The Brutal Murders of the Beast of Gévaudan

Hi everyone, before today's episode we want to tell you about what the fact. It's a new show from Connor Tomlinson, who you know from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum, and Carter Roy from Murder, True Crime Stories. Every week they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Connor's infectious energy will make you realize history is most fascinating thing on Earth. Follow what the fact, wherever you listen, or subscribe on YouTube at what the fact pod. This is Crime House. Sabrina, yes, before we enter the haunting woods of Revo Dawn, I need to play a little game with you, you with me, a dangerous game, a game called Would You Rather? I thought you'd be into it. Today we are covering the story of The Beast of Javoudon, a wolf-like creature that is said to have killed around 100 people in France between 1764 and 1767. Was it a giant wolf, an escaped lion, a deranged human? I hate that idea. Or maybe something else entirely. And that relates to our choices today. Hello everyone, and Sabrina, which of those would you rather try and fight off? A pack of wolves, a lion, or a supernatural beast? And pick wisely, because wrong choice and you may not survive 1760s France. I pick supernatural beast, me too, even though this one's really scary, because I feel like I might be able to endure a supernatural beast. That's exactly my thought process to it. Like you know a pack of wolves, you're going to be ripped apart. You get a lion, you get no chance, like one bite you're gone, unless it's from the Wizard of Oz. Yeah. Right. And you fall in love, and you skip to the Olympic Road, but The Beast we don't know enough about. Maybe there are some weaknesses, maybe there are some things that we can do to convince it to friend us. Yeah. Maybe they'll be like, "Oh, you cute little innocent human. Let me take you to my spacecraft." Don't hurt you. Do you want to come in? Well, you're spacecraft, yeah. Yeah. It all goes back to aliens for me. But as we were about to find out, to the people of Javuton, the choice didn't matter. They had no idea what they were facing. All they knew was that there was some kind of horrible creature out there that was stalking and killing them. And whatever this beast was, it would take years to stop its terrible bloodthirsty rampage. Welcome to Crimes of the Paranormal, a crime house original powered by paved studios where your hosts Sabrina Deanna Roga and Corinne Vienn. Every Tuesday, we're exploring a different corner of the true crime universe, examining cases that left a permanent impact on society. And this season, we are driving into cases where the evidence doesn't end up bloodstains and fingerprints, but drifted into something unexplainable. Into the unknown. If you're loving Crimes of, please follow, rate, and review us wherever you listen. It helps us build this community and we love hearing from you. To get early access and ad-free listening, subscribe to the Crimes House Plus community on Apple Podcasts. You can also catch us on YouTube where we include visuals that bring every case to life. Today, we're talking about the beast of Javuton, a predatory creature that killed around 100 people between 1764 and 1767 in France. Some people said it resembled a dog or a wolf or something totally unnatural. Whatever it was, it hunted with purpose, it fed without hesitation and left an entire community utterly terrified. Guess what? What? This is our last episode of Crimes of the Paranormal. Aww, this makes me sad. These are so fun. They're so fun. And next week, we're going to start an all-new, thematic season, which is a really good one. I'm going to give you that sad. We're not going to deliver anything bad to you here. I'm about like, "Womp, womp, mop, mop, mop." Next one's terrible. No, next week, we will start an all-new, thematic season, but this week, we decided to go all-out and share a story that, while it took place nearly 300 years ago, has left quite an imprint. We do have a warning before we begin, though. This episode contains descriptions of violent attacks and death. And I'm going to get you to put a tinfoil hat on at the end and join me in Conspiracy Land, which I know is your favorite. Oh, I love that. Get excited. I wish you had an actual tinfoil hat from here. Let me run to a kitchen and craft one for you. Which, you are me. Sure. If we had assistance. To format. To format. I rude, sorry. That's the thing that we make them get. To format. You don't have to sort of skittles, but you do have to make a fresh tinfoil hat every time we record it. This is the story of the beast of Jeboutaun, an unknown creature that was so violent and unpredictable that they gave it a nickname, The Beast. During a three-year period, it is believed that the beast claimed around 100 victims, many of whom were young children. This beast stole the lives of so many innocents, of men, women, and children all who had futures ahead of them. As the bodies piled up and panic ripped through the town, people were desperate to identify and kill the beast. So people came up with all kinds of theories as to what sort of creature this could be. The creature responsible for these attacks. Was it a pack of wild dogs, a lion that escaped from a private zoo, or maybe something supernatural? The only thing people knew for sure was that this was a very real threat. And this is a case that makes you wonder, how do you defend yourself from an evil that you can't even define? I mean, we both grew up in the East Coast. Are there any supernatural beasts from where you're from in Vermont? Well, Champ, the Lake Monster, which I did actually have a real life encounter with. And every time I tell people the story, I know, deep within them, they don't think that I actually saw a champ. I can see it in their eyes, I see it in their face, but I did have an encounter. And I'll tell a very short version of it right now. I was on the lake, on a tube, boat being pulled by my mom, my younger brother's the spotter. My dad is with me on the tube. My dad, Hillbilly from Northern New Hampshire, not afraid of anything. Sven's half the year in the woods hunting, like hard to shake, Bill Vienn. But we're back on the tube and next to us, and we're like not far from shore, where maybe like, I don't know, 60, 70 feet from shore in a pretty shallow spot, the depth is maybe 20 feet below us. And you're tubing and having fun, like you shouldn't be something we did every summer for years. And then beside me on my side of the tube, there is maybe, I'm trying not to draw my computer here. Maybe like this big. I don't know what is that like eight centimeters in, in diameter? Sure. I'm just going to pretend. Yeah. It is like this big. So it's not giant, but it definitely feels giant for being in a lake. I'm sorry. The fact that you were speaking in centimeters is really throwing me off. Did I say no? You said centimeters. Oh, sorry. I meant inches. Okay. Because I didn't say it since when do you, sorry? Actually, let's pivot to the metric system entirely. No, but it was like this large, it was like a cookie tin with people who maybe aren't watching and are just listening. And it was like a long cylinder and it was riding the wake next to us, but it wasn't going back and forth, like left to right, like a fish. It was going up and down, very, but sneaks go back and forth. I guess. Okay. Very whale-like. You can see like two or three of its humps as it was doing this. And my dad looks at me and he's like completely white and he just whispers to me, don't let go. Which is horrifying. Horrifying. And we start screaming at my mom to like pull us in, pull us in. She thinks we're having fun. She doesn't pull us in. And it rides next to us for, I don't know. Maybe the whole encounter was like 20 seconds long, but it was terrifying. You went tubing with champ. I did. I was confident in that and I do know people who've actually seen like the fully risen champ out of the lake. Do I think champ is a paranormal creature? Not really. I kind of think it's just like some prehistoric that we just haven't, yeah, spent time studying or identifying. But I was next to it. It tubed with me and we're simply in Vermont. You come from Jersey Devil Territory. I do come from Jersey Devil Territory and I've never seen the Jersey Devil nor do I ever want to and nor do I ever want to see the beast of this episode. Because the beast of a Javodon was terrifying for many, many reasons. It attacked victims who were alone and vulnerable. And these attacks were incredibly violent and sudden. The beast tore them apart devouring organs, leaving very little behind. And the beast itself was kind of an enigma because nobody knew what it was, where it was from, or why it had chosen Javodon as its hunting ground. And the king's best men couldn't fly the beast. So for years, the beast killed them. A woman once survived a fall for more than two miles up because she crashed landed on a nest of furious fire ants. A 13th century pope once condemned black cats as the servants of Satan. A lumberjack once survived near decapitation by his own chainsaw. These aren't tall. tales. They aren't urban legends. They're real events. I want to take a quick moment to tell you about the unbelievable. A new podcast from the History Channel and Rewind Studios. Adapted from the hit TV show, every episode opens a cabinet of curiosities to uncover the strangest but true stories in human history, then digs into the historical record to show you exactly how and why they happened. Strange people, odd places, peculiar events. When it comes to history, the truth is always more unbelievable than you think. Follow the unbelievable on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or ever-you-listened podcasts. The sounds of nature surround Jean Chastel. Birds calling to one another, the wind threading through the pines. The sound of branches snapping beneath his boots. But he feels no peace. He is on high alert as he trudges through the woods near Mount Mouche on this summer morning in 1767. Jean is here on a mission. One that so many before him have failed. He's here to slay the beast. For months, groups of hunters have combed the wood searching for this beast that has been absolutely terrorizing the people of Chevron for three years now. They've returned with wolves that they believed were the beast. Even one of the wolves was killed by King Louis XV's own hunters, but the attacks continued. Fields streaked with blood, bodies torn open, villagers living in fear. But today is different because Jean refuses to let it continue. He will kill the beast. He moves carefully between the trees, musket at the ready, his hunting dogs beside him. But as he pushes deeper into the forest, something changes. The sound, birds, dissipates, the insect hums, go mute, even the air feels thicker, and Jean is overwhelmed, overwhelmed with the urge to run. Even his dogs start to whimper. Something is not right. The silence is unnerving as Jean realizes that he is no longer the hunter. He is being hunted. He surveys his surroundings, trying to calm his heart rate because he has to stay calm, right? He knows the beast is here among him. But where? He stands his ground, prepares his musket, and scans the dense woods. The only thing is he doesn't know what he's looking for. No one seems to be able to agree on what this thing looks like, how big it is, whether it's one creature or maybe several. Some said it's wolf-like, others say dog-like, others say it's something holy unnatural, enormous, misshapen. So Jean keeps his eyes peeled, doubt and fear, seeping into his mind. Then, a single snap of a twig. The sound slices through the silence like a blade. And Jean jerks his musket up to his shoulder, just as one of his dogs runs towards him, tail tucked and trembling. Behind the dog, hot on its heels, something emerges, an enormous, terrifying animal. It's almost like a wolf, but unbelievably and grotesquely large. And Jean is so close that he can see it's a glittering teeth, each one like a perfectly sharpened knife. And Jean knows instantly that this is the beast. The creature bounds closer and closer, closing the distance between itself and Jean, and then it abruptly skids to a halt. It's claws tearing into the earth. It turns, and it faces Jean head-on. The beast fixes its yellow eyes on Jean. It slips curl back into a snarl, and it sizes Jean up, ready for its next meal. But Jean has been waiting for this moment. He swallows his fear, he aims his gun, and he fires. What happened next? Did Jean slay the beast? You'll find out soon. Until then, let's go back to the beginning. Back to 1764 in a province of Javoudon, France. Now, at this time, Javoudon was a rural province in South Central France, a place with dense, dark forests, lots of farms, very few roads. So people who lived here were heard in cattle, goats and sheep. They would forage in the forest. They lived in small stone houses. Javoudon is a very remote area, and despite France being under the monarchy power of King Louis XV, it did take weeks for news from Paris to reach the remote area of this time and probably a lot longer for news from this area to reach the city. Oh, and that makes it a perfect hunting ground, right? And in this case, people look to the Bishop of Monde, who's like the Bishop of the area. So all this being said, this is just laying some landscape of this type of place. It was quiet, and it was a poverty-stricken area. But it was otherwise a peaceful place to live until June 30th of 1764. Well, what happened on June 30th? Death and despair. So dark. Very. But it was dark, what happened? That day, 14-year-old Jean-Bulet was shepherding her flock of sheep. She was back on our family's farm, and it had been pretty much a peaceful day for her. Very pleasant. The sun was shining bright across the fields, and the sheep were bleeding happily. They were grazing. Life is good. She's 14. So Jean is looking forward to getting home and just settling in for a rest overnight after she works the fields with her sheep and her family. Which actually did read that a lot of these families would sleep with their. With their flock? With their flock, for warmth. So they really were, they like slept with their sheep. Yeah. Oh, my love, yeah. She kind of scared me after watching the movie babe. So she's looking forward to a quiet night at home and just hungry down, maybe not sleeping with her sheep this night. But then, somewhere far down the path, she sees something. And it wasn't quite a dog, it wasn't quite a wolf, it was something much bigger and much scarier. And this thing was coming right at her. So Jean screamed. She turned around towards her flock of sheep, and she tries to weave through these animals, hoping that maybe it'll go after one of them instead of her, but its focus stays on her. It is zigzagging, it is tracking her. And before Jean could get very far, she felt the weight of this beast upon her, bringing her down to the ground. And truly the sounds of Jean screaming echoed down the hill toward the town so loudly that people ran up towards the hill to see what was going on. They ran. Which I'm glad that they were able to do that because I feel like so many of these properties could be so expansive and like, you could scream and no one can hear you. It didn't matter. Yeah. Because when this group of local neighbors did come up the path to see what was wrong, they found a horrific blood bath. Jean's throat had been ripped apart, her abdomen torn open, flesh stripped from her limbs. She was undoubtedly dead. And there was no sign of who or what had done this to her. And so they're seeing this before them. And they're certain it has to be some type of animal because it looks like an animal attack. And it was so violent, but there was no evidence of this animal. There was no popperns, no tuffs of fur, just the blood stained grass, and Jean's mangled body. So terrible. And so obviously, news of Jean's death that spreads throughout Shevoudon. And this place is a place where, you know, like, you were saying, like, it's a small area. There's not that many people. So like, people talk, everyone knows each other. And the story is spreading. It's going through the taverns, through the churches, through the markets, and beyond. And everyone is hearing about the terrible, terrible attack. And everyone is terrified. Because now there's this monster, this unknown monster lurking in the town. Yeah. Everyone heard about it. And as I start talking about it, they realize that it is really reminiscent of something that had happened a few months prior. As the story goes, a couple months prior to young Jean Boulay's death, another young woman had come back from the fields in a panic. She talked about this horrifying creature that had tried to attack her while she was tending to her herd of cattle. And this young woman managed to escape with her life, but the memory of it still haunted her. Right. So now everyone is wondering, is this the same creature that did end up killing Jean Boulay? Because the situation seemed too much of a coincidence to be ignored. Townspeople go and search the nearby woods after Jean's death, but they find nothing of note. So all they can do is return to normal life. And for two blissful months, the town of Javoudon does go back to normal. The memory of Jean's death, the brutal death, and the young woman's horrifying experience feel like distant memories until August of 1764. Yep, only six miles away from where Jean Boulay was killed. There's another young girl, her name is Marianne, and she disappeared from the fields in the middle of the day. So a search party sent her to the woods surrounding the field to look for her. After a short while, they saw shreds of cloth scattered along the forest floor. And following these scraps, like a terrible trail of breadcrumbs, the group finally came upon Marianne's body. And like Jean before her, this young girls throughout have been slashed or entrails devoured. But yet again there is no sign of this animal responsible. I hate the word entrails. It like reminds me that we are humans, and like humans are animals, and then we're not just like filled with jello and placed here by by aliens, some alien playing the Sims, and we're just good to be code. I don't know. So gross. Okay, so then two days after this happened, it happens again. The body of a 15-year-old girl was found brutalized. Her neck ripped apart from what appeared to be this wild animal attack. And then again, on August 30th, the creature claimed a young boy who had been tending to his cattle. So so far, all of the victims are children, and all of them have been killed in the exact same way. It is interesting because all of these children are hurting some type of animal. But in all of the cases, none of the animals are attacked. It's like this whatever this beast is, whatever this entity is, had the taste for human blood. And there are some conflicting reports regarding the state of the bodies, which this naturally comes in the fact that this is a very historic case 300 years ago. But some reports say that the animal just tore apart the bodies, did not feast on them, which felt even more terrifying. But then others reported that the animal tore open the abdomen, removed the internal organs, ate the soft tissue, and fully fed on the bodies. But I think to discover a body like that, which I was reading. There's like some belief that if they were eating the organs, like maybe it was like a sick animal because the nutrients that are in those specific organs, like orcas eating shark kidneys or whatever. Is that a thing? Yeah, yeah. You know a lot about orcas and you speak in centimeters now. You're the metric system. Who are you? Someone who scrolls for way too long to talk. But this is common, like I said, with historical cases. And at the time in this region of France, literacy was low. And when it came to autopsies, there wasn't really any. It was more of like, okay, the local priests would see the body and just basically, yep, their death is recorded in the burial register. And they move on. But after the string of deaths, the terrified people of Javoudon knew two things for certain. One, something was in the woods. And two, it was very, very dangerous. And by the end of these string of deaths, they gave it a name, the beast. Etienne Lafant, the region's representative for the Bishop of Monde, sits alone in his dim office. A single candle flickering beside the report that he's been reading and rereading. Outside the wind rattles against the shutters accompanied by the faint murmurs of church bells in the distance. The ink on his parish record is barely dry. But Etienne keeps tracing the words, hoping that they might change. But they don't. The description matches the others. Another attack. Another body dragged from the fields. For months, Etienne has been hearing of the horrifying animal tax all over Javoudon. At first, he wrote it off as nothing more than a wolf problem. Yeah, something that's not easy to deal with, but it's nothing unusual. However, since that first terrible case in June, there have been many more lives lost to this mysterious, deadly creature. Maybe over a dozen at this point, and he cannot deny, this is not a single incident anymore. It's a pattern, and it's a problem. Something is lurking across the province. A creature with an insatiable thirst for human blood. He's certain it's a wolf. He's determined to write to the region's most powerful families to inform them of this threat. And that way, they could encourage the people of Javoudon to band together and try to hunt and kill this murderous wolf. So he pushes back from his desk and crosses the corridor to the bishop's office. If anyone can offer clarity, it's the man who holds both spiritual and political power in this land. The Bishop of Monde looks up as Etienne enters, his face wringled with wisdom and age. Etienne greets the bishop, forstating his wishes, but they assemble a group of men to kill the wolf. But the Bishop stands, moving closer and says, "No wolf leaves bodies like this. No. This beast is no creature of forest or field." Silence lingers between them, the candles flicker, the air feels colder. No, the Bishop explains. This is no wolf, no dog, no animal known by man. So he leans forward, now towering over Etienne, his eyes blazing with severity. The beast the Bishop says is an agent of divine wrath. Yeah, so clearly they're like, we are dealing with something way beyond our understanding, something beyond human knowledge, something beyond what they've ever experienced or known. And usually they would try to handle things on their own, like I said this region, they would tackle things by themselves. But the Bishop of Monde knew they needed help. So they wrote to the influential families in the region. They explained the gravity of the situation and suggested that teams of men make hunting parties to go find and kill the beast. Because so far it's just killing all their children. Right. And the hope was to basically get rid of this beast before it became a province-wide panic. And before the beast could claim any more victims. Right. Up until September of 1764, virtually all of the beast victims had these similarities. They had all been attacked out in the fields away from their homes and they had all been children. Then on September 7th, 1764, the beast went very little red riding hood and showed up on someone's front door. On September 7th, 1764, a 36-year-old woman steps out of her house to wander through her garden. Unfortunately, we don't know this woman's name, but we do know that she was a local herb list. Some people would even call her witch. Love her already. Right. And her garden sat next to her home. It was full of herbs and plants that she would use for all sorts of like tinctures and homemade remedies. And I'm sure she helped a ton of people out in town. It's not so peaceful. Right. She's a beautiful witch. We love her. And so she bent down to pick up a few sprigs of rosemary when suddenly she felt her hair just stand on end. Something was there behind her. It's that feeling of knowing something's watching you and just like something predatory being around you. Yeah. And it's so out of place. Like you're just going to your garden outside, which you probably do every single day. It's like a nice sunny day. The warmth of the sun hitting your skin and then to just be like so because we're animals and we know when we're being hunted. So that's exactly what happened. She knew that there was something standing behind her staring at her, but she could not bring herself to turn around to face it. She simply stood upright. She gripped both of the bundles of herbs in one hand. And with the other hand, performed the sign of the cross. But before she finished, the beast was upon her. And we probably don't have to tell you what happened next, but with this woman's death, two things changed. One, it was clear that the beast didn't just prey upon children. It would kill anyone that it could. Although I do have one question. Sure. What does she look like? You know, was she really small? Was she super petite? And so maybe she appeared more childlike? Maybe. I mean, I think regardless, this beast has a taste for human blood. But then the second thing they realized is that this creature is not just out in the fields. It is now getting closer and closer to town and can just show up about your front door. So basically, being like, no one is safe now. And after this woman's death, the search for the beast became even more of a priority. Groups of nobleman began to scour the countryside trying to stop the madness of what was happening before it became a more serious problem. During Sunday masses, the local priest even told his parishioners that there would be a hefty reward given to anyone who could take down the beast. So there's a lot of incentive beyond just surviving and living. Yeah, money now. Yeah. So more and more men are motivated. They grab their rifles. They head out into the woods, spurred forward by the idea of making a little, you know, tied a little profit from the church and maybe some fame and some ladies. And the rest of the town stood in wait, hoping to hear the news that someone had finally tracked down the creature and killed the beast. And then on September 20th, their prayers were answered. So quickly. Oh my gosh, I can't believe it. Already the murderous string has come to an end. Or so they thought. So a troop of hunters had been hunting the beast in the woods when they did come across a massive wolf. And so they shot at it and they killed it. They dragged this lifeless corpse of the wolf into town with pride, convinced that they finally put this tragedy to an end. And I do believe that they really did believe it. I also believe at the time people were out there hunting and be like, Oh, I caught it just to see. This also kind of reminds me. I know you you're not as into the genre. But this like totally is the beginning of a fairy smut novel. Yes. What's the one we did read? Well, it's like, it's like the first book in Akatar. Okay. Yes, I think I only read book one. Yeah. Okay. But yeah. So this group of hunters for the trouble were given 18 Libra, which at that time was nearly half a year's salary. Damn, I'd be motivated. Right. So everyone got to live happily ever after, right? Woohoo. Wrong. Wrong. And sorry to the wolf who lost it's life. Yeah. Because nine days later, another life is taken. Again, in the exact same manner, throat torn, abdomen split, organs devoured, meant the beast was still very much alive. And a couple days later, another victim was found. And then another. And then throughout the rest of 1764, and into 1765, the deaths began to stack up. And it's hard to know the exact number of victims during this time, because again, historical records are difficult. But by January of 1765, it was probably in the dozens by this point. So knowing the beast was still out there, more groups of local men gathered to come to countryside in search of the beast, hoping that somehow, some way they could stop this trail of violence and death. Nearly 50 different hunting parties, which is crazy. 50 different hunting parties. Like groups of people went out to go find the beast during this time. But the beast was one step ahead of them. If a search party focused on one part of the woods, the beast would simply move to another part of the woods. The attacks spread across the province, and they became even more violent. See, this is where it starts to make you question, is there some human involvement with the beast in its attacks? Oh, are you thinking kind of like, I'm giving you a little bit of your tin foil? Oh, here. Okay. Okay. But so, victims are piling up. A lot of them had their throat stripped out, similar to previous cases, but others were completely decapitated. Like, this is violent. And as the death toll rose, rumors about the beast spread like wildfire. People started speaking about the beast as if it's a supernatural creature because it feels like it. It's able to defy and escape everyone. Right. Some people would claim that they saw it walking on its hind legs. Others said it was completely impervious to bullets that the bullets would literally ricochet off its fur coat, which also is another like supernatural beast. They were also rumors that even if someone did kill the beast, it would be resurrected from the dead and would come back even hungrier. Oh my gosh. That's so scary. It's like you can never win. Right. Well, that's how it felt to these people. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, so obviously, it makes sense that it's like kind of became a bit of a bogeyman situation in the area. Yeah. This creature that was like made a pure evil could go anywhere. You may never conquer the beast in your lives are always at stake. And also, I feel like so many bogeyman stories are told to steer children straight in some way. Yeah. And this is literally a creature that did attack children. Yeah. To steer children onto the right path to help them behave. But this is like, it doesn't matter what you do. It's a real life and it doesn't matter if you walk two feet out into your garden outside of your house or if you're helping your family with their flock of cheap or their herd of cattle. It's like, how is anyone safe? It's so scary. Like it did feel like people had no way to stop it. Yeah. And also, they had no idea what kind of animal this even was. Or if it wasn't animal, can you call it that? And then on January 12, 1765, something completely unexpected happened. Someone actually fought off the beast. And that would have been victim turned hero. Guess how old he was. He was only 10 years old. You got a little boy. Did you know the most feared pirate in the Atlantic, the man who terrorized an entire ocean for years may never have actually killed anyone or that the real Golden Age of Pirates was the most democratic workplace in the Western world. I'm Connor Tomlinson from Love on the Spectrum and History is my thing. And I'm Carter Roy and this is what the fact. Every week we take the most unbelievable true things in history and tell you the whole story behind them. Carter sets the scene, Connor brings the facts, the deep cuts and the genuine belief that this is the most interesting subject in the world. It is. This is the history lesson. You actually wished you had in high school. New episodes every Wednesday follow what the fact on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or subscribe on YouTube at what the fact pod. Children were all spread across the frostbitten slope. They're laughter mingling with the cowbell chimes. And for a moment, Jacques forgets the cold. He's lost in the fun hanging out with his companions. But all that changes when Jacques sees it. The shape racing up the hill. Too big to be a dog, too strange to be a wolf. It's coat shines of reddish in the pale light, a dark stripe running down its back. And it's coming straight for them. Jacques screams out, alerts the rest of the children, and he tells them to hide behind the cows, to use them as shields. So the children scramble, but the beast is already upon them. It circles the group. It's fangs mouth open and dripping with saliva. And in a flash, the beast lunges forward and grabs one of the other boys latching onto his neck and dragging him down to the ground. The children gasp in terror, but they don't flee. They choose to fight. These kids grab sticks that they'd been playing with earlier and they race over to this beast, stabbing at it and swinging at it with all their might. A blow lands on the beast's jaw, another at its ribs. And this disorients the creature just enough for it to start to loosen its grip, dropping the young boy onto the ground. So the boy scrambles free, he's clutching his bleeding neck, but he's still alive. And he begins to join in with the others. Jacques determined not to let this beast get away, yells out orders, telling the other children, form a circle around the beast, and keep prodding it with their sticks. The children scream at the creature, calling it any name that they can think of, and they refuse to back down. But somehow, impossibly, the beast manages to get away. It vanishes into the trees, leading the eight children on the hillside, terrified, breathless, but alive. That story blows my mind, thinking about a bunch of children fighting a beast as it is literally biting on the neck of another friend. Yeah. It is horrifying, but it's also like from a psychology standpoint, this is a great example of like how if people act when they say someone in trouble, how it can save someone instead of the bystander effect, where it was just like stands and watches and horror. Oh, we should do a season of crimes of bystanders. It's too sad. I know it is. But up until this point, seeing the beast was basically a death sentence, and prior to this, no one had seen the beast and survived. So it was truly like this amorphous creature that no one had ever laid on. And they're like more than seeing it. They are surrounding it. It's beneath them, probably like whimpering and cowering as they're hitting it with sticks. Yeah. So on that day, Jacques Portefet and his friends scared the beast away and survived, which is amazing. They become these heroic children. These stories spread across Javoudon, even into like larger areas of France, to the point that it gets to the palace of Versailles. And King Louis the 15th had already heard whispers of the beast. I was terrorizing people in the south. But when he hears this, he rewards Jacques with a full education. All expenses paid by the crown. Which I'm like, what about all the other kids? I don't know if that was just lost to history. Yeah. Or if Jacques is the only one. He was also the leader. He was giving instructions. He stepped up. He had that heroicism within him. Yeah. Dang. Well, regardless the story of heroicism and survival, it didn't last long because the beast came back and it kept killing. But now the king of France is paying attention. And he is like, I am going to do something about it. Yep. On January 27th, 1765, King Louis the 15th announced that the crown would up the reward for the beast's capture to 6,000 Libra, which in modern day is a little over $800,000. So it's not almost a million dollars. That's wild. Yeah. Well, I guess it's not that wild if you're like the king of beast and the beast is killing everyone in one of your provinces. Sure. Okay. But with this new outrageously high reward in place, Javidon basically became the spot to be. So thousands of hunters descended upon the province and searched for this beast. I'm just picturing like at the taverns, there's like all these like very armored up people. They're like, oh, you heard you killed the beast. Yeah. You heard of the kill the beast. You know, have you seen the new twister? Oh, no, I was thinking of the scene entangled where they're all in the taverns. So I think we're like our visions are very different. I have not seen twister. There's just like everyone's like gathered in their little like newsvans before going to chase the tornadoes. And it's like, oh, who's going to get it? Wow. That feels honestly, this feels like, remember like the hands across my America campaign. I feel like they should have just done that there where it's like everybody line up across the entire country. And just because that feels for where you until you find the beast easy easy if only we could go back and shine. I will capture this thing. Honestly, that's not a bad idea for finding missing people. Okay. It's not a bad idea, but it's just not going to work. Yeah. Okay. So thousands of hunters, they descend upon the province. Everyone wants a chance to kill the beast, which at this point had killed 47 people, if not more. So the growing attention about this killer creature started to spread well beyond the country of France. And now newspapers all over Europe and even in some of the American colonies are starting to report about the ongoing hunt for this beast. And with this media attention, rumors spread even more. Everyone wants to be part of the story. So everyone starts to say that they've had their own sightings with the beast. And there's like dozens of people claiming that they killed the beast, but no one could successfully capture or kill the actual beast on August 11th of 1765, a 19 year old named Marie Jean Valet encountered and successfully scared away the beast. She had been crossing a river with her sister when suddenly out of nowhere an enormous snarling creature jumped out from the underbush. The animal was gray and white striped with a large head and terrifying teeth. Yeah. Which is interesting because you might notice the Marie Jean's account of the beast is pretty different than Jacques. Right. But this kind of was a pretty common thing when it did come to the beast, the descriptions of what this animal looked like varied widely. And no one ever really figured out why, which is also probably part of the difficulty in tracking it and understanding like what you're seeing. Well, and also are there multiple? Is this like a pack? And then also does it shape shift? Is this trauma responses and people don't really know what they're seeing and they're just trying to recall on the spot while still traumatized? Either way, no one can figure it out. No one knew what the beast even was, let alone what it looked like, which is another reason it was so terrifying. Yeah. Coming face to face with the beast was pretty horrifying for Marie Jean, but Marie Jean was ready. She had brought with her a meek shift spear made out of a stick with a bayonet tied to it. Which I imagine anyone who went out away from their home during this time was prepared in some way. Right. It's a good idea no matter what. Like there are animals and humans and humans. Right. Scary things out there. Yeah. Even like a rabbit raccoon. Like I need something. Yeah. So the moment she saw the creature lunging for her, Marie Jean grabbed her weapon and before the beast could land on her, she stabbed it up in the chest, bringing it down into the frothing water. And she and her sisters are screaming for help. All while keeping an eye on the creature, just in case it ends up escaping them. But the beast had been badly injured enough and it actually allowed itself to be taken downstream away from Marie Jean and from her sister. And like Jacques before her, Marie Jean was treated like a hero for her bravery. And she became so famous that her story and her herself were being compared to modern day Joan of Arc. And there's actually a statue of her in modern day city of Over. But I like badass. I know. It does feel like such an action sequence too. Like they're by like the babbling brook like the stream and the water is rushing and she's got her little sister and this thing to sense upon her. She's like as it's a slow motion. Ninja moves could for you. But the beast was still out there and it was still alive. Louis the 15th even sent his own hunters to the province to help with the search. No stone was left unturned. No corner of the forest left unexplored because they were thinking somehow someone would be able to corner this beast and bring it down. And on September 20th, 1965, someone did or he claimed to the king's own gun bearer, his name is François Antoine, shot and killed an enormous wolf that he assumed to be the beast. The crown was more than a million to believe him. They've rewarded François handsomely, showering him and money in royal titles. And then the animal itself was stuffed and brought to the royal court as like a testament to François's heroism. So they're like surely the beast is killed now. No more murders. No more attacks would happen. It would all stop. Right? Yeah, you'd think. My mind just like went somewhere because I was just thinking about how many just hordes of men gathered with their weapons and went into the woods searching for the beast. I was like, did anyone set up a trap? I'm sure they tried everything. Yeah. Like you wait. You have like the kid alone in the field and a bunch of people hiding with their weapons waiting for the beast to come try to attack the kid. I once tried to feed one of my high school friends to the condor in Peru to try to get a better picture of the bird. Sometimes you got to use bait. How do you choose them to be the bait? Well, I said, do you want to volunteer? Oh, okay. You said, okay. You didn't like try. But then it got a little spooky because it did get a little too close. Okay. Yeah. That is terrifying. Okay. So we thought that the attacks would stop, right? Because this guy is like, I killed him or like, right? Nope. It only took two months. And then the attacks began again with the same intensity. And I love this detail because King Louis the 15, despite the attacks continuing in the exact same way. He's like, no, no, no. No. The beast was killed. My guy did his thing. Yeah. He's like, you can't admit that you're wrong. Right. But these new deaths were very clearly the same. But King Louis the 15. He was like, no, no, this is another animal. This is a different problem. It's not the same thing. It is interesting that in the cases where the beast is either injured or when there's something that feels like a credible source thing that it killed it, that it does almost like disappear for a few months. It's like it goes into hiding. Right. And then comes back. Was the beast actually killed many times? It's just there are beasts. I don't think we'll ever get an answer to that. Yeah. Well, these deaths were surely nothing more than another animal that wasn't the beast, right? Because that's what the King said. But the people of Javidon had been suffering long enough at the hands of this terrible creature. And they knew how it killed its victims. They knew that the beast was still out there. And if the King's own men wouldn't help them anymore, they were going to have to rely on their own community to finish the job. Unfortunately, stopping the beast didn't happen for another two full years. It's such a long time to live in fear. And in that time around 30 more people did die. So while it's impossible to know the actual number of victims from this beast, it's believed that over a hundred people were killed by the beast. Some people do go as far as like the 300 victims. So it is gone. I think 100 is like a safe number. Yeah. But yeah. I wonder how many are like children and, I don't know, with each new death, the hunt for the beast grew more urgent and more desperate. And it wouldn't be until June 19, 1767, three years after the first recorded kill that these attacks finally stopped. That day, a local hunter named Jean Chastel armed with his musket and silver bullets. And he came face to face with what he described as a shockingly large wolf in the woods that this animal would be stopped. And it's the same scene that you could walk us through in the very beginning of this episode. Jean Chastel shot the animal in the throat, severing its trachea. The creature then tried to stand, but it was already losing so much blood that it ended up collapsing back down to the ground. And then after just a few moments, it appeared to be dead. So after killing the animal, Jean loaded it onto a horse and took it to be autopsied at the noblemen's castle because, you know, once and for all, she've done this terrible creature that had been feeding on the community. It come to the ground. Everyone's a winner now. But this is where things got a little bit complicated because you would think, okay, they have the corpse now. We'll be able to understand what this actual is. Right. But apparently the corpse wasn't well maintained along their journey because by this time, the legend had become so big. So like basically, as Jean is bringing the beast to the noblemen people's backs, so it's like along the way are severing off souvenirs for themselves. Just chop a little piece off. Every one wanted a piece of the beast for themselves. So by the time, like literally people showed up to the castle with knives. And we're cutting off entire chunks of the beast, meaning that when the beast was looked at, it was butchered and destroyed. So it was impossible to determine what kind of animal the beast actually was. And it has left us to speculate. It reminds me so much of so many of the like supposed big foot autopsies where like something always goes wrong. And you find out it's a hoax or it's actually some other animal that someone sits together. It's so frustrating. So yeah, they don't have an answer. They're like, is it a wolf, a pack of wolves, a lion that may be escaped the noblemen's menagerie of exotic pets, or an otherworldly creature. Regardless of what it was, somehow Jean Chestelle had finally done the impossible. He had killed the beast of Jaiboudon. And finally, the killings were over. For centuries, people had speculated about how Jean Chestelle succeeded in killing the beast. Was it sheer luck? Was it something else? Was it something supernatural? Some retellings of the story. suggests that Jean didn't kill the beast with a regular gun, not with normal ammunition, but instead that he had killed the creature successfully with silver bullets. Which then makes us wonder, is this a werewolf or some other supernatural beast? Because a lot of stories of the beast did sound similar to legends of werewolves that terribly strong bloodthirsty creature that brutalizes its victims. And just like what happened, or supposedly happened with the beast. Some lore says that only silver bullets could ever stop a werewolf from killing again. Or is that detail of the silver bullet added in some centuries later? Well, this is one of those things where it's like, okay, well, did someone just disappear from the local community as soon as the beast is killed? Was that the werewolf? I don't think so. Because they have like a black stripe through their hair, their beard or something like the kids sitting, the black stripe on the back, red hair, black stripe. Not that we know of. Yeah. Ah, man. I know. There's safer answers. The first mention of Jean Chastel killing the beast with a silver bullet came in the 1946 novel about this. And it's worth mentioning that the idea of silver bullets killing werewolves is kind of disrupted because there's a lot of legends saying that silver can kill supernatural beings, but the idea of silver killing werewolves was actually first discussed in the 1941 movie The Wolf Man, which coincidentally came out only five years before silver bullets were connected to the beast of Javoudon. Right. So all of this is all this narrative is happening like the 1940s. Yeah. The beast of Javoudon was nearly 200 years prior. Right. And it's like suddenly you have a movie being like, oh, werewolves can be killed by a silver bullet. And you're like, oh, wait, 200 years ago. I think there was a silver bullet. And that's how he finally did it. Right. Right. But regardless, you can tell how the beast of Javoudon has become a huge part of werewolf folklore. And we like to think that maybe there is some truth through this tale that the beast was no dog, no wolf, no animal of earth at all, but something far stranger. There are a lot of interesting theories that maybe it was a kind of lion or maybe even a hyena, an exotic animal that somehow escaped captivity, maybe even a prehistoric creature that managed to continue its bloodline. Like champ. Like champ. Some also think that maybe there was a human serial killer in the area making it seem like his victim's deaths were caused by animal attacks. And this is where our tinfoil hats need to come out. And I want to talk about this for a second. So according to some records, Jean Chestel was said to be a poor humble farmer. Right. And if that's true, people were like, well, then how did he get silver bullets? So then people start doing research into Jean Chestel. And they find out that he does come from noble descent. But what's really weird is that they discovered his son Antoine Chestel. At a recently returned back to the Javoudon region with a exotic animal around the time that the killings first started. What? And in looking this up, people didn't like Antoine, which is Jean's son. Yeah. They got weird vibes from him. They didn't really like, he felt this is a conspiracy. So there's no record of this. But is he training his exotic animal to have a thirst for human blood? And he and his animal going out hunting children out of like a sick, oh my god, killer messed up obsession. What kind of animal is this? Do we know? So there's some beliefs that it was maybe a hyena, like the string, or it could be a wolf. Okay. That makes sense too. Because hyenas are so big and they're so scary. And if you saw that, you'd be like, is it a wolf? Is it a dog? Like I understand people being like, it's some sort of mix. Right. You can't tell. You've never seen before. But this is the conspiracy I like that was it Antoine with his human blood hingering animal. And that would make sense why hunting groups seemed so confused by it because the beast kept evading them. But was it evading them because Antoine knew where they would be. And then to add to it, basically Jean Chastel being his father caught on to what his son was doing. And that's why he's the only one who was able to defeat the beast. Because he just went on where to his son's house and killed his pet. Yeah, damn. But that's a conspiracy. We have no, there's no confirmation on that. We won't know for certain. Yeah, ever. But we love wearing tinfoil hats totally and conspiracy vibes. What we do know is that it couldn't have been some sort of sick wolf feasting on organs for nutrients because that sick wolf would have died and wouldn't be able to keep attacking for three whole years. Killing hundreds. Yeah. So whatever it was, Jean Chastel was definitively the person who finally saved the people of Javodon once and for all. Because after that day, the killings finally stopped for good. What do you think it was? It makes sense that it would be a hyena and a person and a person. I'm like, how do you train the hyena to not go after all of the easy prey and kills? Like, how do you train it to only go after humans? I, again, I have very little knowledge when it comes to this. But when I was on safari in Africa, they did say that if an animal in the wilderness does kill a human, they do get a taste for it and they start attacking humans. So they unfortunately have to put that animal down because once they start. Oh my god. We taste so good. Once you start, you can't stop. Like potato chips. You can't have just one. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Yeah. Oh man. So I think that would apply there too. You sent up a bit. So basically to this day, the identity of the beast is basically a guessing game. But whatever it was, the bullet shot out of Jean Chastel's gun ended the attacks for good. And now the beast of Javodon is told like a scary story. Biggest sure that beast was killed for good. But there's no telling of someday another beast might return stronger, angrier, and hungrier than before. Be careful about your exotic pets. Do you think it's an exotic pet? I can believe the hyena, legend or belief. I do think it was an animal, whether it was guided by human hand or not. It's terrifying. So messed up relationship Antoine and his hyena. I like how you're totally buying into it. Yeah. I am. I'm 10 foil hat. No more. It's the truth in my mind. Thank you so much for listening. We are your host Sabrina Giannaroga and Karin Vien. Join us next Tuesday for a brand new season of Crimes Up. For the next eight episodes, we will be tackling a brand new theme and without giving it away completely, here are a couple teasers or just one teaser. It's extremely appropriate for Valentine's season. Yes, love is very much in the air with these or is it? Join us to find out. And if there's any other cases that you would like us to cover or future themes for seasons, let us know in the comments. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on all social media at Crime House. And let us know what you think the beast of Javodon is. And don't forget to rate, review and follow Crimes Up wherever you get your podcast. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And with all of that, we say bye mommy or at you, mama. Looking for your next podcast? Check out what the fact. It's a new show from Connor Tomlinson, who you know from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum alongside Carter Roy. Follow what the fact wherever you listen or subscribe on YouTube at what the fact pot.