James Baquet In June 1764, on a fine afternoon, a 14-year-old girl named Jeanne Boulet was out tending sheep in the rugged but peaceful Gevauden region of south-central France. There was nothing unusual in this. Shepherding was considered to be suitable work for children and women, as the rare predator — mostly wolves — could easily be turned away with sticks or a flying stone. But not this time. Jeanne’s body was later discovered mutilated by an animal attack, along with those of several of her flock. Jeanne was one of around 100 people — some reports place the figure at more like 300 — who fell victim to the “Beast of Gevauden” or simply “la bête” — “the Beast” — in a three-year period, from 1764 to 1767. Indeed, 100 wolves were also killed during that time in the region, though it is not known whether any was the Beast himself. So fatal were the attacks of the Beast that some doubted it was a normal wolf at all. Speculation ran from the supernatural (was it a werewolf?) to the oddly natural (perhaps a lion?) to the grimly human (was “the Beast” perhaps a serial killer?). In an early example of sensationalism, a local newspaper in 1763 built up the story to increase the paper’s circulation. The official response reached all the way up to King Louis XV, who first rewarded a group of boys who had successfully fought off the Beast with sticks (and gave one of the boys a free education) and later sent his own huntsmen to attempt to trap it. All failed, until in 1765 the King’s own bodyguard killed a large wolf and sent its carcass to Paris. The men were rewarded — but the Beast later struck again, as many as 30 more times. The official response tapered off as the public lost interest, leaving the locals on their own. At last, a local hunter killed a beast in June 1767, and the attacks ceased. The creature that he killed had unusual coloration, unlike any local wolf, which included red and gray. There is some speculation that it may have been of a different species of animal altogether, such as a hyena or even a juvenile male lion. We will never know for sure what the Beast actually was. Vocabulary: Which word above means: 1. distribution (of a newspaper) 2. young, not adult 3. damaged 4. half-man, half-wolf 5. dead body 6. decreased, became less 7. an animal who kills other animals 8. exaggeration, overstatement 9. guesswork 10. darkly, negatively | 