What do we think of the Beast of Gevaudan, /his/?
Hyena? Human serial killer? lion? trained dog? Just a big wolf?
some ugly ass dog
>>764151
Looks like a Amphicyonidae, a.k.a. bear dog.
Some documentary claimed it was an escaped hyena from a private zoo.
>>764596
I'm partial to the hyena theory, myself. People in rural France knew what wolves looked like, and they said it wasn't a wolf, but wolf-like. A hyena might certainly be described by uneducated peasants as some sort of demonic wolf. Not to mention she was supposed to have laughed (though that might just be story embellishment) and went for the head rather than the throat, like a wolf would.
The answer is always Wendigo
>>764605
I can believe it.
>>764654
Filthy Indian pls go.
France doesn't believe in such horseshit.
>>764151
The /x/in me says spoopy creature.
The rational side says several man eating wolves in the area being blamed on one creature. In Europe at the time wolves killed a lot of people,.
Talking about this thing always makes me remember the movie made about it, "Brotherhood of the Wolf." It looked cool as shit but I never got around to seeing it. Was it any good?
>>764795
Maybe it's just me also wanting to believe in said spoopy creature, but I wouldn't be so quick to blame it on wolves.
French peasants would have known wolves, since they were pretty much the bane of any farmer's existence. Most of the witnesses were pretty insistent that it was NOT a wolf, and more than that, they tended to give fairly consistent descriptions of the thing.
Certainly, she might not have killed near as many people as she's credited with, and a lot of wolf attacks, unrelated disappearances, or maybe even human murders might have been blamed on her, but I think at the least there was probably something more than a run of the mill wolf stalking the French countryside.
>>764804
I liked it a lot. It's a weird movie that tries to be like six different genres, but I found it enjoyable. Nice atmosphere, nice suspense, nice action.
I'll always remember that movie because the first time I saw it, the subtitles wouldn't work, so I had to watch the whole thing in French (which I don't speak a lick of).
>>764813
I understand French!
>>764586
>the beast just turns out to be one of the few bear dogs around
>stalks the French side for a bit
>does a few killings
>ends up getting blamed for much more
>gets killed at the end of it all
Wasn't Paris under siege by a horde of starving wolves one winter in medieval times?
>>764844
Being a dying species is suffering.
>>764151
Collective hysteria linking unrelated accidents
>>764846
Yeah.
IIRC it ended with some epic battle in the square where the head of the pack was finally slain right before Notre Dame.
Some epic poem shit.
>>764886
>some epic battle in the square where the head of the pack was finally slain right before Notre Dame
pics or it didn't happen
>>764968
Well all I have is a wikipedia article and I don't doubt that the French made it seem way cooler in retrospect than it actually was, but I prefer this version to the probably boring real one.
>>764886
I'm reminded of that one scene from Princess Mononoke now.
Any other strange animal stories from history?
>>764982
I've always been pretty interested in the Jersey shore shark attacks of 1916. It's not really 'strange', but it's really interesting as far as the effects it had on contemporary society, and it's always fun to speculate what kind of shark (or sharks) was responsible. Plus three of the attacks happened in a creek, which is rare.
>>764982
Tsavo man killers developed a taste for Indian food.
>>764992
>>Shark attacks in a creek
Definitely a Bull Shark, pretty much the only shark that can survive in fresh water and be big enough to kill people.
They've been found as far as 100 miles up the Mississippi.
>>764659
That image right there is VERY convincing that this might be a hyena because it has spots and its hips are depicted as being lower than its shoulders. But the tail is really long for this to be a hyena. And how would a hyena survive in the French mountains in winter?
>>765021
That tends to be people's (including mine) first assumption, naturally, BUT the creek in question (Matawan creek) is a tidal inlet which is brackish, and at times even more saltwater than fresh. A few days after the attacks, a juvenile great white shark was caught in the bay into which the creek fed with human flesh in its belly. Not to mention it was almost exactly the size of the creek shark as estimated by witnesses.
I tend to pin all of the Jersey attacks on a single white shark.
>>765031
Are hyenas strictly tropical creatures? I know there was such thing as a European hyena once.
As for the tail, I suppose that could be accounted for by inaccurate witness recollection.
It was a little big to be a hyena, though.
>>764886
I like to think it was some LOTR tier shit
>>765031
Medieval art of animals was hardly accurate to zoology. Pic related is supposed to be a Pelican.
>>765039
Hyenas are pretty big but I think the only varieties around now are African and live in warm plains.
>>765076
That's halfway to a decent metal album cover
>>765076
Did they think pelicans were habitual cannibals or what?
>>765096
It was more that for whatever reason, Pelicans became a symbol of Jesus' sacrifice and love for mankind because according to medieval scholars, mother Pelicans unable to feed their chicks would cut open their breasts so the chicks could feed on the mother's blood for nourishment.
They also believed peacock meat was fireproof and immune to decay. Not sure how much was them being artistic or not.
>>765109
Wow, that's retarded.
>>765169
Durrr people were dumb back den durrr
Fuck off in 500 years were going to be called a pack of gibbering morons for not realizing Whales had advanced under water cities.
>>765213
That's the most absurd thing I ever heard of.
Advanced underwater cities?
Are you retarded?
Seriously, don't even bother mentioning it again because it's so ridiculous
Fucking whales somehow building the most glorious & ancient civilization untouched by filthy humans
Absurd
>>765222
t. whale doing damage control
>>765222
>abovewaterposter pls go
>>764151
>Just a big wolf?
probably just a bunch of biggish wolves. wolf attacks were a normal thing for ages in Europe, Gevaudan is only well known because it was made such a massive deal of by France, the King got interested and they spent so much money and time and manpower on it
>>765213
>tfw whales rise up and kill us all
it was a huge dog-wolf, might have been trained... and killed by its owner
>>765076
The story take place at the ending of 18th Century. At the ending of Modern Age. Nothing to do with Medieval times.
>>764151
it was the last surviving Ice age Hyena, living in the isolated pockets of Europe until civilization encroached on its land. All of his ancestors had been hunted to extinction. It saw as piece by piece this once most feeble of species overtook the food chain. hunted his ancestors for their meat and their skins. They were ruthless, and once life became comfortable for them they hunted for sport. Their females ate their meat, and wore skins of animals slaughtered for beauty, not caring about the suffering of other species. It was as if all other living creatures belonged under the feet of these cruel beings- who had reversed the order of things and usurped power from the natural world. This single, lone hyena knew he was destined for extinction- but he would let his his species go quietly into the night...
>TLDR: It was the ultimate beta-uprising
>you will never fight in an epic struggle of Man vs Nature with your French bros
>>764151
Better French mystery question: Who the fuck was the Man in the Iron Mask?
>>765222
Whale Internet Defense Force pls.
>>764151
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wolf_attacks#1700s
Okay what the fuck: why were wolves so rampant with their killings back then? This shit reads like a horror story. Were wolves just much more abundant in previous times?
Pretty sure it was a bunch of Jews who did similar things in the Jura mountains, seeing that most victims were Christian children.
>>767689
>Were wolves just much more abundant in previous times?
Yes
>>767689
>Were wolves just much more abundant
Are you fucking trolling or something? Wolves are pretty much exterminated in Western Europe now.
>>767704
France at the time was primarily Catholic and an 8 year old girl is easier for a wolf or wolf-like animal to kill than a 30 year old man.
Jews have nothing to do with it.
>>767704
This is getting ridiculous.
Blaming the Jews for the Bolshevik revolution or some assassination is one thing, but blaming them for the depredations of a hungry wolf is bordering on self-parody.
>>767689
European wolves are fucking vicious
American wolves are chill
Back in the 90's they tried introducing european wolves to the american wilderness and the niggers immediately attacked livestock, killed other wolves for fun, and accosted people.
>>768383
Good goy
It was all the big bad wolfie
>>768401
An explanation I've heard offered for this is that wolves were hunted by all peoples they came into contact with in America, both by Indians and later colonial settlers, so they built up a fear of man. In Europe, wolf-hunting was basically a sport reserved for the nobility, so they never grew afraid of people.
>>768405
>people literally saw the beast kill people with their own eyes
Jews confirmed shapeshifters.
>>768416
>kekekek
>I'll give you goyim an extra shekel if you don't tell anyone about our...feeding habits
GTFO schlomo
>>767738
>the shittier the country, the more wolves it has
This might be an interesting metric to evaluate the world.
>>768630
>Finland and northern Italy are shit
>>764804
Kungfu Cherokee vs wushu Romani, using a shitty ork-armoured CGI lion.
Don't watch it sober.
>>764846
>>767689
Euro wolves were monsters of myth and folklore for a reason. Bigger, meaner, and fully accepting humans as prey unlike the ones in America.
Fun fact: There are plenty of written records of the native Powhatan and the Virginia company on the subject of wolves. The English would hunt them down shoot them on sight, while the natives couldn't understand why they were after wolves when mountain lions are the real danger.
Obviously, we killed most of both anyways.
>>765039
Grass and scrublands.
>>764846
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolves_of_Paris
>>768630
Northern Italy is the best region in Europe.
>>764151
Lion obviously. Trained, armoured lion.
>>764605
>>764659
As I understand it, the best is supposed to be female according to legend? That rules out Hyena in my opinion, as female hyenas sport extremely large clitorises that look almost indistinguishable from a male hyena's penis, even to trained zoologists. I doubt a layman french peasant would be able to tell the difference.
>>767689
You seem kinda ignorant dude. Fuck the fairy tales alone should inform you that yes, wolves have been a huge problem for humans in the past to the point thay children needed to be warned about them above and beyond any other animal
>>770700
>children needed to be warned about them above and beyond any other animal
With the exception of the Jew.
>>767738
Makes me sad.
I get that it wasn't just people killing wolves for shits and giggles, and farmers had to protect their livelihood and whatnot, but still, wolves are beautiful.
>>767738
I think this is an old map. We wolves permanently in Germany again.
>>770984
Seem like I was right.
>>770984
Do they like to eat kebab?
>>771025
Look at the map /pol/lack. They obviously keep away from bigger cities.
>>770790
Oy vey
>>765092
kek
>>764151
Just you regular everyday frenchman
>>770984
>>767738
I live in the Netherlands and last year everyone was shitting themselves because one curious wolf had crossed the border and was exploring some industrial district.
Wolves are slowly returning in Western Europe, and that is pretty controversial. On one side you have the environmentalists and biologists who think that the wolf is a great addition to our ecosystem, and on the other side you have farmers afraid for their cattle and mothers afraid of their children.
