Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

Fiona Young-Brown goes on the trail of the legendary Beast of Gévaudan through modern-day Haute-Loire and Lozère

- Fiona Young-Brown

Driving through Lozère, you know instantly that you are in France’s most sparsely populated département. You will encounter far more sheep and cattle than you will people. Ignored by most guidebooks, Lozère, in southern France, has medieval villages and idyllic pastoral scenes which attract few visitors. Yet the region was once renowned throughout France, its notoriety even spreading to London and other major European cities. Back then, it was known by another name – Gévaudan.

From 1764 to 1767, a giant, murderous beast stalked the inhabitants of remote Gévaudan. In the space of just a few years, at least 100 women and children (and some reports claim as many as 300) were killed, with more seriously injured. The beast’s reign of terror came to an abrupt end in 1767, but it remains a strong part of local folklore, even though it is still shrouded in mystery.

Beastly beginnings

The best place to begin in search of the beast is Saugues, at the Fantastic Museum of the Beast of Gévaudan (Musée Fantastique de la Bête du Gevaudan). A series of 22 dioramas guides you from the first attack, through various attempts to capture the beast, to its eventual killing (tickets €5.50, musee-bete-gevaudan. com). Elsewhere around town, a variety of sculptures and carvings depict the beast, which some have claimed was a wolf, others a giant dog and still others an escaped hyena.