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Creature record / 1652

The Beast of the Gâtinais (la Bête du Gâtinais)

August 17, 1652 · Gâtinais villages around Champcueil, Moigny and Videlles, between the Forest of Fontainebleau and the Hurepoix woods (Essonne / Seine-et-Marne), France
21Thinly documented Cryptid Creature 16 sources

7 June 1652. The siege of Étampes, in the middle of the Fronde civil war. Soon after, something starts killing people in the villages of the Gâtinais. On 17 August, Marie Cochereau of Champcueil is buried, "miserably eaten and devoured by the beast ravaging the whole country." One man met it and lived. Jean Bareau was on the road from Milly to Moigny. A beast with blond fur and a white neck tried to knock him down. On Good Friday 1653 the people of Moigny brought a dead beast to the 14-year-old Louis XIV. Bareau said it was the same animal. The killings went on until 1657.

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Context

7 June 1652. The siege of Étampes, during the civil war known as the Princes' Fronde. Then the deaths begin. Between the Forest of Fontainebleau and the woods of the Hurepoix, in what is now Essonne and Seine-et-Marne, people in about 20 villages of the Gâtinais are attacked and killed. The first victim on record is Marie Cochereau, wife of Philippe Gaillard, of Champcueil. She died on 17 August 1652. Her burial entry says she was "miserably eaten and devoured by the beast ravaging the whole country."

Sources (16, most influential first)

  1. Wolves around Paris · CRHQ, University of Caen (Homme et loup) · Academic / paper of record · academic
  2. Les loups autour de Paris · CRHQ, University of Caen (Homme et loup) · Academic / paper of record · academic
  3. Posters, Periodicals and Newspapers · CRHQ, University of Caen (Homme et loup) · Academic / paper of record · academic
  4. Affiches, gazettes et journaux · CRHQ, University of Caen (Homme et loup) · Academic / paper of record · academic
  5. Maps by period · CRHQ, University of Caen (Homme et loup) · Academic / paper of record · academic