The horror of the province of Zhevodan. When life is worse than a fairy tale
For a long time in many countries you can hear stories about monsters that literally terrorized entire areas and terrified not only children but also adults. The most famous of these monsters are the Chimera and the Lernean hydra. Ghouls and vampires have long been "regional" monsters, but gained worldwide fame after the release of the famous book by Bram Stoker in 1897 and especially numerous adaptations of this novel. However, modern filmmakers have significantly ennobled the image of these bloodsuckers, making them almost sex symbols. Less popular are novels and films about werewolves. And many writers and directors have not yet reached many other monsters. Therefore, for example, the Yakut Abaas are not well known - cannibal children born of black stones, Indian brahmaparushas are great connoisseurs of human brains, Black Annis, who consumed children in Leicestershire and lived on the border of Scotland and England, “red hats” - goblins who die if human blood, with which they moisten their caps, will dry.
Tales of scary and unusual creatures appear in our time. Stories about the Bigfoot and Bigfoot are popular all over the world. And in the 50 of the XX century, Puerto Rico “appeared” Chupacabra - a blood-sucking creature, supposedly resembling both a rat and a dog. In the 90's, this monster also appeared in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, the USA and many countries of Central America. Indeed, why are they worse than Puerto Rico? The yellow press of Ukraine “brought” the chupacabra to the post-Soviet space, Russian local journalists happily picked up this topic. In 2005, the American farmer Reggie Lagov even caught one of the chupacabras: it turned out to be an old bald coyote.
Most adequate people relate to all of these stories with humor. But there are exceptions to the rules, and in real life, sometimes events happen before which the plots of even the most terrible tales fade. Such is story, which occurred in the French region of Chevodant in the province of Auvergne in the second half of the 18th century. The monster that appeared there is neither a legend nor a myth. For three years (1764-1767 gg.), Which in France received the official name "Years of the Beast", an unknown monster kept the population of this area at bay. Numerous sources recorded 230 cases of attacks on people of a huge, remotely resembling a wolf, animal. From 60 to 123 people (according to various authors) were then killed by the "Beast", their names were entered in the parish books of the county. This discrepancy in the number of deaths is explained by the fact that some authors considered people who had disappeared without a trace in the surrounding forests as victims at that time.
The main tragic events took place in the area of the Margerida mountains - on the border of Auvergne and Languedoc.
What did the Zhevodan beast look like? According to surviving eyewitnesses, he was the size of a large calf, had an elongated, like a greyhound, muzzle, very wide chest, long, more like a cat's, tail with a tassel and large fangs protruding from the mouth. The fur of the Beast was yellowish-red with a dark strip along the ridge.
Some eyewitnesses recalled dark spots on the back and sides. One of them left such a description:
Another description:
And here is the testimony of one of the hunters:
Witnesses in surprise and horror said that the Beast showed no interest in cattle and pets, attacked only people. The manner of attack was also unusual: he rose up on his hind legs and knocked a man down with the blows of his forepaws.
Unlike other predators, he did not try to cut his neck, but bit his head and face of his victims.
The case is described when the Beast jumped onto the horse’s croup and knocked him over along with the rider.
The "supernatural" resourcefulness and invulnerability of the Beast was striking: traps set up in the surrounding forests were useless, poisoned baits remained untouched, and with incredible ease he avoided numerous raids. Most of the survivors of his attack assured that the Beast understands human speech. And many considered him a demon or a werewolf, which further increased his fear of him. Priests did not deny the possibility that this Beast was sent down to Zhevodan Hell as a punishment for human transgressions, silver bullets were consecrated in churches for hunters, prayers were served for deliverance from the "devilish creature."
As a werewolf, the Beast was also depicted on a wooden relief in one of the Zhevodan churches:
But some spoke of a man who was not far from the Beast, whom they considered him to be the master, a sorcerer who called a terrible monster from the Underworld.
Some researchers suggest that, at the same time as the Beast (and even disguised as him), some maniac was rampant in Zhevodan - it was he who was allegedly guilty of the death of young and beautiful girls. But no one has yet been able to officially confirm and prove this.
For the first time, the Beast made itself felt on 1 on June 1764, when he attacked a shepherd from the city of Langony. The woman said that the dogs that accompanied her only whined and trembled, not daring to attack the monster, but she managed to hide behind the bulls, who, putting up their horns, did not let the monster come to her.
But 14-year-old Zhanna Bule was not lucky - it was she who, on June 30 of that year, became the first officially confirmed victim of the Beast. However, by that time 10 people were already missing - perhaps the mysterious Beast was involved in their disappearance.
In August, the Beast killed two more children, local hunters, examining their bodies, suggested that the animal that attacked them should be larger than a wolf, but smaller than a bear. In September, when the Beast attacked, 5 people were killed, including the son of Count d'Apcher.
6 of September 1764 of the year The Beast first appeared to people: at about 7 in the evening he entered the village of Estre, attacking the 36-year-old peasant woman who worked in the garden near the house. The neighbors tried to drive the predator from the unfortunate one, and he left, leaving a dead body.
Thus began the "years of the Beast" in Zhevodan, and the horror that gripped the county population seemed to have no end.
People became afraid to go into the forest and let the children out of the house. Peasants, who had no guns, went outside the village, only taking a makeshift peak with them. And they tried to go to neighboring villages or cities in groups of at least three people.
The governor of the Languedoc, Count de Moncan, sent soldiers in search of the 56 monster under the command of the dragoon captain Duhamel, who organized several round-ups in the surrounding forests. Then about a hundred wolves were destroyed, but the Zhevodan beast remained elusive.
In October 1764, the local hunters unexpectedly ran into the Beast: they shot him twice and claimed to be wounded, but could not catch him or find him dead. But they found a gnawed corpse of an 21-year-old boy. The Beast's attacks stopped for a month, but on 25 of November they resumed. On that day, the Beast was killed by an 70-year-old woman who went to the forest for brushwood. In December, the Beast attacked people almost every day, on 27 of December, 4 attacks were recorded immediately, ending in the death of 2 people.
On 12 of January 1765, seven children aged 9 to 13 years met the Beast at the edge of the forest and managed to scare them away, screaming loudly and throwing stones and sticks at him.
Apparently embarrassed by the atypical behavior of potential victims, the Beast went into the forest, but a little later he returned and, in the same place, killed a child who, alone, went to the forest in search of his friends.
Another well-known case of a successful outcome of a meeting between an ordinary person (not an armed hunter) and the Beast is a confrontation between a predator and a girl from the village of Polak Marie-Jeanne Valais. With the help of home-made peaks, she managed to fight back and return home. Currently, at the entrance to her native village you can see a famous monument.
But such a successful encounter with the Beast was an exception to the rule. In January 1765 alone, 18 people died.
5 April of that year, the Beast attacked 4's children and killed everyone. By fall, the number of recorded attacks reached 134, and the death toll - 55 people.
In January of the same year, 1765, information about the mysterious monster destroying people in Auvergne reached Louis XV. The king sent in search of the Beast the famous Norman hunter Denneval, who at that time had on his account more than a thousand personally shot wolves. Together with his son, also a famous hunter, Denneval went to Zhevodan. They brought with them 8 tested in numerous raids of hounds. For several months, starting from February 17 to 1765, they combed the forests of Auvergne without taking breaks even during bad weather.
1 May 1765 Zhevodansky beast was still found, and even wounded, but he again managed to escape from the chase.
In June 1765, Louis XV sent Francois Antoine de Boter, Lieutenant of the Hunt, who had the court rank of "bearer of the royal arquebus", to Zhenodan to replace Denneval. An approximate king, trying to justify high trust and, using "administrative resources", attracted a huge number of people to the hunt for the Beast. So, in the raid on 9 on August 1765, 117 soldiers and 600 local residents took part. In three months, they managed to kill about 1200 wolves, but the Beast remained elusive. Finally, on 20 of September 1765, the dogs drove out to the hunters a huge wolf, almost twice as large as the usual one that was shot, and several bands of red matter were found in his stomach, which was direct evidence that this wolf was a cannibal.
Boter's bullet went tangentially, barely hitting the Beast. The second bullet fired by an unknown hunter hit the monster's eye. But even after this, the Beast was still alive, the third shot was decisive.
Bother stuffed this wolf to Versailles and received the royal reward in 9400 livres, but since the attacks of the Zhevodan beast were still ongoing (by this time he began to attack people even near their homes), the predator he killed was called the “wolf from Chase ".
From November 1 to 1766, the Beast’s attacks suddenly stopped, nothing was heard about him for 122 days, and people finally sighed calmly, believing that this nightmare was left behind. But on 2 of March the Beast reappeared in the Zhevodansky forests and the attacks became regular again.
Now the hunt for the Beast was headed by the Count d'Apcher, whose son, as we recall, became one of the first victims of this monster. Success was achieved on 19 on June 1767, when one of the participants in the raid, in which about 300 people participated - Jean Chastelle - managed to shoot the Beast. Inspection and autopsy of the monster somewhat disappointed the hunters: as it often happens, it turned out that “fear has big eyes” and not “the devil is so terrible as he is painted”. It turned out that the length of the Beast from head to tail is “only” 1 meter (the size of a wolf from Chase, as we recall, is 1 m. 70 cm). But the animal, in general, fit the description. The predator had a disproportionately large head with huge fangs and heavy jaws, disproportionately long front legs, its hair was gray with red tan, and several black stripes were located on the sides and at the base of the tail. The body of the Beast was covered with scars, three grains were found in the right femoral joint of the royal notary, and the recently discovered missing girl’s forearm was found in the stomach.
There were no rewards from the king and the official authorities, the grateful provincial people organized a fundraiser and were able to pay Shastel 72 livres.
To reassure people, the carcass of the Beast was transported for a long time throughout Zhevodan, and then, making it a stuffed animal, it was delivered to the king.
If this scarecrow were preserved, today it would be possible to give a completely unequivocal answer to the question of concern to all researchers and historians: who really was this famous Beast from Zhevodan? But, alas, there were no skilled taxidermists in Auvergne, and by the time of arrival in Versailles the scarecrow began to decompose, and was deemed “unfit for consideration” and dumped in a landfill. Therefore, versions about the origin of the Beast and its species are now more than enough expressed.
In 2001, the French film “Le Pacte des Loups” was released (“Wolf Pack”, in Russia this name was translated as “Brotherhood of the Wolf”), in which the royal taxidermist Gregoire de Fonsac and “far-fetched” hunt the Zhevodansky Beast Mohawk (from the Iroquois tribe) Mani using some kind of “Indian magic”. The “beast” in this film turned out to be a lion in special armor.
This fantasy of the scriptwriters, of course, cannot be regarded as a serious version. Along with it, we can put the assumption of cryptozoologists that the Zhevodan Beast was a saber-toothed tiger.
In the British newspaper St. Games's Chronicle at the beginning of 1765 reported that one of the French provinces was terrorized by a “new species of animal that is something between a wolf, a tiger and a hyena.”
Some historians now believe that the Beast of Zhevodan was a hyena, which someone allegedly brought from Africa. And, maybe, they say, this was the last instance of a relict cave hyena that had previously inhabited Europe.
The length of the body of this predator can reach 190 cm, weight - 80 kg, the front legs are longer than the hind legs, it has a wide chest and narrow sacrum, the color is gray-yellow or gray-brown, there are spots or stripes on the back and sides. In addition, it is precisely for hyenas that bites in the face are characteristic. Skeptics say that hyenas are not able to run at a steady trot, which was indicated by people who saw the Beast, and jump badly, which, again, is not consistent with eyewitness accounts.
Most historians agree that this monster is just an unusually large cannibal, or a cross between a wolf and a dog. But zoologists and experienced hunters claim that the wolf does not attack a person if there is easier prey nearby. But the Zhevodan Beast, according to the numerous testimonies of those years, did not pay attention to pets, invariably attacking the owners who were next to it. And, again, the repeatedly described manner of attack of this predator on people is not typical for wolves.
Therefore, another version was put forward, which is currently impossible to prove, but, unlike other hypotheses, it looks quite plausible.
Some researchers drew attention to the evidence of a mysterious person who sometimes was nearby during the Beast's attack, but did not intervene, did not feel fear, but did not try to help. Assuming that this is the owner of this creature, they began to look for a suitable candidate. And they found out that the youngest son of Jean Chastelle (yes, this particular person, the killer of the Beast) is Antoine, who during the service on navy spent some time in captivity with Algerian pirates, after returning to his homeland he worked in a traveling circus as a tamer of wild animals, and at home he was engaged in breeding dogs. All neighbors characterized him as a gloomy and unsociable person, subject to bouts of causeless cruelty. Of particular interest is the fact that the winter of 1766-1767. he spent in a local prison, where he was imprisoned for a fight - it was during this period that the cessation of the Beast's attacks was recorded. It has been suggested that Antoine, crossing his dogs with wolves, trained and trained these mestizos to kill people. This can explain the incredible invulnerability of the monster: during the round-up, the Beast sat quietly in the basement of the Shasteli house, and in case of his death, another predator, very similar to the first, was released. Maybe at the same time several Beasts were hunting people at once. However, the attention of the authorities and the great resonance that caused more and more attacks, probably began to worry the head of the family. And, perhaps, the last of the surviving "Beasts" began to get out of control. Perhaps that is why the decision was made to get rid of him, moreover, having earned this “reputation” and some money.
Indeed, the murder of the Beast by Jean Chastelle looks suspicious. The hunters recalled that the monster, slowly, came out of the forest and sat about 20 meters from Shastel. His composure is simply astounding: instead of shooting the Beast right away, he pulled out a prayer book and read one of the prayers, then put the book in his bag, took aim, and with two shots he hit the monster that was considered invulnerable. Perhaps the Beast recognized one of his masters and remained in place, fulfilling his command.
If this is so, another maniac of the level of the fabulous “Duke Bluebeard” appears in French history, but no longer invented by the enemies of the real Marshal of France Gilles de Rais (see article Ryzhov V.A. Black legend Gilles de Rais), but the real one.
At present, the Zhevodansky beast is a real brand of the province of the same name, on the territory of which there are monuments to both the Beast and de Boter, who hunted him, and to the people who survived his attacks. A museum dedicated to him in the village of Soghe is visited by thousands of tourists from all over the world.
Black Annis
Brahmaparusha
Not a single wolf will be glad to meet such a "Little Red Riding Hood"
Tales of scary and unusual creatures appear in our time. Stories about the Bigfoot and Bigfoot are popular all over the world. And in the 50 of the XX century, Puerto Rico “appeared” Chupacabra - a blood-sucking creature, supposedly resembling both a rat and a dog. In the 90's, this monster also appeared in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, the USA and many countries of Central America. Indeed, why are they worse than Puerto Rico? The yellow press of Ukraine “brought” the chupacabra to the post-Soviet space, Russian local journalists happily picked up this topic. In 2005, the American farmer Reggie Lagov even caught one of the chupacabras: it turned out to be an old bald coyote.
Most adequate people relate to all of these stories with humor. But there are exceptions to the rules, and in real life, sometimes events happen before which the plots of even the most terrible tales fade. Such is story, which occurred in the French region of Chevodant in the province of Auvergne in the second half of the 18th century. The monster that appeared there is neither a legend nor a myth. For three years (1764-1767 gg.), Which in France received the official name "Years of the Beast", an unknown monster kept the population of this area at bay. Numerous sources recorded 230 cases of attacks on people of a huge, remotely resembling a wolf, animal. From 60 to 123 people (according to various authors) were then killed by the "Beast", their names were entered in the parish books of the county. This discrepancy in the number of deaths is explained by the fact that some authors considered people who had disappeared without a trace in the surrounding forests as victims at that time.
Zhevodan County in the upper right corner on a map of Southern France
The main tragic events took place in the area of the Margerida mountains - on the border of Auvergne and Languedoc.
Beast from Zhevodan
What did the Zhevodan beast look like? According to surviving eyewitnesses, he was the size of a large calf, had an elongated, like a greyhound, muzzle, very wide chest, long, more like a cat's, tail with a tassel and large fangs protruding from the mouth. The fur of the Beast was yellowish-red with a dark strip along the ridge.
Zhevodansky beast, drawing from eyewitnesses
Some eyewitnesses recalled dark spots on the back and sides. One of them left such a description:
“The vile creature was a little smaller than a donkey, with a wide chest, a huge head and a thick scruff; the ears were like wolves, only a little longer, and the muzzle was like a boar's snout. ”
Another description:
“The body of the Beast is elongated; he presses it to the ground; the coat is reddish with black stripes on the back. A very long tail. The claws are incredible. ”
And here is the testimony of one of the hunters:
“He is much larger than even the tallest watchdog; his coat is brown and very thick, and on his belly it is more yellow. The head is huge, as are two front fangs sticking out of the mouth on both sides; ears are short and straight; the tail is pretty hard, because the Beast, when he runs, hardly waves it. ”
Zhevodansky beast kills a peasant woman
Attack of the beast
Witnesses in surprise and horror said that the Beast showed no interest in cattle and pets, attacked only people. The manner of attack was also unusual: he rose up on his hind legs and knocked a man down with the blows of his forepaws.
Unlike other predators, he did not try to cut his neck, but bit his head and face of his victims.
The case is described when the Beast jumped onto the horse’s croup and knocked him over along with the rider.
The "supernatural" resourcefulness and invulnerability of the Beast was striking: traps set up in the surrounding forests were useless, poisoned baits remained untouched, and with incredible ease he avoided numerous raids. Most of the survivors of his attack assured that the Beast understands human speech. And many considered him a demon or a werewolf, which further increased his fear of him. Priests did not deny the possibility that this Beast was sent down to Zhevodan Hell as a punishment for human transgressions, silver bullets were consecrated in churches for hunters, prayers were served for deliverance from the "devilish creature."
Zhevodan beast depicted as a werewolf
As a werewolf, the Beast was also depicted on a wooden relief in one of the Zhevodan churches:
An 18th-century wooden relief in one of the Zhevodan churches
But some spoke of a man who was not far from the Beast, whom they considered him to be the master, a sorcerer who called a terrible monster from the Underworld.
Illustration: a man in a suit of the Beast
Some researchers suggest that, at the same time as the Beast (and even disguised as him), some maniac was rampant in Zhevodan - it was he who was allegedly guilty of the death of young and beautiful girls. But no one has yet been able to officially confirm and prove this.
Years of the Beast
For the first time, the Beast made itself felt on 1 on June 1764, when he attacked a shepherd from the city of Langony. The woman said that the dogs that accompanied her only whined and trembled, not daring to attack the monster, but she managed to hide behind the bulls, who, putting up their horns, did not let the monster come to her.
But 14-year-old Zhanna Bule was not lucky - it was she who, on June 30 of that year, became the first officially confirmed victim of the Beast. However, by that time 10 people were already missing - perhaps the mysterious Beast was involved in their disappearance.
In August, the Beast killed two more children, local hunters, examining their bodies, suggested that the animal that attacked them should be larger than a wolf, but smaller than a bear. In September, when the Beast attacked, 5 people were killed, including the son of Count d'Apcher.
6 of September 1764 of the year The Beast first appeared to people: at about 7 in the evening he entered the village of Estre, attacking the 36-year-old peasant woman who worked in the garden near the house. The neighbors tried to drive the predator from the unfortunate one, and he left, leaving a dead body.
Thus began the "years of the Beast" in Zhevodan, and the horror that gripped the county population seemed to have no end.
People became afraid to go into the forest and let the children out of the house. Peasants, who had no guns, went outside the village, only taking a makeshift peak with them. And they tried to go to neighboring villages or cities in groups of at least three people.
The governor of the Languedoc, Count de Moncan, sent soldiers in search of the 56 monster under the command of the dragoon captain Duhamel, who organized several round-ups in the surrounding forests. Then about a hundred wolves were destroyed, but the Zhevodan beast remained elusive.
In October 1764, the local hunters unexpectedly ran into the Beast: they shot him twice and claimed to be wounded, but could not catch him or find him dead. But they found a gnawed corpse of an 21-year-old boy. The Beast's attacks stopped for a month, but on 25 of November they resumed. On that day, the Beast was killed by an 70-year-old woman who went to the forest for brushwood. In December, the Beast attacked people almost every day, on 27 of December, 4 attacks were recorded immediately, ending in the death of 2 people.
On 12 of January 1765, seven children aged 9 to 13 years met the Beast at the edge of the forest and managed to scare them away, screaming loudly and throwing stones and sticks at him.
Teenagers try to fight off a friend during the attack of the Zhevodansky beast
Apparently embarrassed by the atypical behavior of potential victims, the Beast went into the forest, but a little later he returned and, in the same place, killed a child who, alone, went to the forest in search of his friends.
Another well-known case of a successful outcome of a meeting between an ordinary person (not an armed hunter) and the Beast is a confrontation between a predator and a girl from the village of Polak Marie-Jeanne Valais. With the help of home-made peaks, she managed to fight back and return home. Currently, at the entrance to her native village you can see a famous monument.
But such a successful encounter with the Beast was an exception to the rule. In January 1765 alone, 18 people died.
5 April of that year, the Beast attacked 4's children and killed everyone. By fall, the number of recorded attacks reached 134, and the death toll - 55 people.
Denneval's Great Hunt
In January of the same year, 1765, information about the mysterious monster destroying people in Auvergne reached Louis XV. The king sent in search of the Beast the famous Norman hunter Denneval, who at that time had on his account more than a thousand personally shot wolves. Together with his son, also a famous hunter, Denneval went to Zhevodan. They brought with them 8 tested in numerous raids of hounds. For several months, starting from February 17 to 1765, they combed the forests of Auvergne without taking breaks even during bad weather.
Zhevodansky Beast quietly devours people while hunting wolves
Unsuccessful hunt for Zhevodansky beast
1 May 1765 Zhevodansky beast was still found, and even wounded, but he again managed to escape from the chase.
Hunt for the Zhevodan beast
Wolf from Chase
In June 1765, Louis XV sent Francois Antoine de Boter, Lieutenant of the Hunt, who had the court rank of "bearer of the royal arquebus", to Zhenodan to replace Denneval. An approximate king, trying to justify high trust and, using "administrative resources", attracted a huge number of people to the hunt for the Beast. So, in the raid on 9 on August 1765, 117 soldiers and 600 local residents took part. In three months, they managed to kill about 1200 wolves, but the Beast remained elusive. Finally, on 20 of September 1765, the dogs drove out to the hunters a huge wolf, almost twice as large as the usual one that was shot, and several bands of red matter were found in his stomach, which was direct evidence that this wolf was a cannibal.
Hunt for the Zhevodan beast, engraving
Antoine de Beauterne slaying 1st Beast
Boter's bullet went tangentially, barely hitting the Beast. The second bullet fired by an unknown hunter hit the monster's eye. But even after this, the Beast was still alive, the third shot was decisive.
Hunters and the Beast
Bother stuffed this wolf to Versailles and received the royal reward in 9400 livres, but since the attacks of the Zhevodan beast were still ongoing (by this time he began to attack people even near their homes), the predator he killed was called the “wolf from Chase ".
Stuffed Wolf from Chase: the length of the wolf reached 170 cm, the height at the withers - 80 cm, weight - 60 kg. This scarecrow burned in a fire in 1819.
From November 1 to 1766, the Beast’s attacks suddenly stopped, nothing was heard about him for 122 days, and people finally sighed calmly, believing that this nightmare was left behind. But on 2 of March the Beast reappeared in the Zhevodansky forests and the attacks became regular again.
Zhevodansky Beast attacks a woman
Killing the beast
Now the hunt for the Beast was headed by the Count d'Apcher, whose son, as we recall, became one of the first victims of this monster. Success was achieved on 19 on June 1767, when one of the participants in the raid, in which about 300 people participated - Jean Chastelle - managed to shoot the Beast. Inspection and autopsy of the monster somewhat disappointed the hunters: as it often happens, it turned out that “fear has big eyes” and not “the devil is so terrible as he is painted”. It turned out that the length of the Beast from head to tail is “only” 1 meter (the size of a wolf from Chase, as we recall, is 1 m. 70 cm). But the animal, in general, fit the description. The predator had a disproportionately large head with huge fangs and heavy jaws, disproportionately long front legs, its hair was gray with red tan, and several black stripes were located on the sides and at the base of the tail. The body of the Beast was covered with scars, three grains were found in the right femoral joint of the royal notary, and the recently discovered missing girl’s forearm was found in the stomach.
History of the Zhevodan beast
There were no rewards from the king and the official authorities, the grateful provincial people organized a fundraiser and were able to pay Shastel 72 livres.
To reassure people, the carcass of the Beast was transported for a long time throughout Zhevodan, and then, making it a stuffed animal, it was delivered to the king.
If this scarecrow were preserved, today it would be possible to give a completely unequivocal answer to the question of concern to all researchers and historians: who really was this famous Beast from Zhevodan? But, alas, there were no skilled taxidermists in Auvergne, and by the time of arrival in Versailles the scarecrow began to decompose, and was deemed “unfit for consideration” and dumped in a landfill. Therefore, versions about the origin of the Beast and its species are now more than enough expressed.
Monster Candidates
In 2001, the French film “Le Pacte des Loups” was released (“Wolf Pack”, in Russia this name was translated as “Brotherhood of the Wolf”), in which the royal taxidermist Gregoire de Fonsac and “far-fetched” hunt the Zhevodansky Beast Mohawk (from the Iroquois tribe) Mani using some kind of “Indian magic”. The “beast” in this film turned out to be a lion in special armor.
This is how the spectators of the film “Brotherhood of the Wolf” saw Zhevodansky beast
This fantasy of the scriptwriters, of course, cannot be regarded as a serious version. Along with it, we can put the assumption of cryptozoologists that the Zhevodan Beast was a saber-toothed tiger.
In the British newspaper St. Games's Chronicle at the beginning of 1765 reported that one of the French provinces was terrorized by a “new species of animal that is something between a wolf, a tiger and a hyena.”
Some historians now believe that the Beast of Zhevodan was a hyena, which someone allegedly brought from Africa. And, maybe, they say, this was the last instance of a relict cave hyena that had previously inhabited Europe.
Hyena in Valencia's Biopark, photo taken by the author
The length of the body of this predator can reach 190 cm, weight - 80 kg, the front legs are longer than the hind legs, it has a wide chest and narrow sacrum, the color is gray-yellow or gray-brown, there are spots or stripes on the back and sides. In addition, it is precisely for hyenas that bites in the face are characteristic. Skeptics say that hyenas are not able to run at a steady trot, which was indicated by people who saw the Beast, and jump badly, which, again, is not consistent with eyewitness accounts.
Most historians agree that this monster is just an unusually large cannibal, or a cross between a wolf and a dog. But zoologists and experienced hunters claim that the wolf does not attack a person if there is easier prey nearby. But the Zhevodan Beast, according to the numerous testimonies of those years, did not pay attention to pets, invariably attacking the owners who were next to it. And, again, the repeatedly described manner of attack of this predator on people is not typical for wolves.
Therefore, another version was put forward, which is currently impossible to prove, but, unlike other hypotheses, it looks quite plausible.
Master of the Beast
Some researchers drew attention to the evidence of a mysterious person who sometimes was nearby during the Beast's attack, but did not intervene, did not feel fear, but did not try to help. Assuming that this is the owner of this creature, they began to look for a suitable candidate. And they found out that the youngest son of Jean Chastelle (yes, this particular person, the killer of the Beast) is Antoine, who during the service on navy spent some time in captivity with Algerian pirates, after returning to his homeland he worked in a traveling circus as a tamer of wild animals, and at home he was engaged in breeding dogs. All neighbors characterized him as a gloomy and unsociable person, subject to bouts of causeless cruelty. Of particular interest is the fact that the winter of 1766-1767. he spent in a local prison, where he was imprisoned for a fight - it was during this period that the cessation of the Beast's attacks was recorded. It has been suggested that Antoine, crossing his dogs with wolves, trained and trained these mestizos to kill people. This can explain the incredible invulnerability of the monster: during the round-up, the Beast sat quietly in the basement of the Shasteli house, and in case of his death, another predator, very similar to the first, was released. Maybe at the same time several Beasts were hunting people at once. However, the attention of the authorities and the great resonance that caused more and more attacks, probably began to worry the head of the family. And, perhaps, the last of the surviving "Beasts" began to get out of control. Perhaps that is why the decision was made to get rid of him, moreover, having earned this “reputation” and some money.
Indeed, the murder of the Beast by Jean Chastelle looks suspicious. The hunters recalled that the monster, slowly, came out of the forest and sat about 20 meters from Shastel. His composure is simply astounding: instead of shooting the Beast right away, he pulled out a prayer book and read one of the prayers, then put the book in his bag, took aim, and with two shots he hit the monster that was considered invulnerable. Perhaps the Beast recognized one of his masters and remained in place, fulfilling his command.
If this is so, another maniac of the level of the fabulous “Duke Bluebeard” appears in French history, but no longer invented by the enemies of the real Marshal of France Gilles de Rais (see article Ryzhov V.A. Black legend Gilles de Rais), but the real one.
At present, the Zhevodansky beast is a real brand of the province of the same name, on the territory of which there are monuments to both the Beast and de Boter, who hunted him, and to the people who survived his attacks. A museum dedicated to him in the village of Soghe is visited by thousands of tourists from all over the world.
Auvergne, a sculpture of the Zhevodansky beast at the village of Saugues
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