Conspiracies & the Unknown: The Beast of Gévaudan

0:00Hi listeners, it's Vanessa. Are you the type to fall down an internet rabbit hole and not come up for hours? You'll love crimes of Reddit. A new crime house original with Sabrina, Diana, Roge, and Alexis Linklenter. Every week, one host brings real true crime stories from Reddit, while the other reacts completely blind. No prep, no spoilers, then they swab. It's the feeling of sending your group chat a Reddit 2am that starts with, you have to see this. For Sabrina and Alexis are in the chat with you, follow crimes of Reddit on Apple podcasts and Spotify, or subscribe at crimes of Reddit pod on YouTube. This is Crime House. For three years in 18th century France, something hunted people. It moved like a predator, killed like nothing anyone had seen, and left an entire region

1:00paralyzed with fear. Witnesses described it as wolf-like, but bigger, stranger, and somehow deliberate, nearly 100 people died before it was stopped. Or was it? Welcome to Crime House 24-7. I'm Vanessa Richardson. Twice a day every day we bring you the best, most timely and gripping cases from across the entire Crime House network, all in one place, right here. And every Wednesday is conspiracies and the unknown, where we dig into the conspiracies, cover-ups, and unexplained mysteries that defy easy answers. Now we're turning to the beast of Jebadan, the second of today's two mysteries. This case is one of history's most terrifying mysteries, and the questions it raises about what the beast actually was, are still unanswered. New zoological and historical research continues to challenge every official explanation, and no consensus has ever been held. This community exists because of listeners like you.

2:03Want even more? Join Crime House Plus for every episode of Crime House 24-7, Add Free. Not only that, but you'll get complete access to an exclusive limited series every month, and early Add Free access to all Crime House shows and bonus episodes. Go to CrimeHousePlus.com or on Apple Podcasts, tap Try Free at the top of the Crime House 24-7 page. Now Sabrina, Deanna, Roge, and Corinne, VN, take you deep into the blood-soaked forests of Jebadan to hunt the beast. Here's something you may not know. Only 14% of cancers in the U.S. are caught through routine screenings. Pre-new voes, whole body MRI may help close that gap. Screen for over 500 conditions, including most solid tumors, all in under an hour. Pre-new voes body panels also test over 80 biomarkers for a deeper understanding of your health, no radiation, no contrast. Book your scan at pre-newvo.com.

3:03That's P-R-E-N-U-V-O. Yamavatt Resort and Casino at Sandmanwell is bringing hip hop and R&B legends to the stage. Experience the Queen of Neo Soul, Erica Badu, September 28th. Catch Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Wutan, clan October 1st. And don't miss multi-grammy award-winning Nelly October 15th. Tickets on sale now at Yamavatt Theatre.com. Only at Yamavatt, now celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. 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.

4:04The 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. 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 a spotter. My dad is with me on the tube. My dad, Hillbilly from Northern New Hampshire, not afraid of anything. And then half of the year in the woods hunting. Like hard to shake, build the end.

5:07But 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. But 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 diameter? Sure. We're 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'm going to say it sends a wind to you. Sorry. When do you speak in centimeters? Actually, let's pivot to the metric system entirely. No, but it was like this large, it was like a cookie tin with. Yeah. For 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.

6:09But it wasn't going back and forth, like left to right, like a fish. It was going up and down. It was snake-like. Very, but snakes go back and forth. I guess. Okay. Very whale-like. Dolphin-like. Yeah. It was dolphin-like. And you could see like two or three of its humps as it was doing this. And my dad looks at me and he is like completely white. And he just whispers to me, don't let go. Which is horrifying. Or a fine. 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. And I'm 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. Like I'm cleaning Vermont. You come from Jersey Devil territory.

7:12I do come from Jersey Devil territory. And I have 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 J. Voudon was terrifying for many, many reasons. Detacked 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 J. Voudon as its hunting ground. Even the king's best men couldn't fly the beast. So for years, the beast killed them. He said, I'm going to tell you what you're going to do right now. You're going to hand me that gun. And I'm going to kill you. I'm going to murder your dad, and you're going to watch. What causes ordinary people to do unthinkable things?

8:13They found video of him killing women. He buried these 11 women and kept going out there. He made a road going out there. Story stranger and darker than fiction. You're trying to escape from some guys who had made a dream of an abacement. Survivors who refused to break. I was studying his faith, because I was thinking if I get out of it, I'm going to get you someday. From serial killers to catfishers, the minds of madness podcast covers unthinkable crimes, and the unbreakable people who survived them. Listen to new episodes every week, wherever you get your podcasts. 9-1-1. The sounds of nature surround John Chustow. 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 suburb morning

9:17in 1767. John 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 woods searching for this beast that has been absolutely terrorizing the people of Shavodon 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. Birds streaked with blood, bodies torn open, villagers living in fear. But today is different, because John 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. Then the air feels thicker, and John is overwhelmed, overwhelmed with the urge to run.

10:19Even his dogs start to whimper. Something is not right. The silence is unnerving as John 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? His stance is gramped, prepares his musket, and scans the dense woods. The only thing is, he doesn't know what he is looking for. No one seems to be able to agree on what this thing looks like, how big it is, whether it is one creature or maybe several. Some say it is wolf-like, others say dog-like, others say it is something wholly unnatural, enormous, misshapen. So John keeps his eyes peeled, doubt and fear, seeping into his mind. Then, a single snap of a twig. The sound splices through the silence like a blade, and John jerks his musket up to his shoulder, just as one of his dogs runs towards him, tail tucked and trembling.

11:22Behind the dog, hot on its heels, something emerges, an enormous, terrifying animal. It's almost like a wolf, but unbelievably and grotesquely large. And John is so close that he can see it's a glittering teeth, each one like a perfectly sharpened knife. And John knows instantly that this is the beast. The creature bounds closer and closer, closing the distance between itself and John, and then it abruptly skids to a halt. Its claws tearing into the earth. It turns, and it faces John head up. The beast fixes its yellow eyes on John. It slips curl back into a snarl, and it sizes John up, ready for its next meal. But John has been waiting for this moment. He swallows his fear, he aims his gun, and he fires. What happened next? Did John slay the beast? You'll find out soon.

12:25Until then, let's go back to the beginning. Back to 1764 in the 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 hurting 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.

13:28Oh, what happened on June 30th? Death and despair. So dark. Very. But it was dark what happened. That day, 14-year-old Jean-Blaire was shepherding her flock of sheep. She was back on her 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 was good. She was 14. So Jean is looking forward to getting home and just settling in for a rest. Well, I 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 flock. With their flock? With their flock for warmth. Oh. So they really were really like, slept with their sheep. Yeah. Oh my love, 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 hunkering down, maybe not sleeping with her sheep this night. But then somewhere far down the path, she sees something.

14:32And 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. 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. But it didn't matter. Yeah. And then 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.

15:32Her 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 popperants, 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 living in the town. Yeah, everyone heard about it.

16:34And 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. 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. Number 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.

17:35Yep. 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 girl's throat had been slashed or entrails devoured, but yet again there is no sign of this animal responsible. I hate the word entrails. It reminds me that we are humans. And like humans are animals. And then we're not just filled with jello and placed here by aliens. By aliens. Some aliens. And 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.

18:36The 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. Yeah. 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 plus 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.

19:36But 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 with a dog. 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 autopsy, 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.

20:38And by the end of these string of deaths, they gave it a name, the Beast. Etienne Lafond, 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. After 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.

21:41However, since that first terrible case in June, there have been many more lives lost to this mysterious, deadly creature. He overdoes in 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, for stating his wishes, that they assemble a group of men

22:42to kill the wolf. The Bishop stands, moving closer and says, no wolf leaves bodies like this. No. This beast is no creature of forest or field. Silence linkers 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. Ruh. 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.

23:44They 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. Mm-hmm. And before the beast could claim any more victims. Right. 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. But 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-lessed. 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 sort of like tinctures and

24:47homemade remedies. And I'm sure she helped a ton of people out in town. It's 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. 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, 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,

25:50two things changed. One, it was clear that the beast didn't just pray upon children. It would kill anyone that it could. Although I do have one question. Sure. What does she look like? 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 by 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. The 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. And money now.

26:50Yeah. 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, 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. So wow. 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 fairiesmith novel. Yes. What's the one we did read?

27:50Well, it's like, it's like the first book in Akatar. Oh, okay. Yes, I think I only read book one. Yeah, okay. But yeah, so this group of hunters for the trouble were given 18 Lebra, which at that time was nearly half a year's salary. Damn, I'd be motivated to do that. Right. So everyone got to live happily ever after, right? Woohoo. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. And sorry to the wolf who lost its life. Yeah. Because nine days later, another life is taken. And 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.

28:54So knowing the beast was still out there, more groups of local men gathered to come to countryside and search for 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. Yeah. Like groups of people went out to go find the beast during this time. But the beast was one step ahead of them. To search for a focused on one part of the woods, the beast would simply move to another part of the woods. The attack 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 out here. 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.

29:56And 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 of its fur coat, which also is another like supernatural beast. There were also rumors that even if someone did kill the beast, it would be resurrected from the dead and would come back even hungrier than the 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. 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 of pure evil could go anywhere. You may never conquer the beast in your lives are always at stake. I guess. And also, I feel like so many bogeyman stories are told to steer children straight in some

30:59way. 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. 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 get a little boy. January 12, 1765. The winter sun hangs low over the hill of Jaboodon as 10-year-old Jacques Portefet tends

32:03to his family's cattle. Today he's joined by seven other children, boys and girls between the ages of eight and twelve. And the 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 of that changes when Jacques sees it. 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, its 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.

33:05They 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, leaving the eight children on the hillside, terrified, breathless, but alive.

34:08That 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. I don't know more than seeing it. They are surrounding it. It's beneath them, probably like whimpering and cowering as they're hitting it with sticks. So on that day, Jacques Portofet and his friends scared the beast away and survived, which

35:10is amazing. They become these heroic children. These stories spread across Javodon, 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 that 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 or if Jacques is the only one. He was also the leader. You know, like he was giving instructions. He stepped up. He had that heroicism within him. Yeah. And he was saying, 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

36:12beast's capture. To 6,000 Leavera, 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 news vans before going to chase the tornadoes. And it's like, oh, who's going to get it? Oh, wow. That feels honestly. This feels like, remember, like the hands across America campaign?

37:13I 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 forward, until you find the beast easy, easy. If only we could go back and shine, I will capture those things. 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. 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 the beast. And with this media attention, rumors spread even more. People want 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

38:14successfully 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 goss, gnarling 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. 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. 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.

39:17No 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. We had brought with her a meach 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. It's a good idea no matter what. There are animals and humans and humans, scary things out there, even like a rabid raccoon. I need something. 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. She and her sisters started 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.

40:21And like Jacques before her, Marie Jean was treated like a hero for her bravery and she became so famous that her story and herself were being compared to modern day Joan of Arc. And there's actually a statue of her in modern day city of Overt. But like that as I know it does feel like such an action sequence to like they're by like babbling, like the stream and the waters rushing and she's got her little sister in this thing to sense on her. She's like as it's low motion. Yeah. Ninja moves. Good for you. The beast was still out there and it was still alive. Louis XV 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, 1765, someone did. Or he claimed to. The king's own gun bearer, his name is Francois Antoine, shot and killed an enormous wolf

41:24that he assumed to be the beast. The crown was more than willing to believe him. They've rewarded Francois 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 Francois' 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'm sure they tried everything. 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'd you choose them to be the bait?

42:25Well, 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 they attacked with stop, right? Because this guy is like, I killed him or like, great. Nope. It only took two months. And then the attacks begin again with the same intensity. And I love this detail because King Louis XI, despite the attacks continuing in the exact same way, he's like, no, no, no. No. The beast was killed. Right. 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 XI, he's like, no, no, 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?

43:27It's just their beast. It's hard to know. 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 100 people were killed by the beast. I tell you what, some people do go as far as like 300 victims. So it is. Oh, my God. 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.

44:31And it wouldn't be until June 19th, 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 autopsy at the noblemen's castle because once and for all, she've done this terrible creature that had been feeding on the community. It come to the ground. Everyone's like winner now.

45:33But this is where things got a little bit complicated. Because you would think, okay, they have the corpse now will 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. It's like along the way are severing off souvenirs for themselves. Just chop a little piece off. Every horse goes by. Literally. Everyone wanted a piece of the beast for themselves. So by the time, like literally people showed up to the castle with knives and were 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 autopsy where like something always goes wrong. And you find out it's a hoax or it's right.

46:35It's actually some other animal that someone's stitched 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 maybe escaped the noblemen's menagerie of exotic pets or an otherworldly creature. Regardless of what it was somehow Jean Chastel had finally done the impossible. He had killed the beast of Javoudon and finally the killings were over. For centuries, people had speculated about how Jean Chastel succeeded in killing the beast. Was it sheer luck? Was it something else? Was it something supernatural? Some retellings of the story suggest 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.

47:39And 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 seeing the black stripe on the back, red hair, black stripe. Not that we know of. Yeah. Oh man. I know. There are 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,

48:43The Wolf Man, which coincidentally came out only five years before silver bullets were connected to the beast of Javoudon. So all of this is, all this narrative is happening like the 1940s, but 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 was how you 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 to 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 flying or maybe even a hyena and exotic animal that somehow escaped captivity. Maybe even a prehistoric creature that managed to continue its bloodline. My champ. Like a champ.

49:44I'm also think that maybe there was a human serial killer in the area making it seem like his victims 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 had recently returned back to the Javodon region with a exotic animal around the time that the killings were 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.

50:45But 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. So you're a 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. And they're so scary. If you saw that, you'd be like, is it a wolf? Is it a dog? 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 onto what his son

51:45was doing. And that's why he's the only one who was able to defeat the beast. Because he just went out where it was sent to us and killed his pet. Yeah. Damn. But that's a conspiracy. We have no, we, there's no confirmation on that. Yeah. 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. Every year. Killing hundreds. Yeah. So whatever it was, Jean Chastel was definitively the person who finally saved the people of Shavudon 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?

52:46I, 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. That, yeah. I mean, I don't know. Ooh. Yeah. Oh man. So I think I would apply there too. You sent them a bit. So basically to the stay, the identity of the beast is basically a guessing game. But whatever it was, the bullet shot out of Jean-Chestel's gun ended the attacks for good. And now the beast of Javoudon is told like a scary story. Because sure that beast was killed for good. But there's no telling of someday another beast might return stronger, angerier and

53:47the hungerier than before. Dun dun dun dun dun dun. 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. It's a messed up relationship ant1 and his hyena. I like how you're totally buying into it. Yeah. I am. I'm in fact, 10 foil hat. Oh, it's the truth in my mind. Thanks for listening to this episode of Crime House 24-7. Be sure to come back tomorrow for Throwback Thursdays, where I reopen a case from before the age of DNA that's gone unsolved for generations. And to enhance your listening experience, join Crime House Plus and get every episode of Crime House 24-7 completely ad-free. Along with early ad-free access to all Crime House shows, plus monthly bonus episodes. To join, go to Crime House Plus dot com.

54:48Or if you listen on Apple podcasts, tap Try Free at the top of the Crime House 24-7 page. The moment a body is found, the clock starts ticking. 48 hours. That's how long detectives have before the trail begins to go cold. From A&E and Crime House, this is the official podcast from the famous True Crime series, The First 48. On the right-hand side, the critical window, the interrogations, the dead ends, and the breakthroughs that crack a case wide open. On Carter Roy, each week I revisit a landmark homicide investigation with a depth you know and immersive long form storytelling built for your ears. Real detectives. Real cases. Real stakes. This is The First 48. New episodes every Thursday. Come to and follow The First 48 on Apple podcasts. Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

55:57High listeners, it's Vanessa. Are you the type to fall down an internet rabbit hole and not come up for hours? You'll love crimes of Reddit. A new Crime House original with Sabrina Deanna Roga and Alexis Linklender. Every week, One Host brings real true crime stories from Reddit while the other reacts completely blind. No prep, no spoilers, then they swab. It's the feeling of sending your group chat a Reddit 2am that starts with You Have to See This. Except Sabrina and Alexis are in the chat with you. Follow Crimes of Reddit on Apple podcasts and Spotify, or subscribe at Crimes of Reddit pod on YouTube.