The Beast of GĂ©vaudan | Terror in the French Countryside | European History | Extra History

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  • čas pƙidĂĄn 17. 06. 2024
  • 📜 The Beast of GĂ©vaudan: Terror in the French Countryside - Happy Halloween to all! Beauty and the Beast is a great fairytale, but a real beast stalked the French countryside in 1764. It attacked not just children or teenage shepherds, but grown women in the middle of the night. It was said to have a head like a wolf, glowing eyes, and stood on two cloven hooves. It couldn't be an ordinary wolf. Bodies were found so savaged, the heads of its victims were found weeks later. What could the monster possibly be?
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    By: Sean and Dean Kiner
    #ExtraHistory #France #History

Komentáƙe • 1K

  • @extrahistory
    @extrahistory  Pƙed 3 lety +510

    Happy Halloween from all of us at Extra Credits! A costume guide for our team at 9:45 ; left to right, top to bottom
    Luke - A Bill from School House Rock
    Mac - Robert Muldoon from Jurassic Park
    Dan - Elder Thing from HP Lovecraft
    Nick - Necronomicon from HP Lovecraft
    Patrick - Cthulhu from HP Lovecraft
    Joe - Geno from Super Mario RPG
    Nick D - Johnny from Cobra Kai
    Scott D - The Goon from The Goon
    Zoey - Nott from Critical Role
    Matt - Caleb from Critical Role
    Erin - Captain Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager
    Geoff - Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly
    Will - Zagreus from Hades
    Jordan - Earl Sinclair from Dinosaurs
    Ali - Pteradon from history
    Arthur - Hordak from She-Ra
    Jac - The Hunter from Bloodborne
    Rob - Trazyn the Infinite from WH40k
    David - The Goblin King Jareth from Labyrinth
    SVP - Blacula from Blacula
    Tiffany - Chell from Portal
    PHEW.

    • @James-en1ob
      @James-en1ob Pƙed 3 lety +2

      Happy Halloween 🎃🎃🎃

    • @thylaggyone4513
      @thylaggyone4513 Pƙed 3 lety +2

      Oh cool schoolhouse rock

    • @weirdostick8023
      @weirdostick8023 Pƙed 3 lety +1

      Happy Halloween

    • @danielduvernay3207
      @danielduvernay3207 Pƙed 3 lety +1

      My families from France and I’m very glad to see a video about these stories. If you look into it there are many more awesome stories like these from countries around the world.

    • @bskorupk
      @bskorupk Pƙed 3 lety

      Happy Halloween! Time for a Story that 'Fits Neatly Into the Historical Record' :)

  • @keysersoze146
    @keysersoze146 Pƙed 3 lety +2484

    It killed without warning.
    It could not be caught.
    It was magic.
    It was bullet proof.
    It was Walpole.

    • @jamesg9840
      @jamesg9840 Pƙed 3 lety +177

      I bet if Bismark were there he would have had a plan.

    • @Religion0
      @Religion0 Pƙed 3 lety +21

      Brilliant!

    • @borkbork3804
      @borkbork3804 Pƙed 3 lety +58

      Bismarck A L W A Y S has a plan

    • @hlonimojapelo2936
      @hlonimojapelo2936 Pƙed 3 lety +40

      Maybe they were just buying time until Bismarck was available.

    • @DANTEEEEEEEEHHHH
      @DANTEEEEEEEEHHHH Pƙed 3 lety +23

      I swear to god theres allways a walpole refference

  • @psilocybin7693
    @psilocybin7693 Pƙed 3 lety +1782

    When faced with a similar problem, hire a witcher.

    • @kaikalter
      @kaikalter Pƙed 3 lety +46

      Like they did in beauclair

    • @andrewvarney5687
      @andrewvarney5687 Pƙed 3 lety +68

      Don't forget to toss a coin.

    • @SergioKoolhaas
      @SergioKoolhaas Pƙed 3 lety +37

      And poor him some ale!

    • @zagan31a
      @zagan31a Pƙed 3 lety +13

      @@andrewvarney5687 Netflix series sucked. Ruined the books

    • @piglin469
      @piglin469 Pƙed 3 lety +3

      get anne the windego killer c

  • @aslandus
    @aslandus Pƙed 3 lety +1115

    To be honest, I was kind of expecting the monster to turn out to be a serial killer instead of an animal...

    • @cometmoon4485
      @cometmoon4485 Pƙed 3 lety +161

      All the French villagers have the beast tied up in a comedic amount of cartoony thick rope.
      "Now let's find out who this monster really is!"

    • @odeseus5875
      @odeseus5875 Pƙed 3 lety +81

      Its a early age furry

    • @katsa5
      @katsa5 Pƙed 3 lety +25

      I’m a fan of that theory.

    • @tobybartels8426
      @tobybartels8426 Pƙed 3 lety +47

      @@cometmoon4485 : The monster turns out to be human in disguise, while one of the people who catch the monster is a talking dog. That's irony for you!

    • @Butonz1
      @Butonz1 Pƙed 3 lety +87

      There's actually a theory that says Chastel, the man who shot the beast and ended the killings, was one of the worlds earliest recorded serial killers. The theory goes that the beast was some kind of hybrid animal trained by Chastel and his son to target people. Rogue animals, animals that decide humans are a good consistent source of food, are actually quite rare. Which is why the idea that the beast was trained to attack and kill humans holds some weight, and why the idea put forward here that dozens of wolves suddenly started killing and decapitating peasants isn't a very convincing one.

  • @katytui3746
    @katytui3746 Pƙed 3 lety +933

    "He shoulders his musket"
    "aims"
    "the beast notices the movement and---"
    And then an add plays.

    • @tobybartels8426
      @tobybartels8426 Pƙed 3 lety +26

      Suspense!

    • @abcdef27669
      @abcdef27669 Pƙed 3 lety +32

      (TO BE CONTINUED)

    • @gyanchor2495
      @gyanchor2495 Pƙed 3 lety +11

      Browser on desktop and 4 different adblockers (this is overkill) solves that problem. Which is not always possible sadly...

    • @hereticpariah6_66
      @hereticpariah6_66 Pƙed 3 lety +7

      Same. Evil Geniuses.

    • @jordinagel1184
      @jordinagel1184 Pƙed 3 lety +3

      @@abcdef27669 *cue the start of Roundabout*

  • @MyOwnNameWasTaken
    @MyOwnNameWasTaken Pƙed 3 lety +1096

    “The wolves did the killing, but we made the monsters.” I like that line.

    • @filipeamaral216
      @filipeamaral216 Pƙed 3 lety +9

      @kinsmarts Yeah, that quote was so pretentious I almost threw up. Extra Credits make some cool animations, but God they are a bunch of snowflakes...

    • @-MitMel-
      @-MitMel- Pƙed 3 lety +17

      @Filipe Amaral
      Lolwut? Chill, man.

  • @fakjbf3129
    @fakjbf3129 Pƙed 3 lety +907

    I thought this was an Extra Mythology episode at first

    • @bobkrachit7774
      @bobkrachit7774 Pƙed 3 lety +59

      Thanks, your comment made me realize it’s an extra history episode.

    • @idkanymore12
      @idkanymore12 Pƙed 3 lety +9

      @@bobkrachit7774 same here

    • @safe-keeper1042
      @safe-keeper1042 Pƙed 3 lety +11

      Me too, I was like, didn't we just have one?

    • @malarie-susangold9259
      @malarie-susangold9259 Pƙed 3 lety +1

      Same

    • @Carewolf
      @Carewolf Pƙed 3 lety +8

      Well, despite what they say "Mythology are not stories that are untrue".... They _only_ ever bring stories that are they now are untrue in Extra Mythology, strories that might be true are covered in Extra History.

  • @mitchellneu
    @mitchellneu Pƙed 3 lety +391

    To the Father and the Son
    Came the Beast of GĂ©vaudan
    Terminator, a traitor, half wolf and half machine
    To the prior and the nun
    Came the Beast of GĂ©vaudan
    A redeemer, believer, all fatal, mad, and mean
    Beast of GĂ©vaudan

    • @VergilTheMenace
      @VergilTheMenace Pƙed 2 lety +31

      POWERWOLF!

    • @daedalus5253
      @daedalus5253 Pƙed 2 lety +17

      @@VergilTheMenace My favorite part is the pronunciation of „GĂ©vaudan“

    • @amandeepgill5206
      @amandeepgill5206 Pƙed 2 lety +16

      Beast of GĂ©vaudan, Christ the force is on the run
      Meant to feast on the treason of liars
      Beast of GĂ©vaudan, bring up Nemesis undone
      Send the mass of profane to hellfire
      Hunted by hundreds, all tempted to be fought
      Ascent like thunder to tear down the enemies of God

    • @Sea_people_enjoyer
      @Sea_people_enjoyer Pƙed 17 dny

      🎾

  • @nangkhrawborsuting2788
    @nangkhrawborsuting2788 Pƙed 3 lety +367

    Came here from Powerwolf's new song. Not disappointed at all.

  • @dionadair8195
    @dionadair8195 Pƙed 3 lety +906

    You forgot to mention that the Marquis de Lafayette (yeah, THAT one) actually tried to kill the beast as a child, since he was a liege lord of the area, but since he was about ten at the time he got dragged back to the mansion.

    • @mohamedrateb9662
      @mohamedrateb9662 Pƙed 3 lety +121

      THE Marquis de Lafayette? The American Revolution Lafayette?

    • @dionadair8195
      @dionadair8195 Pƙed 3 lety +127

      @@mohamedrateb9662 That's the one. The Lancelot of the Revolutionary set.

    • @feifei01
      @feifei01 Pƙed 3 lety +65

      @@dionadair8195 he came from afar just to say bonsoir

    • @dionadair8195
      @dionadair8195 Pƙed 3 lety +48

      @@feifei01 Tell the king casse-toi
      Who's the best? C'est moi

    • @plasticbag4102
      @plasticbag4102 Pƙed 3 lety +27

      Yeah but that’s extremely unimportant in the story it’s a fun fact sure but he didn’t do anything

  • @allocater2
    @allocater2 Pƙed 3 lety +385

    "The beast will be gone by Easter."
    Beast kills dozens of peasants.
    "It is what it is."

    • @brianwills3871
      @brianwills3871 Pƙed 3 lety +1

      Well played

    • @nathanielclaw2841
      @nathanielclaw2841 Pƙed 3 lety +25

      "Restricting me from passing through the beast's territory for 'safety' is tirany!"
      *dies*
      "The beast only targets the king's supporters!"

    • @bificommander
      @bificommander Pƙed 3 lety +11

      Monsieur Fauci is creating a needless panic, it's just a dog.

    • @allocater2
      @allocater2 Pƙed 3 lety +8

      @@bificommander 3,000 dead from 9/11: OMG
      300,000 dead from corona: Eh

    • @supremememersnoke7350
      @supremememersnoke7350 Pƙed 3 lety

      @@allocater2 r/whoosh? I think?

  • @AverytheCubanAmerican
    @AverytheCubanAmerican Pƙed 3 lety +678

    2:28 Of course you included Gaston, would've been a missed opportunity NOT to include him. No one's necc's as incredibly thicc as Gaston's

  • @Butonz1
    @Butonz1 Pƙed 3 lety +216

    Regardless of some of it's dubious and more sensational aspects I like the theory that Chastel was actually one of the world's earliest recorded serial killers, using a trained animal to carry out his murders. The fact that the killings stopped while he was imprisoned for refusing to take part in the hunt for the beast, and resumed once he was released, is somewhat chilling if true. There are also accounts of the beasts killing that describe the beast simply walking up to stand before Chastel without any show of aggression when he shot it, as though it knew him...
    Though we all know what an eye witness account is worth in court. Still, one of my favorite theories for one of my favorite historical cryptids.

    • @elbentos7803
      @elbentos7803 Pƙed 3 lety +5

      And quite swampy as well...

    • @michaelterrell5061
      @michaelterrell5061 Pƙed 2 lety +4

      No way. It’s chilling but god no.

    • @MW_Asura
      @MW_Asura Pƙed rokem +3

      Lame. Not everything has to have an underlying conspiracy plot behind it

    • @Tamlinearthly
      @Tamlinearthly Pƙed 8 měsĂ­ci +4

      Calling this a "theory" is the acme of generosity.

  • @AndyG94
    @AndyG94 Pƙed 3 lety +935

    I like the theory I heard in 'Leyendas Legendarias' , that it was an escaped lion from one of the trade routes between France and Africa 🌍

    • @nutriapeluda
      @nutriapeluda Pƙed 3 lety +18

      Yay a fellow macabroso !

    • @logangrosserode9041
      @logangrosserode9041 Pƙed 3 lety +117

      it was actually found out that due to descriptions, it WAS a lion. It had paws like a cats, unlike a wolf, a thick hide around the neck, a main, and had a long tail, not like a wolf's. Most of the common folk though, had never seen a lion, so they thought it was a big wolf.

    • @donaldolivier6786
      @donaldolivier6786 Pƙed 3 lety +11

      How did you upload 19 hours ago?

    • @Tina-Brune
      @Tina-Brune Pƙed 3 lety +11

      @@donaldolivier6786 patreon preview I guess

    • @shivanshna7618
      @shivanshna7618 Pƙed 3 lety +6

      Or wolf dog hybrid

  • @nahx6205
    @nahx6205 Pƙed 3 lety +250

    SCP 682 has been successfully contained.

    • @Otto_Von_Beansmarck
      @Otto_Von_Beansmarck Pƙed 3 lety +11

      the Taresque is a separate mythological beast which is much older but i can see the confusion

    • @novaexplorer2397
      @novaexplorer2397 Pƙed 3 lety +13

      Asa Hoffman in the SCP lore, 682 was mistaken for the Tarrasque

  • @chaos9731
    @chaos9731 Pƙed 3 lety +66

    To the father and the son, came the beast of Gevaudan

    • @fleshtearer4399
      @fleshtearer4399 Pƙed 3 lety +13

      Terminator, a traitor, half wolf and half machine

    • @WeaponXSigma
      @WeaponXSigma Pƙed 3 lety +9

      To the prior and the nun, came the beast of Gevaudan

    • @fleshtearer4399
      @fleshtearer4399 Pƙed 3 lety +6

      @@WeaponXSigma A redeemer, believer, all fatal, mad and mean!

    • @IntrepidIanRinon
      @IntrepidIanRinon Pƙed rokem +3

      BEAST OF GEVAUAN!

  • @Thoralmir
    @Thoralmir Pƙed 3 lety +58

    Fun fact: In the 2009 remake of The Wolfman, there is a deleted scene where the protagonist, Lawrence Talbot, meets a man on a train who gives him a walking cane topped with a silver wolf's head that he claims he got in GĂ©vaudan.

  • @mjbull5156
    @mjbull5156 Pƙed 3 lety +403

    At least this was a carnivore, not like Australia's military actions against Emus.

    • @shivanshna7618
      @shivanshna7618 Pƙed 3 lety +38

      10 million Australians died that black day fascist communist democratic Emu Republic was just too powerful.

    • @andyjay729
      @andyjay729 Pƙed 3 lety +21

      You haven't heard of the Man-Eating Emu of Menindee (Dromaeus novaehollandiae carnivorius)?

    • @riograndedosulball248
      @riograndedosulball248 Pƙed 3 lety +19

      The Chad Ecuadorian victory over the Goat Empire vs the Virgin Australian Emu War

    • @KasumiRINA
      @KasumiRINA Pƙed 3 lety +14

      Australia tried to reclaim its military glory by airstrikes on camels. Seriously! The military is proud of defeating defenseless camels (which were brought captive anyway) with aircraft bombs. Still haven't lived down losing a war to emus.

    • @tobybartels8426
      @tobybartels8426 Pƙed 3 lety +19

      I went to Google "Australian war on emus", and I only had to type in "Australian war"; Google knew which war I meant.

  • @SataniSactify
    @SataniSactify Pƙed 3 lety +31

    Not me listening to Powerwolf's new single that lead me here

  • @beetee6986
    @beetee6986 Pƙed 3 lety +17

    Came here from the premier of Beast of GĂ©vaudan by Powerwolf

  • @Fox531CD
    @Fox531CD Pƙed 3 lety +223

    Ah, the Beast of Gevudan. I remember a documentary the History Channel did called "The Real Wolfman" about this. They argued that the animal was a hyena. In fact, they argued the theory you mentioned: A rare (now extinct) breed of hyena escaped from a menagerie. There's good reason to suppose so, actually. I know you said it might have been a pack of wolves, but here's the thing: many of those victims were dismembered and decapitated, and wolves *literally* can't do that. Their jaws aren't strong enough. Hyenas, on the other hand? Pfft, they can break *elephant and giraffe bones* into powder, give them a challenge. Plus, they're extremely aggressive.
    They also proposed the theory that it might have been trained to kill people (since animals generally avoid people, and yet this one was killing people over livestock, which is *very* odd). That's the other scary thing about hyenas: They're very trainable, despite their high aggression. They even proposed the idea that Jean Chastel, the guy that shot it, might have been the one to train it, since he got so close to it, and that whole story about the silver bullet is garbage.

    • @artsman412
      @artsman412 Pƙed 3 lety +33

      That... actually is an interesting theory. Thanks for sharing. Will have to check out that documentary sometime.

    • @matthiasmoser6096
      @matthiasmoser6096 Pƙed 2 lety +4

      Ah yeah, that makes was more sense! Thanks for this explanation.

    • @hyenaloaf1858
      @hyenaloaf1858 Pƙed rokem +2

      They argued that it was a striped hyena. Striped hyenas are most definitely not extinct

    • @Tamlinearthly
      @Tamlinearthly Pƙed 8 měsĂ­ci +1

      Occam's Razor suggests that if the decapitations were really impossible then odds are they just didn't really happen. After all, if it was a hyena, what happened it? Where did it go?

    • @user-dq2ey9wj5n
      @user-dq2ey9wj5n Pƙed 6 měsĂ­ci +2

      ​​@@Tamlinearthlythey stuffed it. And then it was traveling the province to show the peasants that the beast is actually dead this time.
      Then they transported it to Versal but by the time it got there it's condition detiorated so bad they got rid of it.

  • @generalmissy
    @generalmissy Pƙed 3 lety +169

    Guess packs of vicious wolves roaming outside of towns in RPGs isn't as crazy as I thought

    • @jonnunn4196
      @jonnunn4196 Pƙed 3 lety +12

      Basically this rough time frame was near the peak of wolf attacks. But there was a wolf attack on a shepherd in Germany only a few months ago. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wolf_attacks

    • @yamiyomizuki
      @yamiyomizuki Pƙed 3 lety +6

      It's still pretty unrealistic. Keep in mind that in the entire history of America the number of people killed by wolves could pretty much be counted on 1 hand.

    • @daemosblack
      @daemosblack Pƙed 3 lety +29

      @@yamiyomizuki America is not Europe - the size of territory for wolves to roam and hunt in North America was vastly larger than in contenental Europe, with far more large wild prey for the wolves to hunt away from livestock. also the sub species of wolves in Europe had spend thousands of years developing along side the growing human settlements.

    • @Seth9809
      @Seth9809 Pƙed 3 lety +10

      @@yamiyomizuki There is a reason why many humans are scared of wolves, they used to be a very serious threat.

    • @yamiyomizuki
      @yamiyomizuki Pƙed 3 lety +3

      @@Seth9809 people are afraid of lots of things that aren't a particular threat. The dislike of wolves has more to do with their eating livestock than eating people.

  • @turma8eac
    @turma8eac Pƙed 3 lety +270

    “A government that abandoned them even as more people died”
    Wish I didn’t know how this felt

    • @robbiejohnston9409
      @robbiejohnston9409 Pƙed 3 lety +3

      Your gov abandoned you by taking away your rights, not via COVID

    • @ibnbattuta7031
      @ibnbattuta7031 Pƙed 3 lety +5

      @@robbiejohnston9409 shutup redcap

    • @jorenvanderark3567
      @jorenvanderark3567 Pƙed 2 lety

      @@robbiejohnston9409
      Ah and here we have one of Nurgles Plaguebearers... to bad we don't have an imperium of man equivalent to deal with your lot.

  • @1marius16
    @1marius16 Pƙed 3 lety +20

    We all know that this beast was a Powerwolf

  • @pyrrhusofepirus8491
    @pyrrhusofepirus8491 Pƙed 3 lety +149

    There’s even more about the monster, there’s even a theory that the beast wasn’t actually wild but owned by some person, also the Hyena theory is more plausible to me because Hyenas have far, far stronger jaws and I believe are even known to decapitate.

    • @ding1466
      @ding1466 Pƙed 3 lety +15

      Hyenas are smaller though and like every other animal would have been better off taking the sheep. Probably some tsavo man eater-esque wolf.

    • @toptextbottomtext3062
      @toptextbottomtext3062 Pƙed 3 lety +8

      @@ding1466 Spotted hyenas weigh up to 90kg and the extinct Cave Hyenas could weigh upwards of 100kg

    • @KaiserStormTracking
      @KaiserStormTracking Pƙed 3 lety +4

      @@toptextbottomtext3062 Not much differnce. Modern Hyenas got smaller to get faster to compete with other predators

    • @toptextbottomtext3062
      @toptextbottomtext3062 Pƙed 3 lety +6

      @@KaiserStormTracking Yeah I was just responding to the person who thinks hyenas are too small to attack people

    • @adlibconstitution1609
      @adlibconstitution1609 Pƙed 2 lety

      @@ding1466 Spotted Hyenas can kill a an adult cheetah and will fight leopards. They are bigger than wolves.

  • @spetr2060
    @spetr2060 Pƙed 3 lety +28

    To the father and the son !
    Came the beast of GĂ©vaudan !
    Terminator, a traitor, half wolf and half machine !

    • @arthurbailon5851
      @arthurbailon5851 Pƙed 3 lety +7

      A redeemer, believer, all fatal, mad and mean
      Beast of GĂ©vaudan

  • @raf6029
    @raf6029 Pƙed 3 lety +22

    Anyone came here after watching/listening to Powerwolf's "Beast of GĂ©vaudan"?

  • @Paveway-chan
    @Paveway-chan Pƙed 3 lety +9

    Powerwolf gang, are you here??

  • @Triskaan
    @Triskaan Pƙed 3 lety +110

    From France, feels good to see Extra Credits tackle one of our longest standing legends. :)

  • @marcocastelli4205
    @marcocastelli4205 Pƙed 3 lety +27

    TO THE FATHER AND THE SON, CAME THE BEAST OF GEVAUDAN

    • @jamesgroccia644
      @jamesgroccia644 Pƙed 3 lety +1

      Terminator, a traitor, half wolf and half machine.
      To the prior and the nun, came the Beast of GĂ©vaudan!

  • @isaacthemonke233
    @isaacthemonke233 Pƙed rokem +5

    I will always refer to this little part of history as "The French Werewolf Massacre"

  • @eckienoxio5602
    @eckienoxio5602 Pƙed 3 lety +18

    Anyone here after powerwolf?

  • @rashkavar
    @rashkavar Pƙed 3 lety +77

    Something for Lies, if you do one on this: Dragoons are mounted infantry, so in the artistic portrayal they should be mounted as they march into GĂ©vaudan. They're actually a really good choice for this kind of patrol - they're capable riders wearing little to no armour (there is still armoured cavalry, but they're a very niche role by this point) and are trained as infantry rather than cavalry - ie: not thinking of their horse as a critical part of their soldiering capability, and not too high and mighty to get off a horse that's too scared to move on because it smells a wolf and advance on foot. If you're trying to secure a relatively large area with relatively few soldiers, having them on horseback extends their effective response speed significantly, allowing you to achieve similar levels of coverage with fewer troops, while not bringing in the inherent issue of cavalry, who tend to think of themselves as too good to walk around on patrols and the like.
    Depending on how diversified firearms are at this point (my knowledge in the area is more Napoleonic than Seven Years War era), the Dragoons might also be working with carbines rather than full length rifles/muskets - these are shorter barrelled versions of these longer guns (often having equivalent models where barrel length is the only difference) that trade a bit of accuracy for a lot of manoeuvrability, which could be useful in the event a wolf attacked and bayonets were needed - it's a shorter reach to mount the bayonet in the first place, and the resulting spear is shorter and easier to handle. It might also offer some reload time advantages for muzzle loaders, though that's purely conjecture on my part.
    (Also, I will note, that hunter in the story who quadruple loaded his gun with powder...gods that takes guts. I get that he's thinking it will add more penetrative power to his shot (which might have some merit, though I suspect something durable enough to withstand regular gunfire at the time would be likely to just have the bullet/ball splash into just that much thinner of a pancake), but I'd have huge concerns about the gun exploding with that much of a hot load. As it is, I wonder if him doing that is what enabled the wolf to survive that first shot - I do know that modern military grade ammo - the stuff designed to penetrate body armour - is actually more survivable for an unarmoured target than hunting grade ammo, as the faster projectile doesn't deform as much as it travels through the body. You get a cleaner hole with less damage - that's the trade off you have to make if you want to penetrate body armour. I wonder if that extra powerful shot to the eye did something similar with the wolf.)
    All that said, the better option would be to round up the best scouts from several different individual units. Regular soldiers are not really trained in stealth, especially not in those days - marching or riding in formation kicks up enough racket that it's *very* rare for a troop on the march to see much wildlife at all, particularly not large mammals. Scouts are trained to work alone or in small groups, moving stealthily so as to avoid detection by enemy sentries. They're the closest thing an army has to a hunter (and indeed, would often have been hunters before joining the army). That would probably have avoided the issue where one of Duhamel's men scared off the wolf as he was lining up a shot.

    • @dutch6857
      @dutch6857 Pƙed 3 lety +7

      Thinking something similar. They need to move fast, but trying to fight from on top of a wolf-spooked horse seems a poor choice. Answer: Dragoons!

  • @abbddos
    @abbddos Pƙed 3 lety +69

    I wonder if Arthor Conan Doile's "the hound of baskerville" was partially based on this.

  • @robbiegarber898
    @robbiegarber898 Pƙed 3 lety +158

    Also, IDK, but several hundred wolves willing and able to attack humans may be slightly more terrifying than two large ones.

    • @Tina-Brune
      @Tina-Brune Pƙed 3 lety +35

      It's possible the wolves learned to see people as a nice source of food by scavenging battlefields in northern France. So I guess the real monster was the militaristic government all along...

    • @jonnunn4196
      @jonnunn4196 Pƙed 3 lety +13

      Fear has little to do the actual risk - it's instead what aren't you used to that is terrifying. They were used to wolf packs.

    • @robbiegarber898
      @robbiegarber898 Pƙed 3 lety +10

      @@jonnunn4196 Good point - the sudden switch in tactics on the wolves' part probably had a large part to play, as well.

    • @krankarvolund7771
      @krankarvolund7771 Pƙed 3 lety +5

      @@Tina-Brune Southern France and Northern France are literally hundreds of kilometers apart, there's no way several pack of wolves would have made that trip ^^'

    • @riograndedosulball248
      @riograndedosulball248 Pƙed 3 lety +5

      Maybe the real Beast was the man hunter wolves we made along the way

  • @es8428
    @es8428 Pƙed 3 lety +147

    When i saw the title, my thoughts were like,
    ”god damn, they were sponsered by the series teen wolf.”

  • @user-ye4jn9tt6b
    @user-ye4jn9tt6b Pƙed 3 lety +9

    Anyone here after Powerwolf's blaster?

  • @Viguier89
    @Viguier89 Pƙed 3 lety +64

    I had no idea this story was famous outside France. It's even cooler that's its Extra History who made an episode about it.

  • @Tortferngatr
    @Tortferngatr Pƙed 3 lety +11

    BEAST OF GÉVAUDAN
    FEARED NO SWORD AND FEARED NO GUN
    SENT FROM HEAVEN THE SEVENTH OF CREATURES

  • @mattblaq
    @mattblaq Pƙed 3 lety +16

    Powerwolf makes a song about this, two days latter i see this video, ok then

  • @user-fg5yw7ko5t
    @user-fg5yw7ko5t Pƙed 3 lety +14

    Who's here after the new Powerwolf's track?

  • @eusarmale7100
    @eusarmale7100 Pƙed 3 lety +19

    Can't wait for seeing views escalading because of Powerwolf...

  • @fandemusique4693
    @fandemusique4693 Pƙed 3 lety +63

    5:32 you know, it make me wonder what had happens to this guy, because between the money, the fame and the school opportunity got by that event, i kinda want to know if he had success.

    • @fandemusique4693
      @fandemusique4693 Pƙed 3 lety +2

      @The Martial Lord of Loyalty it's harsh.

    • @sharilshahed6106
      @sharilshahed6106 Pƙed 3 lety +1

      @@fandemusique4693 Such is life

    • @malenkymoodge9053
      @malenkymoodge9053 Pƙed 13 dny

      This is what I found about Jacques Portefaix, the young boy who fought off the beast of GĂ©vaudan: "The young boy was born on November 8, 1752 in Chanaleilles. On April 16, 1765, he was admitted to the Brothers of the Christian Doctrine or Ignorantin Brothers, of Montpellier. He stayed there until November 1770, when he entered the school of the Royal Artillery Corps. He then became a lieutenant, under the name of Jacques Villaret. He died aged "33 or thereabouts", on August 14, 1785 in Franconville"

  • @364dragonrider
    @364dragonrider Pƙed 3 lety +46

    Most descriptions I hear make me think of a tiger. Russet colored, very large, claws the size of a man’s head, big head, white belly, stripes, long tail. I think a tiger escaped a nearby noble’s private zoo and went maneater, and the nobleman left it unreported to avoid embarrassment.

    • @krankarvolund7771
      @krankarvolund7771 Pƙed 3 lety +3

      Or just a bunch of wolves ^^'
      There's no way one tiger could have killed that many persons....

    • @364dragonrider
      @364dragonrider Pƙed 3 lety +21

      @@krankarvolund7771 tigers that go maneater are notable for extremely intense body counts. The champawat tiger, for example, killed over 300 people in just a couple years.

    • @krankarvolund7771
      @krankarvolund7771 Pƙed 3 lety +1

      @@364dragonrider Still, wolves are far more likely than tiger ^^

    • @364dragonrider
      @364dragonrider Pƙed 3 lety +4

      @The Martial Lord of Loyalty that’s the case for felines in an area with high competition, yes, but rarely for maneaters. The man eaters of Tsavo, for instance, typically ate their kills within earshot of the camps full of people who wanted them dead.

  • @trenchrat5359
    @trenchrat5359 Pƙed 3 lety +5

    Terminator, a Traitor, half Wolf and half Machine

  • @johnnyhellfire6
    @johnnyhellfire6 Pƙed 3 lety +86

    I heard about this first from the movie that's based off of this legend, The Brotherhood Of The Wolf. Came out years ago. Very loosely based off the true story. But a great movie, got me interested in this story and glad to see more about this.

    • @SaiyanHeretic
      @SaiyanHeretic Pƙed 3 lety +3

      Very trippy movie, a couple solid scares and surprisingly good fights. For anybody that hasn't seen it, you could do a lot worse for a Halloween movie tonight.

    • @NL-ws5fv
      @NL-ws5fv Pƙed 3 lety +2

      I remember that film! One of the first movies that got me interested in learning and practicing French.

  • @nebojsag.5871
    @nebojsag.5871 Pƙed 3 lety +39

    4:46
    As a Serb, I felt that.

    • @jrt7357
      @jrt7357 Pƙed 3 lety

      Lmfao, damn that made me chuckle

  • @tiggle5485
    @tiggle5485 Pƙed 3 lety +17

    Who’s here from the new Powerwolf song

  • @jeremykershaw
    @jeremykershaw Pƙed 3 lety +8

    POWERWOLF!!!!

  • @vladimirblitz2867
    @vladimirblitz2867 Pƙed 3 lety +26

    Amazing story, second time watching this, watching again after listening to the Powerwolf Premiere of the song Beast of Gevaudan

  • @DeclanTanner05
    @DeclanTanner05 Pƙed 3 lety +6

    Am I the only one who can't hear the term "the Beast" without thinking of Father Ted?
    "They say it's as big as four cats and has a retractable leg so it can leap up at you better and it lights up at night and it's got four ears, two are for listening and the other two are kind of back up ears and it's claws are as big as cups and for some reason it's got a tremendous fear of stamps. Mrs Doyle was telling me it's got magnets on it's tail, so if you're made of metal, it can attach itself to you and instead of a head, it's got four arses"

    • @iapetusmccool
      @iapetusmccool Pƙed 3 lety +2

      I don't remember that episode, and I'm trying to think who would say that. It's _probably_ Dougal (he would be stupid enough to actually believe such nonsense), but I can also imagine Ted saying all that too (more in a "huh, have you heard what people are saying?" kind of way).

  • @jamesgroccia644
    @jamesgroccia644 Pƙed 3 lety +24

    To the father and the son, came the Beast of GĂ©vaudan.
    Terminator, a traitor, half wolf and half machine.
    To the friar and the nun, come the Beast of GĂ©vaudan.
    A redeemer, believer, all fatal mad and mean,
    Beast of GĂ©vaudan!

    • @philipgood5041
      @philipgood5041 Pƙed 2 lety

      Why is everyone commenting that, what reference is this?

    • @lucasbeck1391
      @lucasbeck1391 Pƙed 2 lety

      @@philipgood5041 powerwolf

  • @KingRengoII
    @KingRengoII Pƙed 3 lety +10

    So whos here because of the new Powerwolf Song?

  • @Pikazilla
    @Pikazilla Pƙed 3 lety +157

    3:10
    If farmers were starving and being repressed then why not revolt?
    What time was this again? Late 18th century?
    Oh okay...

    • @freakymoejoe2
      @freakymoejoe2 Pƙed 3 lety +25

      Why didn't they just eat cake?

    • @failuretv814
      @failuretv814 Pƙed 3 lety +17

      It was 1764. The revolution would still take 25 years to come

    • @melbanford5460
      @melbanford5460 Pƙed 3 lety +3

      You are the Justin Y of Extra credits

    • @failuretv814
      @failuretv814 Pƙed 3 lety

      @@melbanford5460 who?

    • @jackyoh971
      @jackyoh971 Pƙed 3 lety +10

      The revolution was more a urban thing...

  • @groberunfug1498
    @groberunfug1498 Pƙed 3 lety +10

    came from powerwolf \m/

  • @himanshukuanr7832
    @himanshukuanr7832 Pƙed 3 lety +5

    2:28 Gaston my boy..

  • @peanutentertainment
    @peanutentertainment Pƙed 3 lety +6

    Powerwolf brought me here

  • @nps86
    @nps86 Pƙed 3 lety +13

    I remember the Anthony Hopkins Wolfman movie where an old British guy hands Benicio del Toro a cane. He tells him, "I picked it up from a man in Gevaudan lifetimes ago-its heft is too much for me these days."
    Really wish that movie was better remembered 😕

  • @thodemar9051
    @thodemar9051 Pƙed 3 lety +5

    Powerwolf watches Extra Credits

  • @MajraMangetsu
    @MajraMangetsu Pƙed 3 lety +67

    4:49 So you need to tell me Journalists of the Hexagon simply did not change that much in 300 years ?
    Concerning....

    • @samdumaquis2033
      @samdumaquis2033 Pƙed 3 lety +1

      Spot on

    • @NateJensen1991
      @NateJensen1991 Pƙed 3 lety

      Journalists of the what now?

    • @MajraMangetsu
      @MajraMangetsu Pƙed 3 lety +6

      @@NateJensen1991 Some French (Myself included) describe the country like an Hexagon. Because the country look like an Hexagon.

    • @Mitaka.Kotsuka
      @Mitaka.Kotsuka Pƙed 3 lety

      press never changes, human nature never changes

    • @MajraMangetsu
      @MajraMangetsu Pƙed 3 lety

      @Major Gear Peaceful compare to what tho ? Death Penalty ? Because if yes, _Geez_ !!!

  • @RobbertHoek
    @RobbertHoek Pƙed 3 lety +10

    Im pretty sure that most of us are here after the recommendation of youtube after watching powerwolf on repeat

  • @TheXython
    @TheXython Pƙed 3 lety +24

    When an Extra History feels a bit like an Extra Mythology...

  • @AmberWrath
    @AmberWrath Pƙed 3 lety +9

    who's here to understand what the new powerwolf song is about?

    • @the_victorious_1
      @the_victorious_1 Pƙed 3 lety

      Me, I usually have to Google the songs to figure out the history.

  • @totalynotcatherine
    @totalynotcatherine Pƙed 3 lety +9

    "It took a week to find her head."
    Halloween episode for sure.

  • @3k413
    @3k413 Pƙed 3 lety +7

    Showed up on the main page after listening to Powerwolf...
    anyone else?

  • @varckk
    @varckk Pƙed 3 lety +4

    Am I the only one here because of that Powerwolf song?

  • @jeremy1860
    @jeremy1860 Pƙed 3 lety +10

    Even in relatively modern times, we still get stories like this. Here in the UK for instance, we have the Beast of Bodmin Moor, a supposed big cat that roamed the wilds in Cornwall back during the 1970s. Sightings were numerous, but nothing ever concluded what the creature was, which of course just fuelled the myth about it đŸ€”

  • @mijanhoque1740
    @mijanhoque1740 Pƙed 3 lety +13

    Heard this legend In Teen Wolf. They incorporated the beast into the werewolf lore which was an interesting take on it and visually it looked awesome

  • @mesektet5776
    @mesektet5776 Pƙed 3 lety +11

    â™Ș It's a beast he's got fangs, razor sharp ones. Massive paws, killer claws for the feast hear him roar, see him foam
    But we're not coming home 'til he's dead Good and dead
    Kill the Beast! â™Ș

  • @uscanspotting6953
    @uscanspotting6953 Pƙed 3 lety +22

    Brace yourself, Powerwolf fans are coming

  • @metalequine
    @metalequine Pƙed 3 lety +9

    Who else got recommended this due to Powerwolf?

  • @advitiyapathak8843
    @advitiyapathak8843 Pƙed 3 lety +18

    "The wolves did the killing but we made the monster"
    Hmm sounds familiar

  • @Empiricist14
    @Empiricist14 Pƙed 3 lety +5

    Powerwolf made a song about this ❀

  • @Lionstar16
    @Lionstar16 Pƙed 3 lety +14

    OMG, loved that you used Disney Beauty and the Beast in your drawings - my favourite Disney film of all time :)

  • @alienworm1999
    @alienworm1999 Pƙed 3 lety +26

    10:02 I need to know how much they paid you to say "military grade onion over-encryption technology" with a straight face

    • @abasdarhon
      @abasdarhon Pƙed 3 lety +3

      "Military grade onion"?! So THAT'S how tear gas is commercially produced!

    • @alisaurus4224
      @alisaurus4224 Pƙed 3 lety +1

      I learned from the Adam West Batman show that if you feed chickens nothing but onions, their eggs will be tear gas bombs

  • @SupremeLeaderKimJong-un
    @SupremeLeaderKimJong-un Pƙed 3 lety +91

    Oh no, not the baguettes! Protect them at all costs

  • @Drzizomosad
    @Drzizomosad Pƙed 3 lety +65

    The biggest motivation for France was when Britain mocked them 😂

  • @bluecup1129
    @bluecup1129 Pƙed 3 lety +44

    1764 French army: FACE US BEAST WHILE WE ARE STRONG AND YOU ARE WEAK
    Beast: *chomp* eh needs salt

  • @jacksonthomas1851
    @jacksonthomas1851 Pƙed 3 lety +7

    Who’s here after listening Powerwolfs new song?

  • @simonferriere9712
    @simonferriere9712 Pƙed 3 lety +12

    Powerwolf fans incoming...

  • @abbddos
    @abbddos Pƙed 3 lety +5

    This reminds me of a folk story in the Middle East about the milk man who was eaten by a Hayena. According to the story, the hayena was tok big, it swallowed the whole poor milk man.

  • @andreicristian7382
    @andreicristian7382 Pƙed 3 lety +5

    Who else is here from Powerwolf ?

  • @stevenchoza6391
    @stevenchoza6391 Pƙed 3 lety +18

    Truth can be so much more than fiction, including more terrifying.

  • @coreymajtyka460
    @coreymajtyka460 Pƙed 3 lety +5

    Love it, you should do the Maneater of Tsavo next time

  • @drageben145
    @drageben145 Pƙed 3 lety +4

    Anyone here after listening to the new powerwolf song

  • @malcolmcampbell3912
    @malcolmcampbell3912 Pƙed 3 lety +5

    7:00 in, artist seems to have drawn the musket upside down as we're seeing the thin ramrod with the thicker barrel visible at the end? Just amusing.

  • @Nelfhithion
    @Nelfhithion Pƙed 3 lety +3

    Gosh you have no idea how this legend is still strong in this region nowadays. Lot of my family is living around Mende and I think I have found a book about the beast in all the houses that I have visited.
    Pretty fun to see an external point of view of that myth

  • @Linkaden
    @Linkaden Pƙed 3 lety +4

    this was recommended after I listened to PowerWolf's new song of the same name.

  • @flappy_meal_3214
    @flappy_meal_3214 Pƙed 3 lety +15

    I’m pretty sure they based a movie called “brotherhood of the wolf” of of these events

    • @julienleynaud6898
      @julienleynaud6898 Pƙed 3 lety

      Yes you're absolutely right. As a french I remember my dad telling me about this story when I was a kid I found it fascinating, he showed me the movies years later.

    • @vincentmuyo
      @vincentmuyo Pƙed 3 lety

      Le pacte des loups, right. I liked that movie.

  • @BenK-dw7gc
    @BenK-dw7gc Pƙed 3 lety +1

    This is one of the best extra history singles ever. Well done👏👏

  • @kironiz6014
    @kironiz6014 Pƙed 3 lety +4

    Well Powerwolf just made a song about this so yeah....thats random I guess

    • @trenchrat5359
      @trenchrat5359 Pƙed 3 lety

      Everyone is talking about Powerwolf now

  • @edoardoprevelato6577
    @edoardoprevelato6577 Pƙed 3 lety +3

    Loved the Gaston cameo

  • @rubyfox5706
    @rubyfox5706 Pƙed 3 lety +4

    Powerwolf

  • @glennallen2605
    @glennallen2605 Pƙed 3 lety +3

    Hi! 53-y/o guy here. Loved your animation! Last Xmas I read "The Gevaudan Tragedy," by Karl-Hans Taake, who told the story in such a way that The Beast's identity was a lure thru-out his narrative. (Spoiler ahead!) As you said, The Beast attacked adults & kids just feet from their front doors (& in broad daylight!), often removing their heads. Taake plotted the # of attacks (by time of year, age of victim, etc.), & finally divulged that it was likely a young lion, but was ID'd by locals as a wolf. (I forget why this was.) This was b4 folks knew what exotic animals looked like. He deduced this by how it clung to ppl on horseback, how it could leap up, etc., & how it traveled distances to attack (another pack of lions did this in a well-known case). He said The Beast came from an area where carnivals traveled & where accidents often freed such animals, & said The Beast got the press, but there were many other similar attacks b4 The Beast but never got the attn. He expresses sympathy for the animal, saying it was in an alien land & territory, & says it was likely poisoned & died alone in some cave in a remote area (this was explained). Otr sources claim it was buried at Versailles, that it was stuffed but later rotted, was a hyena, etc. Wolves don't possess the jaw strength to bite thru neck bones, which eliminates them. Some kids attacked it & said they couldn't penetrate its tough hide (wolves don't have such a thick hide, the author says). He says that victims' skulls were often "shiny," indicating they'd been licked by sandpaper, typical of a lion's abrasive tongue. FYI, in any event.

  • @robertstone9150
    @robertstone9150 Pƙed 3 lety +1

    I've heard this story many times but I never thought extra credits would do one.

  • @LudicrousPlatypus
    @LudicrousPlatypus Pƙed 3 lety +27

    I would love to see an Extra History series on Jack the Ripper.

  • @fandemusique4693
    @fandemusique4693 Pƙed 3 lety +19

    Ah, i remember this, when i was 11, i had read this story, or at least a version of it in a book, it was weird, the version i had read had use the hyena version.
    This story is weird.

  • @Rawkwilder
    @Rawkwilder Pƙed 3 lety +2

    the wolf's in the area probably got displaced by the 7 years war and got used to humans and snacking on them.

  • @sirenfang1179
    @sirenfang1179 Pƙed 3 lety +2

    omg you pronounced gévaudan so well at the beginning that i genuinely thought i had clicked on a french video for a hot sec

  • @jav9132
    @jav9132 Pƙed 3 lety +12

    Trey the explainer fans: Hey I’ve seen this before
    Extra credits: What do you mean you’ve seen it it’s brand new

    • @tsunagwyn2328
      @tsunagwyn2328 Pƙed 3 lety

      Is a barn owl

    • @dasky17
      @dasky17 Pƙed 3 lety

      Bedtime Stories fans, too...but I like EC’s version, very well done!

    • @Tortferngatr
      @Tortferngatr Pƙed 3 lety +1

      Powerwolf fans: *constant and continuous headbanging*