#Pourcher

[detournementsmineurs]

Exposition "Tierstein : Zoé Kiner-Wolff & Manon Pourcher" au Musée Henner dans le cadre de Parcours Bijoux, octobre 2023.

[dailyunsolvedmysteries-movedd]

Beast of Gévaudan

In the mid 18th century women and children were found torn apart, dismembered, or decapitated in the quiet French province of Gévaudan. These were the first of nearly a hundred attacks perpetrated by a mysterious animal dubbed as the Beast of Gévaudan.

From 1764 to 1767, in the historical region of Gévaudan, located in southern France, and in adjacent areas, about one hundred children, youths, and women were killed by a so-called “Beast”. Numerous other humans survived the attacks, many of them seriously injured. The series of attacks has been confirmed by a great variety of historical documents and is not called into question by scientists.

Historians claim that wolves, or a hybrid of a wolf and a domestic dog, had attacked the victims; the “hybrid-assumption” is based on the description of a canid, shot in June 1767, that was said to have strange morphological characteristics. However, a critical evaluation of historical texts, including the publications of the French abbots François Fabre and Pierre Pourcher, revealed that neither this animal, nor any other wolf killed in Gévaudan, had anything to do with the attacks of the Beast.

Descriptions of the time vary, and reports may have been greatly exaggerated due to public hysteria, but the Beast was generally described as a wolf-like canine with a tall, lean frame capable of taking great strides. It had an elongated head similar to that of a greyhound, with a flattened snout, pointed ears, and a wide mouth sitting atop a broad chest. The Beast’s tail was also said to have been notably longer than a wolf’s, with a tuft at the end. The Beast’s fur was described as tawny or russet in colour but its back was streaked with black and a white heart-shaped pattern was noted on its underbelly.

About 95 percent of the carnivore attacks on humans in Gévaudan during the years 1764 to 1767 can be attributed to that single animal that was referred to as la bête: The Beast. There is no doubt that the remaining attacks were executed by rabid and non-rabid wolves. Wolves were a common species at that time and therefore easily recognized by the rural population.

The Beast of Gévaudan committed its first recorded attack in the early summer of 1764. A young woman named Marie Jeanne Valet, who was tending cattle in the Mercoire forest near the town of Langogne in the eastern part of Gévaudan, saw the Beast come at her. However, the bulls in the herd charged the Beast, keeping it at bay. They then drove it off after it attacked a second time. Shortly afterwards the first official victim of the Beast was recorded: 14-year-old Janne Boulet was killed near the village of Les Hubacs near Langogne.

Throughout the remainder of 1764, more attacks were reported across the region. Very soon terror gripped the populace because the Beast was repeatedly preying on lone men, women, and children as they tended livestock in the forests around Gévaudan. Reports note that the Beast seemed only to target the victim’s head or neck regions.

On January 12, 1765, Jacques Portefaix and seven friends were attacked by the Beast. After several attacks, they drove it away by staying grouped together. The encounter eventually came to the attention of King Louis XV, who awarded 300 livres to Portefaix and another 350 livres to be shared among his companions. The livre was the currency of Kingdom of France and its predecessor state of West Francia from 781 to 1794. The king also directed that Portefaix be educated at the state’s expense. He then decreed that the French state would help find and kill the Beast.

The killing of the creature that eventually marked the end of the attacks is credited to a local hunter named Jean Chastel, who shot it at the slopes of Mont Mouchet, now called la Sogne d’Auvers, during a hunt organized by a local nobleman, the Marquis d’Apchier, on June 19, 1767.

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Beast of Gévaudan

In the mid 18th century women and children were found torn apart, dismembered, or decapitated in the quiet French province of Gévaudan. These were the first of nearly a hundred attacks perpetrated by a mysterious animal dubbed as the Beast of Gévaudan.

From 1764 to 1767, in the historical region of Gévaudan, located in southern France, and in adjacent areas, about one hundred children, youths, and women were killed by a so-called “Beast”. Numerous other humans survived the attacks, many of them seriously injured. The series of attacks has been confirmed by a great variety of historical documents and is not called into question by scientists.

Historians claim that wolves, or a hybrid of a wolf and a domestic dog, had attacked the victims; the “hybrid-assumption” is based on the description of a canid, shot in June 1767, that was said to have strange morphological characteristics. However, a critical evaluation of historical texts, including the publications of the French abbots François Fabre and Pierre Pourcher, revealed that neither this animal, nor any other wolf killed in Gévaudan, had anything to do with the attacks of the Beast.

Descriptions of the time vary, and reports may have been greatly exaggerated due to public hysteria, but the Beast was generally described as a wolf-like canine with a tall, lean frame capable of taking great strides. It had an elongated head similar to that of a greyhound, with a flattened snout, pointed ears, and a wide mouth sitting atop a broad chest. The Beast’s tail was also said to have been notably longer than a wolf’s, with a tuft at the end. The Beast’s fur was described as tawny or russet in colour but its back was streaked with black and a white heart-shaped pattern was noted on its underbelly.

About 95 percent of the carnivore attacks on humans in Gévaudan during the years 1764 to 1767 can be attributed to that single animal that was referred to as la bête: The Beast. There is no doubt that the remaining attacks were executed by rabid and non-rabid wolves. Wolves were a common species at that time and therefore easily recognized by the rural population.

The Beast of Gévaudan committed its first recorded attack in the early summer of 1764. A young woman named Marie Jeanne Valet, who was tending cattle in the Mercoire forest near the town of Langogne in the eastern part of Gévaudan, saw the Beast come at her. However, the bulls in the herd charged the Beast, keeping it at bay. They then drove it off after it attacked a second time. Shortly afterwards the first official victim of the Beast was recorded: 14-year-old Janne Boulet was killed near the village of Les Hubacs near Langogne.

Throughout the remainder of 1764, more attacks were reported across the region. Very soon terror gripped the populace because the Beast was repeatedly preying on lone men, women, and children as they tended livestock in the forests around Gévaudan. Reports note that the Beast seemed only to target the victim’s head or neck regions.

On January 12, 1765, Jacques Portefaix and seven friends were attacked by the Beast. After several attacks, they drove it away by staying grouped together. The encounter eventually came to the attention of King Louis XV, who awarded 300 livres to Portefaix and another 350 livres to be shared among his companions. The livre was the currency of Kingdom of France and its predecessor state of West Francia from 781 to 1794. The king also directed that Portefaix be educated at the state’s expense. He then decreed that the French state would help find and kill the Beast.

The killing of the creature that eventually marked the end of the attacks is credited to a local hunter named Jean Chastel, who shot it at the slopes of Mont Mouchet, now called la Sogne d’Auvers, during a hunt organized by a local nobleman, the Marquis d’Apchier, on June 19, 1767.

[labete-du-gevaudan]

Number 15? I just recently got the Larousse World Folklore Dictionary and the Monsters and Mythical Creatures by Heather Frigiola for Christmas and I absolutely adore them! I was also wondering if you had any book suggestions for any cryptid collectors out there

15. Do you have a favorite cryptozoology book?

Of course! I can certainly give you book suggestions. I love collecting cryptozoology books. My favorite one is The Beast of Gevaudan by Abbe Pierre Pourcher because it's about my special interest in cryptozoology. It's full of incredible records about the hunts and attacks during The Beast's reign of terror in France.

But as for other books? Of course I have to give a shout out to books written by my friends!

Check out Crawlers: A Conclusive Casebook by Nathaniel Brislin which is chock full of information about creatures like the Dover Demon and The Rake.

Tobias and Emily Wayland of The Singular Fortean Society have a few books out. One of my favorites is The Lake Michigan Mothman: High Strangeness in the Midwest which is one of Tobias' areas of expertise. He was even on TV as an expert in the Lake Michigan Mothman cases!

Adam Benedict of The Pine Barrens Institute has quite a few books as well! He specializes in collections of oddities and the supernatural from history. He has a book about cryptozoology called Monsters In Print: A Collection of Curious Creatures Known Mostly from Newspapers that's really interesting.

Otherwise, I do have a book tag that you can scroll through!

[melobaschet]

Nouvelle de Maria Pourcher

#marieclaire #illustration

[sweetdreamsjeff]

Jeff Buckley photographed by Denis Pourcher at Tivoli, Dublin January 14, 1995

[ananula]

Jeff Buckley photographed by Denis Pourcher at Tivoli, Dublin (January 14, 1995).

[herrlindemann]

Rammstein, Libro Music Hall, Vienna, 18.10.1997 / © Denis Pourcher

[endlich-allein]

Rammstein ❤️ (Vienna, Austria, 18-10-1997)

📸 credit to Denis Pourcher

[unsaltedsinner]

The story of the Beast of Gévaudan sounds like one of the more gruesome French fairytales, but according to a study from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research:

"The case has been documented by a range of authors including two abbots (Pourcher in 1889 and Fabré in 1901) and by historians de Bayac and de Beaufort (1987). These authors have examined a wide range of documents, including parish and church records, death certificates, official reports and private letters. Clarke (1971) has summarised the results in English. As a result this remains one of the best-documented historical episodes of wolf predation on humans.

It appears that the local population was familiar with rabid wolves attacking people, but from the outset of this episode it was clear that the wolves were not rabid, as the attacks persisted over a long period, and most of the victims were consumed. In addition, a number of people were bitten during attacks, but managed to drive the wolves away. None of these victims later died of rabies. If the wolves had been rabid it would have been inevitable that most of the victims would have gone on to develop rabies."

John D. C. Linnell et al. : The Fear of Wolves: A Review of Wolf Attacks on Humans (NINA 2002)

[dreamsister81]

📷 Denis Pourcher (thanks to lilac.js)

[detournementsmineurs]

Exposition "Tierstein : Zoé Kiner-Wolff & Manon Pourcher" au Musée Henner dans le cadre de Parcours Bijoux, octobre 2023.

[globalhappenings]

a record year despite the health crisis

a record year despite the health crisis

Victor Pourcher, edited by Solène Delinger 06:18, January 14, 2022 Toy industry professionals have unveiled their 2021 figures: more than 3.7 billion euros in turnover, a bar exceeded for the first time. However, the sector feared shortages of raw materials, transport problems and possible delays in the delivery of goods from abroad. Young and old were spoiled last year: a sigh of relief for all…

[antikorg]

Viol, bizutage et harcèlement moral à l'Issep, l'institut d'extrême droite de Marion Maréchal Lepen

Viol, bizutage et harcèlement moral à l’Issep, l’institut d’extrême droite de Marion Maréchal Lepen

2021-11-05 19:29:31 Source Une étudiante de 24 ans à l’Issep, après avoir subit un viol commis par un membre de l’ex Génération Identitaire, subit bizutages et harcèlements de la part de Thibaut Monnier, cofondateurs de l’institut, et de Victoria Pourcher, la directrice administrative de l’établissement. Tous deux sont d’anciens élus du Rassemblement national au niveau local ou régional. Deux…

[labete-du-gevaudan]

7, 15, 18 please ♡

7. Is there a cryptid that you're genuinely scared of?

I'm terrified of the Mongolian Death Worm. It's absolutely horrifying to think of. Giant fleshy red worm creature that can spit acid and discharge electricity? No thank you.

15. Do you have a favorite cryptozoology book?

Because of my hyperfixation for 10+ years on the Beast of Gevaudan, my favorite cryptozoology book is probably The Beast of Gevaudan by Abbe Pierre Pourcher. It's a huge book with so much history, detail and actual translated reports from the time of the events. It's definitely not an easy read. It's more of an actual textbook. But if you're interested in the events, it's incredible. I've transcribed some of the text from the book here if you're interested. (And damn, I've just seen that the posts are 7 years old. I've had this blog for a while.)

18. Do you believe in ghosts?

I do believe in ghosts. I've lived in several haunted houses and had a spirit or something pull my hair when I was a child. My mom has had dozens of ghostly encounters and she's caught a ghost on film a few times. One thing about my mom is that she never lies, so I definitely believe.

[creanavt]

photo|Denis Pourcher

Claude Dozorme

https://creanavt.tumblr.com/archive