Beast of G�vaudan

Beast of G�vaudan : was described as being a huge wolf-like beast, which killed its victims 'by savagely tearing out their throats before devouring their bodies or simply ripping them apart'.  The beast came to public attention between June 1764 and June 1767 when a large number of murders (mainly women and children) occurred in G�vaudan, a place situated in the district of Loz�re in south-eastern France.

In February 1765 King Louis XV sent a famous hunter called Denneval into G�vaudan with six highly trained bloodhounds to try to track down the creature.  Unfortunately they did not succeed.  However after two large wolves were killed in the area the murders finally ceased.  However there are some who believe that the beast was more than just a bloodthirsty rabid wolf.  In the book La B�te du G�vaudan a man called Gerald Menatory suggested that the killings may have been the work of one or a number of serial killers using the reports of man-killing wolves to cover their tracks.  There has even been the suggestion that the beast was actually a werewolf.

Source:  Information for this article,  Dr. Karl P. N. Schuker, The Unexplained, Carlton Books Limited (1997) ISBN: 1-85868-384