The next deadly attacks

Ancient doorway in the Gévaudan region

This week we observe the 250th anniversary of the passing of two young women of rural France owing to the predations of the Beast. 

On August 8, 1764, in the hamlet of Masmajean in the Gévaudan, a 15-year-old girl -- usually referred to as the animal's second official victim -- met her end. 

French historian Jean-Marc Moriceau notes another tragedy -- not mentioned in many other accounts -- occurring two days earlier, on August 6, 1764,  in the community of Cellier (also in the Gévaudan north of Masmajean and six-plus miles from the first official attack of June 30 in Auvergne). 

Marie-Anne Hébrard was "surprised, strangled, and devoured," says Moriceau, who then quotes French sources, by a "ferocious beast that is established here and has been roaming in the country for a few months."*

*Moriceau, La Bête du Gévaudan (Paris: Larousse, 2009).