An illustration from the book

Gévaudan Beast mask inspired by the film Le Pacte des loups

Here is an illustration from our book by co-author Gustavo Sánchez Romero. It depicts the mask of the Beast of the Gévaudan from the 2001 Christophe Gans film Le Pacte des loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf). 

Says Sánchez, “I drew this piece in pencil with water-soluble graphite, using a small, soft paintbrush for moistening certain areas. It took approximately nine hours. I used watercolor paper, 370 g/m2. Format A3. I choose to make this drawing mainly because in Gans’s film, we never get a good look at the Beast, a huge armored African carnivore (a lion or similar) trained to kill. The drawing is based on film images and scale models. I also drew the skull of the big cat with skin and hair, so readers could have a better understanding of the animal within the armor/mask.” 

You can find this drawing at the end of Chapter 20.

The end of 1766

A snowy ridge in the land of the Beast

A twelve-year-old boy was killed on September 12, 1766, in Paulhac, France, another on November 1. 

According to Pourcher, “Jean Pierre Ollier of La Soucheyre, aged about twelve years, was devoured . . . by La Bête Féroce, which is eating everybody, . . .”

The Beast then seemed to be on hiatus from November 2, 1766, until March 2, 1767, as far as records show. 

But then it returned for what would be a final killing spree.