I really wish I could submit a picture with this comment, because I'm pretty sure my parents are in fact housing the Beast of Gevaudan, per illustration number 5. 😂
-"The Beast runs like a wolf but can stand on two legs. It’s impossibly fast and incredibly strong... Bullets bounce off its impenetrable hide."
Also attributes of one of my (non-evil) fictional canine characters.
-I bet this is how and why the wolf population of Europe was eventually decimated...they didn't want to take any more chances of letting a Beast come out of there..
yeah it's a real vicious cycle of Shrinking Wolf Habitat > Wolves Come into Contact With People > Shrinking Prey Population > Wolves Attack People > Fear of Wolves, and I blame the Brothers Grimm for a lot of it.
The Beast gets a plug by Robert Louis Stevenson in 'Travels with a Donkey' although RLS was a century too late to get eaten by it. There's a hiking trail dedicated to it as well, the appropriately named 'Sentier de la Bête' with terrifying signage. Well slightly terrifying.
Apparently a ‘fantastical museum’ of the beast also exists, and though I do speak French I couldn’t tell you why it’s run by the MACBET organization, except if Macbeth was really a werewolf??
I'd heard the story before, but only ever saw the first illustration.
Being Of A Certain Age, I was all "they stabbed it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast? Nope, takes Bad-Ass Marie-Jeanne to slow it." A woman entirely deserving of that cool statue.
I'm LOL at the movie casting... a Filipino/Japanese American as an Iroquois? Tres French.
Love those pictures! And yes, Brotherhood of the Wolf is a great film 🍿 (I’m so glad you name-checked it, cos I was trying to remember it for most of reading this 🥴)
I also thought I was trying to remember the name of Brotherhood of the Wolf but it turns out I was thinking of Witchfinder General, a movie where two dudes go out hunting witches in 1645, not beasts in 1764. I should program a film festival that's all ridiculous historical dramas about two dudes going out on supernatural hunts.
program this festival and I will line up outside with my popcorn! you can also add The Brothers Grimm (2005), another film I'm pretty sure I hallucinated
See, that description just makes me think of the Steve Coogan show ‘Doctor Terrible’s House of Horrible’ that had an episode on witch finders full of dreadful innuendos (“Scream Satan Scream”). Utterly ridiculously awfully funny!
Weird coincidence, but I just finished a cracking fiction novel based on these very events called the Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan. Well worth a read for the hilarious footnotes alone (which I am sure you will appreciate).
I LOVE “The Brotherhood of the Wolf” & totally agree with you about it! I also love each & every DTTA - thanks so much for the crazy history, laughs & joy they bring!
Can we call this cryptid the Chapeaucabra?
The illustration with the taxidermied beastwolf kind of looks like that scene from Being John Malkovich where everyone has Malkovich's face.
I hope you review Robert Eggers' upcoming Werwulf movie.
CHAPEAUCABRA
PACK IT UP BOYS WE'RE DONE HERE
Perhaps a serial killer was hiding behind werewolf mythology to commit his crimes?
I 100% thought that was where this was going.
I really wish I could submit a picture with this comment, because I'm pretty sure my parents are in fact housing the Beast of Gevaudan, per illustration number 5. 😂
this is impossibly tantalizing I want to see the wonky beast
-"The Beast runs like a wolf but can stand on two legs. It’s impossibly fast and incredibly strong... Bullets bounce off its impenetrable hide."
Also attributes of one of my (non-evil) fictional canine characters.
-I bet this is how and why the wolf population of Europe was eventually decimated...they didn't want to take any more chances of letting a Beast come out of there..
yeah it's a real vicious cycle of Shrinking Wolf Habitat > Wolves Come into Contact With People > Shrinking Prey Population > Wolves Attack People > Fear of Wolves, and I blame the Brothers Grimm for a lot of it.
The Beast gets a plug by Robert Louis Stevenson in 'Travels with a Donkey' although RLS was a century too late to get eaten by it. There's a hiking trail dedicated to it as well, the appropriately named 'Sentier de la Bête' with terrifying signage. Well slightly terrifying.
Apparently a ‘fantastical museum’ of the beast also exists, and though I do speak French I couldn’t tell you why it’s run by the MACBET organization, except if Macbeth was really a werewolf??
https://www.musee-bete-gevaudan.com/
A of all, I would be front-row for Werewolf Macbeth, and B of all those TERRIBLE WAX FIGURE DIORAMAS are SPECTACULAR
Like I _actually watched_ Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and… would take werewolf Macbeth hands down any day
I'd heard the story before, but only ever saw the first illustration.
Being Of A Certain Age, I was all "they stabbed it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast? Nope, takes Bad-Ass Marie-Jeanne to slow it." A woman entirely deserving of that cool statue.
I'm LOL at the movie casting... a Filipino/Japanese American as an Iroquois? Tres French.
Love those pictures! And yes, Brotherhood of the Wolf is a great film 🍿 (I’m so glad you name-checked it, cos I was trying to remember it for most of reading this 🥴)
I also thought I was trying to remember the name of Brotherhood of the Wolf but it turns out I was thinking of Witchfinder General, a movie where two dudes go out hunting witches in 1645, not beasts in 1764. I should program a film festival that's all ridiculous historical dramas about two dudes going out on supernatural hunts.
https://letterboxd.com/film/witchfinder-general/
program this festival and I will line up outside with my popcorn! you can also add The Brothers Grimm (2005), another film I'm pretty sure I hallucinated
See, that description just makes me think of the Steve Coogan show ‘Doctor Terrible’s House of Horrible’ that had an episode on witch finders full of dreadful innuendos (“Scream Satan Scream”). Utterly ridiculously awfully funny!
Wow, The Brotherhood of the Wolf! I saw that in the theaters and was like WTF the whole time. That takes me back!
This article would be great as the basis for a novel… Hint hint!
Just finished Let the Dead Bury the Dead. I loved it, now I have to find your other books because I’m hooked!
Weird coincidence, but I just finished a cracking fiction novel based on these very events called the Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan. Well worth a read for the hilarious footnotes alone (which I am sure you will appreciate).
OMG, Allison, I chortled all the way through this. So many great puns and references. It IS roughly the size of a barge!
Amazing! Thank you!
I was honestly concerned you wouldn’t mention Brotherhood of the Wolf??? When I knew that’s seared in your brain. Then I saw the footnote, MERCI
You've got what I consider a surprising number of people on your side in the comments here
Honestly it’s very validating!!
I LOVE “The Brotherhood of the Wolf” & totally agree with you about it! I also love each & every DTTA - thanks so much for the crazy history, laughs & joy they bring!
Here - https://www.etsy.com/market/beast_of_g%C3%A9vaudan
Here - https://www.redbubble.com/shop/beast+of+gevaudan
Even here - https://www.amazon.com/Beast-Gevaudan-Cryptid-Legend-T-Shirt/dp/B0D8V185VG - though this one has a Disney feel.
None say Beast Mode, but I bet these folks would happily add one!
oh no I might be buying this for the home office https://www.etsy.com/listing/4375565516/the-beast-of-gevaudan-poster-wpa-style
That's a good one!
I was gonna say, "ooo Brotherhood of the Wolf" but you got there in the footnotes.
I'm stunned how many people have heard of and seen this bonkers film!! I thought it was my own personal fever dream
A dream to some! A nightmare to others!
A who knows what to French audiences!