiste Marin, comte de Moncan. Commander of military forces in the Languedoc.

  Montluc. Pierre de Tassy Montluc. Subdelegate of the diocese of Saint-Flour to the intendant of Auvergne.

  Morangiès, father and son. Father: Pierre Charles de Molette, Marquis de Morangiès (1701–1774). Son: Jean-François Charles de la Molette, comte de Morangiès, (1728–1791). At the time of the Beast, the Morangiès family was the area’s most influential. Both father and son had served in the Seven Years’ War, but the marquis had dishonored himself and retired afterward to the Morangiès home in Saint-Alban. The count, his son, had performed much better with regards to his military service, yet years later would become a human suspect responsible for the killings in the Gévaudan. His financial misdeeds caused him to be imprisoned in Paris’s Conciergerie in 1773, but he was released. Voltaire among others came to his defense. Disgraced, he left France for the Netherlands and Metz, France, and became involved with an adventuress. He returned to Saint-Alban and died in 1801 after the woman hit him with a fireplace shovel.

  The Hunters

  Duhamel (Jean-Baptiste Louis François Boulanger Duhamel, born 1732). Captain and adjutant of the Clermont-Prince dragoon volunteers. First hunter of the Beast, from autumn 1764 through spring 1765. Dedicated yet heavy-handed. Once, in frustration, he broke the blade of his sword over the back of a peasant. He was made a knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis on December 9, 1771; he retired in 1788 with an annual pension of fourteen hundred livres (pounds).

  The d’Ennevals. Father: Jean-Charles Marc Antoine Vaumesle of Enneval (1703–1769). Son: Jean-François Vaumesle of Enneval (born 1734). Court-approved wolf hunters from Normandy, France. Hunted the Beast after Duhamel, from spring 1765 through mid-summer 1765. Arrogant, taciturn. Afterward, the elder d’Enneval was said to have expressed that he believed there was something extraordinary in the Gévaudan.

  François Antoine (1695–1771) and Antoine de Beauterne, Robert-François Antoine de Beauterne (born in 1748). Father-son hunters from the king’s court. François Antoine was a knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis, the king’s gunbearer, and a lieutenant of the hunt. His son was a cavalry officer. They hunted the Beast after Duhamel and the d’Ennevals. With the help of his nephew, Rinchard, gamekeeper of the Duke of Orléans, François Antoine destroyed the first Beast, the Chazes wolf, in September 1765. Though François Antoine is reported as being a gallant and kind gentleman, Beast chronicler Abbé Pierre Pourcher suspected him of trickery, of stealing the thunder and the reward money from local Jean Chastel.

  Jean Chastel (1708–1789). Jean Chastel is credited with killing the second Beast. Husband of Anne
Charbonnier, father of nine children, Chastel was an innkeeper, and said to be an excellent hunter. His enigmatic son Antoine Chastel has, in contemporary times, been connected with many stories pointing to his procuring and training a Beast to carry out the killings, either for himself or for a sadistic feudal lord, possibly Count Morangiès.

  The Marquis d’Apcher (Joseph Jean Chateauneuf-Randon of Apcher, 1748–1798). A knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis, among other appointments. Eager young hunter of the Beast. In 1767, he hunted with Jean Chastel and led the hunts of June 18 and 19, 1767, in which Chastel took down the second Beast (the creature also referred to as La Ténazeyre canid). After pursuing a military career, becoming a marechal du champ (field marshal), followed by his election as a deputy of the Gévaudan, he fled France for Spain after the Revolution. He died in Barcelona in 1798.

  Autopsy Reports:

  The Jaladon report of the first Beast, or the Chazes wolf. Made by Charles Jaladon, local surgeon, in September 1765.

  The Marin report of the second Beast, or La Ténazeyre canid. Made by royal notary Roch-Étienne Marin; autopsy performed by Boulanger, father and son, in June 1767.

  Three Famous Survivors Of Attacks:

  Portefaix (1752–1785). Jacques André Portefaix, twelve-year-old hero, leader of a group of children who defied the Beast in January 1765. The children were rewarded and Portefaix’s education and military training were subsequently paid for by the state. He met King Louis XV in 1770, and went on to become a lieutenant before an untimely death in 1785 as a result of a shooting accident in Douai, northern France.

  The femme Jouve. (Jeanne Jouve, born in 1732, wife of Pierre). Courageous mother who, unarmed, dared to brawl with the Beast to defend her children in March 1765.

  Marie-Jeanne Valet. Young woman who rumbled with the Beast in August 1765, fighting the creature off with a bayonet. François Antoine, the king’s gunbearer, compared her to Joan of Arc.

  Priest-Historian:

  Abbé Pierre Pourcher (1831–1915). Priest and “dean” of Beast chroniclers. Curate of Saint-Martin de Boubaux, diocese of Mende. His 1889 account, Histoire de la Bête du Gévaudan, veritable fléau de Dieu (History of La Bête du Gévaudan: True Scourge of God), compiled from numerous official documents and letters (interspersed with commentary regarding the Beast as a creature used by God), is considered the bible of La Bête, and was approved by the Vatican. Pourcher’s great-grandfather fought the Beast. Pourcher was also able to procure the gun of Jean Chastel, the local hero who killed the second Beast. English-speaking readers may enjoy Pourcher’s work through British researcher Derek Brockis’s translation.