The Gévaudan Tragedy: The Disastrous Campaign of a Deported ‘Beast’

by Karl-Hans Taake

In the 1760s, in the former County of Gévaudan, located in southern France, and in adjacent areas, about one hundred children, youths, and women were killed by an alien “beast”; numerous other humans survived the attacks, many of them seriously injured. The series of attacks is confirmed by a great variety of historical documents and is not called into question by scientists. The “beast” showed an unusual behaviour, extremely threatening for the rural communities of Gévaudan: it ambushed humans not only on pastures and in fields, but even entered villages to prey on inhabitants in front of their houses. The appearance of the “beast” also had economically dramatic consequences for the already impoverished region: trade nearly came to a standstill, fields were no longer tilled. Historians dealing with the events conclude that wolves or a hybrid of a domestic dog and a wolf caused the attacks. But this view is not consistent with reports of the attacked persons and of those who rushed to help them or pursued the “beast”. Furthermore, the wolf hypothesis is not compatible with zoological facts. This book traces the story of the “beast” and its victims; it deals extensively with the identity of the “beast”, and proves that in Gévaudan a manmade catastrophe occurred.

Genres: Nonfiction

99 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 15, 2015

Reviews

[Natacha Pavlov · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love wolves, even if I tend to like most animals. It might be early memories of some news reports of wolf attacks in the 90s Belgian countryside, but I've been at least vaguely familiar with the 18th century beast of Gévaudan of southern France since that time. My intuitive hunch has always been and remains that the beast responsible for the attacks in question was not a wolf/wolves or local (even if they were the cause of some unrelated attacks; the events did cover a 3-year span after all). My recent resurging interest led me to read BEAST, and it's while reading that book that some serendipitous search led me to this great work by biologist Karl-Hans Taake. 

I prefer to read print copies but since it's only available on Kindle, I gave in and it was oh so worth it. The author effectively makes his case, which feels to me like nothing less than closure—at least in terms of the creature itself. This is because the author sticks strictly to the animal, and does not go deep into the other related factors, such as the extent of the human role in the beast's presence and media coverage, among others. These are aspects I'll be tapping into in one of my short stories from my next collection. 
But in any case, I'm very grateful for this find, and highly recommend it for anyone interested in the subject, because there are so many layers to this enduring case. 

[Gerard.yun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taake’s analysis of the identity of the beast through attack patterns, collected statistics, and an amazing amount and variety of evidence is very impressive. I have been interested in this particular “monster” since the 2001 fictitious French movie, Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001). It seemed more like a historical cryptid except it really did kill a lot of people. Most books on the topic really get confused with the amount of misleading evidence in the record, and there is a lot of it. Taake does a masterful job of sorting it out and explaining possible political and social class issues for the discrepancies in the evidence. I loved his explanations of animal behaviour but was especially pleased with his rationale for the wide ranging differences in visual descriptions of the beast. This work is part natural history, part eco-environmental history lesson, and part politics and 18th century France social and economic context. A fascinating and satisfying analysis of a phenomenon obscured by its own social context and the passage of time.

[David Shoemaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading another book, I ran across the legend of the Beast of Gévaudan. The legend had been made into a movie that I was fond of call. “The Brotherhood of the Wolf”. I had always assumed the movie was a fictional tale and had no knowledge that it was based off of true events. While doing some googling on the subject, I ran across “The Gévaudan Tragedy: The Disastrous campaign of a deported Beast”. I decided to read it in hopes of learning more about the incident. I was worried the book would read like a graduate thesis project, but was happily surprised at how easy this book was to read. The information was excellent and from legit sources. While the author is writing his opinion of the “beasts” identity, he presents the facts in chronological order for you to see before giving his insight. I recommend this book for crytozoologist and historians alike.

[Tekken · Rating 5 out of 5]

No nüüd ei oska ma enam midagi arvata! Oli see nüüd siis hunt/mitu hunti, huntkoer või lõvi? Ja kas Jean Chastel oli kangelane, kes vääriks veel paari mälestussammast, või hoopis Gévaudani metseluka omanik/kurikael?

Asja tõsisemalt võttes on Taake argumendid ikka üsna veenvad. Kui ma enne olin Todaro hunditeooria pooldaja, siis nüüd arvan nagu sakslanegi, et tegemist võis olla noore lõvi ja mitme hundiga. Aga mõned raamatud on veel läbi lugemata, nii et küllap ma jõuan oma arvamust revideerida.

Ei saa meenutamata jätta, et kui ITV „Endeavouri” vaatajanumbrid järjekordselt kukkuma hakkasid, võtsid nemadki viimases hädas metseluka appi (S3E3), antud juhul küll tiigri.

[Michael Siegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was a delight. As opposed to age old thought concerning the identity of the beast, the author gives systematic evidence to prove the animal was of a different sort than what historians and journalists of the time have stated. The book was a well thought out and well sourced piece of literature that seeks to answer just what the beast of Gevaudan would have been. Enjoyable read from beginning to end.

[AmbushPredator · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting hypothesis (which won't be a surprise to.anyone who watched the cult film 'Brotherhood Of The Wolf') about the true identity of the cryptid Beast of Gevaudan. The author puts up some plausible evidence for the theory. One of the better books about this peculiar tale, if sadly a trifle short.

[Sabine Lechtenfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author who is a German biologist, tackles the unsolved mystery of The Beast of Gevaudan, which has attacked, killed and eaten many victims who lived in the French region of the Gevaudan in the mid 18th century. The mystery is so baffling because the Beast has been seen in action by many credible eyewitnesses and the case is well documented. Why then hasn't it been possible to identify the creature? The author analyzes the eyewitness reports and the behavioral pattern of the beast and concludes that the creature cannot have been a wolf, a large dog or a wolf/dog hybrid because the witnesses were very familiar with wolves and dogs and would've certainly been able to reckognize a canine creature. Also the reported size, the immense strength, the overall behavior pattern and the choice of prey was not at all compatible with anything even the largest wolves or dogs would be capable of. The author discards the highly unlikely idea that the creature may have been an unknown species or a (not quite) extinct relic specimen like a cave lion. He builds a very convincing case that the beast must've been an imported foreign apex predator which may have come into the area in an exotic menagerie which was very fashionable at the time amongst those who could afford it. There were also travelling menageries with exotic animals for entertainment and education purposes. There's no reason why such an exotic animal couldn't have been at large for various reasons. The animal could have escaped or was set loose deliberately by the owners because they couldn't handle the creature anymore. And when the killings started they would have been afraid to come forward and report the case. This behavior of irresponsible exotic pet owners is unfortunately still all too common even today. The Gevaudan was a remote and wild area where a foreign predator could definitely have existed for a while. And the animal may have become a man-eater because humans - especially women and children - may have been the easiest and readily available prey.
Karl-Hans Taake looks carefully at the eyewitness descriptions and at the reported behavior and concludes that everything which has been recorded points at a very specific exotic predator which, although well known, may not have been reckognized by the bewildered and frightened witnesses because they had never personally seen such an animal before and also would never have expect to meet such a creature in rural France where it would've been clearly out of place. There are many contemporary depictions of the beast by various artists. But Taake points out correctly that none of the artists has seen the creature personally and most of them haven't even talked to the eyewitnesses. Therefore they created fantasy depictions which cannot be used for the identification of the beast.
Taake has constructed a very convincing solution of the mystery without any fantastical speculations. And he presents his case in a clear and precise fashion. The book is well worth the read.

[Tanweer Dar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read which I devoured (pun intended) with as much zeal as I did with speed. Taake makes a persuasive argument, and his use of statistics in particular is effective and convincing.

You can't escape the sense, however, that Taake is more of a polemicist than a scientist. He seems very certain of himself and very disparaging of those who think otherwise. Although he presents a great deal of evidence to substantiate his claims for the identity of 'The Beast', and I am inclined to believe him in many of his arguments, I get the feeling he has selected evidence to fit his beliefs rather than examined evidence and reached an objective conclusion.

Still, well-written (and translated) and very useful for anyone researching 'The Beast of Gévaudan'.

[Laura Pérez O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on the Gévaudan beast. Maybe the translation to english didnt help to keep the line of deaths and history.