Beast History
Gévaudan History
Documents & reflexions
Good Addresses
The fantastic museum
The house of the Beast
Personnal note
Lou Païs
Hervé Boyac
The Beast of Gévaudan
A complex affair
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It was in June 1764 that a ferocious animal appeared in Gévaudan, the current Lozère. Very quickly, he will sow terror among the inhabitants of this austere region, with harsh winters, famines and epidemics. The survivors of the attacks will say without hesitation that it is not a question of a simple wolf, but of another unknown animal, which they will name "The Beast".
This will primarily attack children guarding livestock, killing with disconcerting audacity. She will thwart all the traps, and escape all the hunts led against her by the greatest specialists sent by King Louis XV. After four years of devastation, the Beast "will fall" under the bullets of a peasant named Jean Chastel, and the attacks will cease forever.
As of June 19, 1767, this diabolical series will have caused the death of 78 known people. Through a detailed argument, the author demonstrates that this case is in fact more complicated than the consensual and immutable versions so often stated.
This new book brings new additions to better understand this complex affair which has deeply bereaved this period of our history.
Year of publication of the presented edition : 2022 (June, 14) (pages)
Editor : Maïa
The author :
Born in the Vaucluse in 1948, the son of farmers, Hervé Boyac became a professional forester out of a passion for nature. Self-taught, his affection for the wild world for 35 years, and for the wolf for 25 years, has taken him to various countries in the footsteps of the wolf, and wildlife in general. Active member of the FERUS association which defends large predators, he campaigns for an accepted return of the wolf in our country.
His interest in this mythical animal has also led him to work on the Beast of Gévaudan, for nearly 20 years now, and first to publish the book "La Bête du Gévaudan", advocacy for the wolf in 2004, and in this new book on the Beast of Gévaudan exonerates this emblematic and still unloved animal. He has participated in several television shows, given multiple conferences, and contributed to numerous written publications.
The many hikes alone, or accompanied, on the very sites of the attacks, allowed him to immerse himself in the places, to check distances and travel times, but also certain topographical or toponymic details, and to identify possible clues of human activities from the time of the Beast.
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