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Deimos-Remus — B is for The Beast of Gevaudan
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Published: 2015-03-29 21:11:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 39114; Favourites: 768; Downloads: 0
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Description
Name: The Beast of Gevaudan, La Bête du GévaudanArea of Origin: The province of Gevaudan, south-central France
The Beast was purported to be a large werewolf that attacked the province of Gevaudan, reported to claiming as many as 113 lives and being the instigator for more than 200 attacks between 1764-67. Victims often had their throats torn out, and the French government spent a considerable amount of man-power to hunt the thing. It was described as having a large tail, a wide mouth, and red hair with a black streak across its back. Based on the eyewitness descriptions, modern day zoologists speculate that it may have been an Asian hyena, which don't exist naturally in the area any longer. The beast has since become a popular subject in the field of Cryptzoology.
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I read in a National Geographic article that the most likely theory is that it was a lion that had escaped from a menagerie, and was misidentified by people who had never seen a lion before, I think it had a short mane or none at all.
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Yeah, that's always a possibility! I've even seen it theorized as a pack of wild dogs as opposed to a single animal.
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Brilliant illustration, there was a French horror movie made about the case a few years back, the "Beast" was portrayed as an African hyena brought to France by ship and let loose - think "hound of the baskervilles" type plot
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Thanks!
I'll have to watch that one! It seems to be a bit more "low-key" instead of how ridiculous that Brotherhood of the Wolf was, haha.
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Brotherhood of the wolf? ah heck I've seen that one - it almost as daft as that Da Vinci Code film except in French
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The beast was though but some to be a werewolf or just some crazy person who seems to get their kicks by hurting people, meaning eating them, but what do you think it is, a werewolf a wolf-dog or just a pure wolf or some killer human?
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Yeah, been a slew of different theories surrounding it!
Not sure what I think it may have been, I think it was most likely a very large canine, or a pack of them believed to be the same singular animal, but who knows?
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or some kind of crazed person who seemed to get their kicks on killing people, werewolf or not, wolf-dog or pure-bred wolf, crazy person or not a crazed person, but no one knows what it is or if there is more then one, i mean who knows, what kind of thing the Beast is.
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no it's just a hyaenodont coming from the cenozoïc abducted by aliens and released at the same location but at the XVIIIth century !! Aliens made a temporal mistake; of course they never apologized about the killings the beast committed !! moron alien abductors !
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vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/c…
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You're very welcome; awesome works
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I know Lozère (the ancient Gévaudan) a superb wild region with forests and plateaux
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Definitely a fascinating area!
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it was no hyena. The beast was killed and the kept the skeleton. A hyena has less teeth than this monster. They think it is a wolf-dog hybrid. It was as wild as a wolf but it was not scared of humans, like a dog. These times, people tried to cross wolves with dogs to create the most badass dogs used for hunts. But it never really worked. Scientists think this creature was actually used by a man for his pervert intentions. He raped the girls and later the animals finished the job. The beast often led the corpses rot without feeding on the,.A starving animal does not do that. And they found clothings of the victims, carefully folded next to the bodies. I do not think the beast did that. It all stopped when Jean Chastel, the hunter who killed the beast in the futuzre...was in prison. The killings stopped and he became suspicious. When he was relased the killings started again. The beast even ran into the village. This monster was real. this is creepy enough
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I don't remember mention of any skeleton surviving the centuries from what I've read. Visually, with the red hair, I think it resembles the Hyena the closest as certain species of it do grow quite large. I do think that it was a misconception/exaggeration of some real animal. Animals have been known to hunt purely for sport (letting the corpses rot, and not eating them). If you look up the Tsavo Lions, it's a similar story and a much more recent one at that, which makes for a less superstition-driven account. Whether Chastel had some relation to the beast is coincidental in my opinion, but it's the lore and theories surrounding it that makes it interesting.
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Hmm, maybe you could have drawn the tail longer and like a lion's... that was one of the odd things said about the beast, that it had a long tail unlike those of wolves.
IT's still strange what this could have been, but yeah, most likely, a hyena. Of course that french movie has its own ideas about that.
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Ah, that's right, forgot about that detail!
Yeah, historically the events are proven, but what the creature actually was remains a mystery, which is what makes it so interesting.
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That's the interesting bit, as a zoologist this reall intrigued me a lot. If you can, watch the movie Brotherhood of the Wolf, they have a very interesting explanation for the creature (albeit a bit far-fetched)
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Was this what the movie "Brotherhood of the Wolf" was based off of 
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Yeah, I believe so. I have seen it, it's pretty dang ridiculous, which makes it fun and goofy, haha. It's like a mix of 10 different genres almost. I can't remember if I watched a dub or not though...
Though, if a new film were to be made, I'd love to see a more reserved, creepier and atmospheric take on the legend. Mythology and Folklore are a rich source that films should draw from more often if you ask me.
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I remember watching a show on NatGeo, I think, a few years back on this and if I remember right, they thought the beast might actually have been a striped hyena. 
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Yeah, Asian Hyenas seem to be striped and more ferocious looking in general, they also appear to be larger than the average hyenas as well. Thanks, glad you like it!
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what species do you mean with "asian hyena"? right now there are only four species of hyenas in existence: spotted, brown, striped and the aardwolf. all of them live in africa and the spotted hyena one is the biggest one of them. once there were wild hyenas in eurasia but they died out after the last ice age.
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I think the striped Hyena is what used to be referred to as the Asian Hyena.
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thanks for making this clear. I thought maybe theres another species I don't know of that survived in asia and europe even some time after the last ice age. I'm very interested in biology, that's all.
Also your mythology ABC series is awesome
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I just get most of the info for these from Wikipedia, so I'm sure it's not totally accurate.
Thanks, much appreciated!
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el arte de la cronica de la epoca le ponen cola de leon. muy cool
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This is fun, you know. I live not far from the "Land of the Beast" as it is called here, and we are plagued with a dozen books a year on the subject. Most of them are not serious and just repeat the same things ad nauseam. I'd like some of these writers to see your vision of the Beast. Maybe it would give them some fresh ideas.
Once again, nice job.
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Thanks a bunch! Ha, that's pretty funny.
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Ahhhh ... I should have thought of this, of course! I used to adore "Pact of the Wolves!"
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Ha, the movie was pretty darn ridiculous.
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