The Bête des Cévennes: the Beast of the Vivarais, 1809

Between 1764 and 1767, the Bête du Gévaudan had terrorised the mountains of southern France. Half a century later, the fear came back. The setting was the rugged country where the Lozère, the Gard and the Ardèche meet, on and around Mont Lozère. Local historian Guy Crouzet put the affected area at about 450 km². Concoules, Génolhac, Ponteils, Malbosc, Les Vans, Gravières, Brahic and Banne would all enter the story.

23 July 1809. A man was travelling from Génolhac to Villefort. He came face to face with a wolf he described as very big. He shouted and gestured. It refused to clear off.

That October, a child was killed at Planzolles. Days later, a girl died at Malenches. On 21 October 1809, the Journal du Gard gave the terror a name: "For some days a ferocious animal has spread terror in the first arrondissement of the Gard. Like the Beast of Gévaudan before it, the Beast of the Cévennes is now ravaging this region."

Descriptions varied a great deal. Some said it was the size of a donkey, others a calf. Many remembered a big white belly that almost dragged on the ground, big ears, a long muzzle and a bushy tail. Its coat was described as brown, red, grey and red, or completely black, sometimes with a black mane or black hair bristling over the entire length of its back. In September 1812, a she-wolf "with teats almost dragging" attacked a woman at Malbosc; two months later, nine wolves were spotted at Malons, four of them described as very big.

Most victims were children, including François Marcy, 7, who was eaten just a few steps from his home near Vénissac on 8 September 1812. Augustin Colomb, 8, was carried off on 9 January 1813, and only his head was found. The death record of Rose Henriette Dumas, 7, says she was "devoured in the woods by a ferocious beast". At Banne, Napoléon Rieutord was dragged about 300 metres but survived with scars. The animal was said to enter houses and to have eaten an infant's hands in the cradle.

Then came the details that still trouble readers. Six bodies were found decapitated, the neck seemingly cut with a blade. Pins had been taken out of some female victims' clothing. Counts of the dead range from 29 to at least 39. Sources disagree on whether the killing ended in 1816 or 1817.

The Prefect of the Gard told families to protect young shepherds with large dogs. On 13 November 1814, prefects and canton mayors met at Génolhac. Bounties were promised. They did not work.

In the parishes, faith and firearms went together. Abbé Meyrueitz, priest of Gravières, led the hunts. Every Sunday, mass was held early. Straight afterwards, the villagers set out with rifles, sabres or pitchforks, the priest at their head. The beast was never killed.

Historians have since read the parish registers closely. Jean-Paul Chabrol proposed one or more small packs of man-eating wolves, about a dozen animals. Jean-Marc Moriceau, who treats rural priests as reliable witnesses, pointed to several breeding pairs of wolves. The blade-like decapitations and the missing pins led others to ask whether a human killer hid behind the beast, though nobody was ever accused. An escaped circus animal, an animal from Spain and a descendant of the Gévaudan beast have all been suggested.

The account of Maître Pellican, a notary at Les Vans, survives because Albin Mazon printed it in 1884. It remains unsolved.