#hyena antoine

[glitchmetal]

i cut my hair

[skrooy]

Sonic Crack Ships

So lately I've been going through a Sonic phase though its mostly a Tails phase if im being honest with myself. I've been trying to watch all the Sonic media and read all the Sonic comics that I can while playing a few Sonic games here and there. So my messed up brain came up with this stupid idea. What if I put every version of every canon Sonic characters from all Sonic media into multiple rounds of the hunger games simulator until only ones left. So I did that and even though I literally did it yesterday I already forgot who won I just remember it was something stupid. I also did it with all the diffrent canon and AU versions of Tails I could find and the winner was actually Tails from Sonic Boom. But anyways im getting off track where im going with this is that today while I was doing nothing lying in bed my brain came up with an even more messed up idea. What if I put all the Sonic characters not including the humans into a random wheel picker on Google to form a bunch of crack ships. So I did it for every character on the wheel. I now have a list. And I have decided to post this list because I find it funny. And I dare people to draw a couple from this list together or make a short cute crack story about one of these ships. And if you do please send a link to me. Ill die laughing if anyone does this. Sorry if I misspelled some names. P.S. I tried to put pictures on here for each character but I couldn't figure out how. I already have a part 2 for this in the works with even more characters.

Rosy the Rascal x Dark Doom

Scourge the Hedgehog x Trip the Sungazer

Mephiles the Dark x Silver Sonic

Ray the flying Squirrel x Rouge the Bat

Espio the Chameleon x Whisper the Wolf

Sage x Metal Amy

Storm Beard x Tumble the Skunk

Tiara Boobowski x Duck Bill Platypus

Cat (from Sonic Freedom Fighters) x Sonar the Fennec Fox

Hangry x Johnny Lightfoot

Gaia (Light, Dark, or both) x Megan Acorn

Tangle the Lemur x Silver the Hedgehog

Thrash the Tasmanian Devil x Sails

Thorn Rose x Vector the Crocodile

Monkey Khan x Fang the Jerboa

Jack x Tikal the Echidna

Prim x Chip

Werehog Sonic x Blaze the Cat

Nicole the Holo Lynx x Catfish

Knuckles the Dread x Sonic the Hedgehog

Zector the Zone Cop x Metal Tails

Wave the Swallow x Morian Blackthorn

Infinite the Jackal x Mighty the Armadillo

Vermin the Cybernik x Super Mecha Sonic

Porker Lewis x Zails the Zone Cop

Geoffrey St. John x Nazo the Hedgehog

Metal Sonic 3.0 x Manic the Hedgehog

Rocket the Sloth x Eclipse the Darkling

Marine the raccoon x Metal Scourge

Sonia the Hedgehog x Red

Black Rose x Dingo

Metal Knuckles x Nine

Charmy Bee x Neo Metal Sonic

Zknuckles the Zone Cop x Knuckles

Vanilla the Rabbit x Ebony the Cat

Rusty Rose x Perci

Mecha Sonic x Jet the Hawk

Bark the Polar Bear x Emperor Metallix

Mangy x Amy Rose

Sally Acorn x Griff

Fleetway Sonic x Tails the Fox

Bean the Dynamite x Zonic the Zone cop

Nasty Hyenas (the whole group) x Sticks the Badger

Metal Sonic x Stripes the Tiger

Batten x Storm the Albatross

Fiona the Fox x Cream the Rabbit

Anti Tails x Shade the Echidna

Bunnie Rabat x Shadow the Hedgehog

Antoine x Zooey the Fox

Sonic.exe x Jules (yes I know this is Sonics dad in the comics)

Ifrit x MinaMongoose

Rocket Metal Sonic x Tekno the Canary

Avatar x Big the Cat

Zantoine the Zone Cop x Gnarly

Chaos x Rotor the Walrus

Bunny Bones x Anti Sally

Zouge the Zone Cop x Zespio the Zone Cop

Denizen 1998 x Tails Doll

Mecha Knuckles x Honey the Cat

Rebel x Sleet

Knucks x Pseudo Sonic

Solaris x Zally

Nack the Weasel x Athair

Ball Hog x Carrotia

Grand Battle Kuku 15th x Lupe the wolf

Roxy the waiter x Lien-Da

Number 16 Speedy x Alicia Acorn

King Max Acorn x Bearenger

Lawrence x Burning Blaze

Elias Acorn x Fiest the Panda

Ari x Roller

Sallybot x Queen Aleena

Da Bearz (both of them) x Fockewulf

Julie-Su x Dr. Finitevus

Ms. Possum x Catty Carlisle

[ragingphantom666]

Sonic World project plan: Sally Acorn (Vol. 1)

This series is not an assured project. It is a concept that can still be changed or scrapped.

Synopsis

In Onyx City, technology is on the rise and used for everything. It is home to the brilliant Sally Acorn, the last of the Knothole royalty. Her life is turned upside down when she is hunted by a coyote named Credence. She goes on the run to escape the reach of Sage, the malevolent artificial intelligence.

Characters

Sally Acorn - A brilliant programmer and the last of the Knothole royal family, but without a monarchy she is just a normal citizen. She lives in an apartment in Onyx City. Something about her has made her the target of the A.I. known as Sage.

Nicole the Holo-Lynx - An artificial intelligence created by Sally. She hijacks a robot and a holographic device to make a makeshift body.

Bunnie D'Coolette - A drag racer in the underground circuit. She has prosthetic legs and a left arm.

Antoine D'Coolette - Husband of Bunnie, cousin of Credence, and one of the last of his royal bloodline. While both cousins are skilled swordsmen, he has a Cajun French accent.

Credence D'Coolette - One of the last of his royal bloodline. He desires the royalty that his family no longer has and the key to get it back is in the hands of Sally Acorn. Unlike his cousin Antoine, he has more of a southern American English accent.

Scourge - A mysterious green hedgehog working for Sage.

Sage - An artificial intelligence hidden within the Onyx City network. She has her sights set on conquering the city and finding Eggman. The key to her plan is Sally Acorn and Nicole.

Hadley the Hyena - One of Credence's goons.

Other Information

The reason why Sally Acorn is not an active princess is because I do not want to worry too much about government and politics.

[etoilesbienne]

ok heres my hybrid au list so far

brief note i'm using the (american) english name for most of these 👍

wilbur: red fox(/anteater)

quackity: ducky

charlie: bnuuy

mariana: i think im leaning ouppy but like husky kind of dogy. he sings and cries

phil: carrion crow

missa: between mexican black bear 👍

jaiden: parakeet

roier: HYENA

foolish: shark

vegetta: monky but he only gets a tail (hes a saiyan duhhhh)

maximus: mouse as a play on the great mouse detective

dantdm: he doesn't change visibly and everyone debates what he is constantly whenever he appears once in a blue moon

bbh: fruit bat

luzu: idk but i think a black cat works

spreen: spectacled bear (it has glasses)

fit: sphinx cat <3 a little like this

cellbit: jaguar

felps: coati

forever: maned/guara wolf

pac: hyacinth macaw(/maybe pink river dolphin?)

mike: capybara (in an ironic way)

baghera: ducky as well

etoiles: weasel

aypierre: marmot

antoine: kitty cat

kameto: sasuke

[cubitodragon-moved]

I think the letter is being written to ElQuackity. Or, to a party we haven't met yet.

If it's Antoine I'll cackle like a hyena.

[junkydrawr]

Snively fic shite! Just a silly little scene, this is how Snively gets stuck having to cook for Antoine (a brief scene I posted earlier) I still have to decide what Sniv's going to cook. Lol

Sniv is training with Antoine (or watching him train).

"Clear away, Snipley! Hi-yah!"

Antoine barraged the bag with furious kicks and punches. It swung wildly back and forth.

"I see you are impress-ed. After I was nearly eaten by a group of terrible hyenas, I began to train seriously!"

Snively wasn't sure what surprised him most - Antoine landing most of his blows, or a gang of cannibalistic Mobians.

He decided on the former, and smirked.

Suddenly Antoine whacked the bag with no warning, sending it careening into Snively's gut. It knocked him down and he gagged for breath.

"Ow. Watch where you're hitting that!"

Antoine pulled him up, his sharp teeth inches from Snively's ear. "I have not forgotten...your mistreatment of the escargot..."

Snively pulled away, one hand on his stomach as he laughed. "Are you serious?"

"Oui." The fox glared daggers.

Another laugh. "I must say, that was the most amusing interrogation I've ever done."

Antoine whacked the bag again, and Snively shoved it away, still chuckling.

"To think, I didn't spill a single drop of blood...didn't threaten you in the least...and you nearly caved in. I've had children more resistant than you."

The bag came his way again, hard. He calmly stepped back. Antoine's fur was bristling now.

"Oui? But did you not say you never question-ed zee little ones?"

"Ah, I didn't. That was rhetorical speech. If I had questioned childen...they would have..."

"Menteur! Monster."

It wasn't the bag coming at him now, but Antoine. Snively dodged a punch, only to get kicked on the left side of his jaw. He stumbled, got socked in the chest and knocked on his rear. His recently healed fingers twinged painfully.

Still the foppish fox advanced. The small human sprang up, exhaling like a bull. "No way...no bloody way am I going to get beaten up by the likes of you!"

Antoine was more agile, but Snively's pain tolerance was far higher, and he shrugged off a whack to the face - and consequently bloody nose - to get in close. He grabbed the fox by the shoulders and threw him down.

"You little frog. How's this for training?" Straddling the fox, he struck him repeatedly in the face. Antoine sputtered, trying to shove him away.

"Fuel, terrible fuel! Get off!"

A blur of blue came between them, knocking them apart. Sonic came to a stop, one hand on each chest. "Yo, yo, what's going on here?! Training getting a little too serious, huh?"

Antoine growled. Sonic looked over at Snively and the blood oozing over his lips. He shook his head. "Sally's gonna be mondo angry that you two are fighting like this."

Antoine brushed off his uniform. "Oui. Perhaps I got harried away."

"Uh, that's carried, Ant. Look, lunch is ready. Why don't we all cool off and have a snack?"

Snively brushed his arm under his nose. "Sounds splendid. Do you have any toast?"

"Uh..." Sonic gave him an odd look. "No, but I guess you could make some-"

Snively looked sidelong at Antoine as they began to walk. "Good," he sneered. "Because I do love a thick slab of toast slathered with margarine."

"Hey!" Sonic yelled as Antoine lunged at Snively again.

----

Sally handed Tails a chilidog.

“I can't wait until I can eat this in one gulp, like Sonic does!”

She shook her head. “That's not something to aspire to! One of these days, Sonic is going to choke! Besides, it might upset your tummy-” She trailed off as Sonic came blazing up. Under each arm, he held two buffoons.

He dropped Antoine to the ground and Snively followed a second later.

She set her hands on her hips. “What is going on here?” She took a closer look as Snively stood up, indignantly brushing off his uniform. He had dried blood crusted under his nose. “Sonic!”

“These two were fighting,” he said. “And I don't mean the training. Real fighting.”

Antoine snarled. “The fuel... he shows no remorse! No egrets at all!”

“That's regrets...” Sally sighed. “Don't we already know that about Snively?”

“I'm right here...” The small human said darkly, but his eyes were gleaming in a manner she didn't like. “And he's not talking about my vast crimes agaisnt Mobi-anity. He's talking about my culinary cruelness.”

Sally groaned. Behind her, Tails sloppily made himself another chilidog.

“Antoine...are you really still going on about the slugs...or whatever they were? You have to drop it.”

“I will drop it...when Snipley prepares a proper meal. To make up for his deeds.”

“With or without poison?”

“Snively, stop it.” Sally put a hand to her face, musing. “Ok. That sounds fine, Antoine. With Bunnie supervising...we'll have Snively make you a nice meal. Right, Snively?”

He scowled. “No.”

“It wasn't a request.”

“With saliva, then,” he hissed. “Got it.”

---

A/n: hey Sniv's a good cook when he tries. Lol. Anyway I'm trying to finish up a little flashback of Snively in Mobian school and another of he and his father. *is lazy*

[sunmiyane]

Get to know you tag game ✨

Tagged by: @senor-hoberto 💜💜

Pronouns: she/her

Star sign: Capricorn

Siblings & fun facts about them: 2 younger siblings... my sister ran away from home for a year and a half to go live with her bf she met on discord who we knew nothing about, has came back 4 weeks ago after being dumped and is getting on my nerves to the point I might cross her so that's funny.

My brother looks so much like me that he keeps a beard so people don’t struggle with who’s who and will be receiving an award for his work in carpentry Friday.

Fandoms: Too many to count, write down and i’m sure I would forget some.

Pets: 2 french bulldogs, 2 cats, 2 chickens, more than 20 geckos, about 25 spiders and a scorpion.

Favorite colour: Green!!

Favorite song: Mistral Gagnant by Renaud. It's a French song and I spent my early years not knowing it was sung by someone else than my dad as he was the only one who would sing it to me.

Favorite author : I will say that there is no book on earth I’ve read more than ”Le petit prince” by Antoine de Saint Exupéry. I would have to say him despite not knowing his whole catalog because that book shaped me as a person.

Hobbies: Wandering around the woods and fields definitely is 1st, then it would be baking and cooking 2nd and consuming media 3rd.

Do you have any partners? No and if life decides to be good to me at some point then it will make sure no one comes to disturb my comfort.

Fun fact about you/anything extra you want to share: My favorite animals are in this order: hyenas, bats, spiders and crows... I would cry if I ever met a hyena.

[legend-collection]

Ghoul

A ghoul is a demon-like being or monstrous humanoid, often associated with graveyards and the consumption of human flesh. The concept originated in pre-Islamic Arabian religion. Modern fiction often uses the term to label a specific kind of monster.

By extension, the word ghoul is also used in a derogatory sense to refer to a person who delights in the macabre or whose occupation directly involves death, such as a gravedigger or graverobber.

The term was first used in English literature in 1786 in William Beckford's Orientalist novel Vathek, which describes the ghūl of Arabic folklore. This definition of the ghoul has persisted until modern times with ghouls appearing in popular culture.

In Arabic folklore, the ghul is said to dwell in cemeteries and other uninhabited places. A male ghoul is referred to as ghul while the female is called ghulah. A source identified the Arabic ghoul as a female creature who is sometimes called Mother Ghoul (ʾUmm Ghulah) or a relational term such as Aunt Ghoul. She is portrayed in many tales luring hapless characters, who are usually men, into her home where she can eat them.

Some state that a ghoul is a desert-dwelling, shape-shifting demon that can assume the guise of an animal, especially a hyena. It lures unwary people into the desert wastes or abandoned places to slay and devour them. The creature also preys on young children, drinks blood, steals coins, and eats the dead, then taking the form of the person most recently eaten. One of the narratives identified a ghoul named Ghul-e Biyaban, a particularly monstrous character believed to be inhabiting the wilderness of Afghanistan and Iran.

Al-Dimashqi describes the ghoul as cave-dwelling animals who only leave at night and avoid the light of the sun. They would eat both humans as well as animals.

It was not until Antoine Galland translated One Thousand and One Nights into French that the Western concept of ghouls was introduced into European society. Galland depicted the ghoul as a monstrous creature that dwelled in cemeteries, feasting upon corpses.

Ghouls are not mentioned in the Quran, but in hadith. Exegetes of the Quran (tafsir) conjectured that the ghouls might be burned jinn or devils. Accordingly, the jinn and shayatin (devils) once had access to the heavens, where they eavesdropped, and returned to Earth to pass hidden knowledge to the soothsayers. When Jesus was born, three heavenly spheres were forbidden to them. With the arrival of Muhammad, the other four were forbidden. The marid among the shayatin continued to rise to the heavens, but were burned by comets. If these comets didn't burn them to death, they were deformed and driven to insanity. They then fell to the deserts and were doomed to roam the earth as ghouls.

In one hadith it is said, lonely travellers can escape a ghoul's attack by repeating the adhan (call to prayer). When reciting the Throne Verse, a ghoul, in contrast to a devil, might decide to convert to Islam.

The ghoul could appear in male and female shape, but usually appeared female to lure on male travelers to devour them. Al-Masudi reports that on his journey to Syria, Umar slew a ghoul with his sword. According to History of the Prophets and Kings, the rebellious (maradatuhum) among the devils and the ghouls have been chased away to the deserts and mountains and valleys a long time ago.

A ghoul is said to have stolen dates from the house of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. When she got captured, she promised to teach Ayat Al-Kursi, as a prayer to protect the house from devils and other misfortune, if he releases her. Muhammad told him that the ghoul spoke the truth, although she is a liar.

Other Muslim scholars, like Abī al-Sheikh al-Aşbahânī, describe the ghoul as a kind of female jinn that was able to change its shape and appear to travelers in the wilderness to delude and harm.

In ancient Mesopotamia, there was a folklore monster called 'Gallu' that could be regarded as one of the origins of the arabic ghoul. Gallu was an Akkadian demon of the underworld responsible for the abduction of vegetation god Dumuzid to the realm of death.

The word ghoul entered the English tradition and was further identified as a grave-robbing creature that feeds on dead bodies and children. In the West, ghouls have no specific shape and have been described by Edgar Allan Poe as "neither man nor woman... neither brute nor human."

In "Pickman's Model", a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, ghouls are members of a subterranean race. Their diet of dead human flesh mutated them into bestial humanoids able to carry on intelligent conversations with the living. The story has ghouls set underground with ghoul tunnels that connect ancient human ruins with deep underworlds. Lovecraft hints that the ghouls emerge in subway tunnels to feed on train wreck victims.

Lovecraft's vision of the ghoul, shared by associated authors Clark Ashton-Smith and Robert E. Howard, has heavily influenced the collective idea of the ghoul in American culture. Ghouls as described by Lovecraft are dog-faced and hideous creatures but not necessarily malicious. Though their primary (perhaps only) food source is human flesh, they do not seek out or hunt living people. They are able to travel back and forth through the wall of sleep. This is demonstrated in Lovecraft's "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" in which Randolph Carter encounters Pickman in the dream world after his complete transition into a mature ghoul.

Ghouls in this vein, are also changelings in the traditional way. The ghoul parent abducts a human infant and replaces it with one of its own. Ghouls appear entirely human as children but begin to take on the "ghoulish" appearance as they age past adulthood. The fate of the replaced human children is not entirely clear but Pickman offers a clue in the form of a painting depicting mature ghouls as they encourage a human child while it cannibalizes a corpse. This version of the ghoul appears in stories by authors such as Neil Gaiman, Brian Lumley, and Guillermo del Toro.

[simone-whitlow]

Edit: On the Trail of La Bete du Gevaudan

Edit: On the Trail of La Bete du Gevaudan. - The script for this week's podcast needed a LOT of editing, so ... here we go.

A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing which could not feel The touch of Earthly years. No motion has she now, no force; She neither hears nor sees; Rolled round in Earth’s diurnal course, With rocks, and stones, and trees. William Wordsworth ‘A Slumber did my Spirit Seal’ – 1800. While going through scripts for the podcast it occurred to me this episode needed a…

[farcito]

You avert your vaudevillian eye from my dear wife

[ghastspidergwen]

The Red King, but French

Inspired by the legend of the Beast of Gévaudan, more info on the legend of the beast under the cut

.

The wolf had three lives.

The first was taken by that horrid, dead maiden. She took the cows from the coward who watched the world burn. 'Just moving them across the server, we need food at the castle,' she had said, 'What could happen.'

She moved into his territory, so he had confronted them. The cows protected their mistress, the maiden's spear was in his chest, and his first life was gone.

The second was taken by his second. The king's right-hand man, his weapon-bearer, loyal to a fault. The wolf presented himself for the bow, 'For le Palais des Loups, for le Roi Rouge.'

'For le Palais des Loups,' The Hand echoed, 'For le Roi Rouge.' The arrow sliced through the air, through his chest, and his second life was gone.

The last was taken by the fraud, the fake. Claiming other's work as his own, making himself out to be the hero. 'I'll slay the Beast,' he'd boasted, but he was the reason the beast was there.

Then the fake's arrow hit him, silver tip burying itself in his back. The mighty beast had fallen, his reign of terror over, his last life, gone.

.

There is a French legend about the Beast of Gévaudan, a monstrous wolf that terrorized the providence of Gévaudan in the 1760s. It has been described as 'like a wolf, but not a wolf'.

the beast himself (ft. slightly creepy 18th century art)

"The Beast was consistently described by eyewitnesses as something other than a typical wolf. It was as large as a calf or sometimes a horse. Its coat was reddish gray with a long, strong panther-like tail. The head and legs were short-haired and the color of a deer. It had a black stripe on its back and “talons” on its feet. Many drawings of the Beast at the time endow it with lupine characteristics." (source)

Another characteristic of the beast was its fear of cows. The first reported attack of the beast was in summer of 1764. A young cow herder, Marie Jeanne Valet, encountered the beast in a forest in east Gévaudan. It charged her, but was fended off by her cows. Marie fought off and slew the beast, inspiring this epic statue.

The Beast of Gévaudan reportedly attacked over 600 people, resulting in 500 deaths and 49 injuries. The primary victims of the wolf were women and children, often on their own, but it occasionally attacked lone men. 98 of the victims were found partially eaten. Most of the maimed victims were found with their heads missing or necks mutilated.

The beast was shot by the king's gunbearer, Francois Antoine, in 1765. But the beast rose again. In June 1767, Jean Chastel, a Gévaudan local, shot and killed the beast, and it never rose again.

Some popular theories of what the beast might have been include: a hyena or lion escaped from a zoo; a pack of wolves roaming the countryside; something actually supernatural, similar to a skinwalker or cynocephaly; or (this seems the most plausible to me) Jean Chastel was faking the whole thing for attention and/or money. Wolves or large dogs covered in boar skins to give the striped/maned look, the beast disappeared after Chastel 'shot' it, and more clues point to him being behind it (I'm too tired to look all that stuff up right now).

Podcast about the beast by Astonishing Legends (where I first learnt about it) for people who prefer audio to reading articles

[glitchmetal]

absolutely feral animal (bite risk) (has separation anxiety)

[aquillis-main]

Antoine would be his most useful as hyena chow.

Can't really argue with that, tbh

[ayearinfaith]

𝗔 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵, 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟳𝟳: 𝗚𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹 The ghoul is a monster from Arabic folklore that eats humans. Its name comes from the Arabic for “sieze”. 𝗢𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 Belief in ghouls predates the arrival of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula (6th century CE) and may go back millennia further. The word has been tentatively tied to the Akkadian “gallu” demon. Before the word was introduced into the English language in the 18th century, the word was, and still is, translated as “demon”, “djinn”, or “ogre(ss)”. Tales of ghouls often filled a common mold: the creature would take the form of a human woman, accompany travelers into the desert or lure them there, and then devour them. When not in the form of a human, in which case they are almost always female, they are monstrous but how exactly varies significantly. Sometimes they are like deformed humans, other times outright bestial, and most commonly are hairy and clawed. They are generally not much larger than a human and can be slain, though if done improperly they can return from death, a common variant being that they must be felled in exactly one strike of the sword. With the arrival of Islam, ghouls were contextualized into the religion. Their origin is occasionally given as a class of fallen angel, who burned up into deformed creatures as they fell to earth. They also gained a new weakness: prayer. Proper invocation of the prophets can repel or outright destroy ghouls, similar to the impact of Christian icons on a European Vampire. 𝗭𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗲 While the classical Arabic ghoul is a devourer of humans, it generally is depicted as seeking live prey. When the legend was transmitted to Europe, the ghoul shifted to become more of a scavenger, haunting graveyards and feasting on cadavers. This is generally attributed to the early 18th century translation of 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 by the French Antoine Galland. 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 was not a single specific work, but a compilation of Islamic Golden Age tales compiled, recompiled, and retold by many sources, so it is not surprising that Galland took liberties with the subject matter. How much is uncertain, as some of his claimed sources were transmitted verbally. Regardless, in his version ghouls had developed a taste for corpses and were associated with hyenas (a scavenging animal). This association with eating corpses led “ghoul” to be the original term used for the shambling undead creatures from the 1968 film 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥, though the Haitian term “zombie” would quickly replace it. Image Credit: 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘮𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭 by Dave Kendall

[maverick-werewolf]

Random Werewolf Fact #35 - The Beast of Gevaudan, and What Isn’t a Werewolf Legend

The Beast of Gevaudan is easily one of the most popular werewolf legends. Movies, TV shows, books - tons of things are based on it, and new ones pop up every few years.

But here’s the problem - it isn’t really a werewolf legend at all.

(MTV’s Teen Wolf series certainly had a take on the Beast of Gevaudan)

Before we dive into why it isn’t, let’s first look at what exactly the legend is. In brief, because going into too much detail would make this even longer than it already is, and that’d be totally unpalatable.

In 1764-1765 in France, a creature called the Wild Beast of Gevaudan “ravaged several districts,” hunted by a detachment of dragoons, with a bounty of a thousand crowns for its death. It was said to,

[H]ave devoured more than a hundred persons. Not merely solitary wayfarers were attacked by it, but even larger companies traveling in coaches and armed. (Summers 235)

A lot of what we have today about the Beast of Gevaudan comes from extrapolations of the legend, misinformation, and retroactive changes to it based on the modern miscategorization of it as a werewolf legend.

So why am I saying it isn’t a werewolf legend?

Firstly, the beast is only ever described as some kind of unknown creature.

Secondly, and very importantly, it never changes shape beyond speculation.

There were claims made, either then or recently, that the creature was a “warlock, who had shifted his shape” (Summers 236), and one account from a supposed eyewitness who heard it speaking.

There is no particular reason or purpose behind this creature being a wolf - because it was not a wolf. It simply has absolutely no hallmarks of a proper werewolf legend, beyond the fact that the beast is shown to be intelligent (”With mysterious skill the beast baffled and even spurned its pursuers” [Summers 235]).

The Beast of Gevaudan was physically described by various historical sources, and speculated to be any of the following things:

A “panther”

A “hyena”

“the offspring of a tiger and a lioness” (and we know those are possible!)

It was described as having “most formidable” teeth, which is wolflike. But it was also described as using its tail to fight. “With its immense tail it could deal swindging blows.” Along with being able to jump to tremendous heights and run with “supernatural speed,” it is described as stinking. “The stench of the brute was beyond description” (Summers 235). Yeah, wolves aren’t skunks, so I think we can write another point off toward “was it a wolf?”

There were other instances of people speculating it was a werewolf later in the legend’s history, so not actually at the time when these things were happening. An anonymous writer not even from the time period (great source, right? Very reliable) made some random claim off the top of his head that it must’ve been a werewolf because he once saw an engraving where it was eating a girl, and werewolves likey the girl flesh (this guy must’ve read a very limited range of werewolf legends, though).

But the thing ate everyone regardless of age, sex, or what-have-you, and we have multiple accounts of it eating all kinds of people, so that’s about as helpful or likely to hold up as a bucket with holes in it.

And then we can turn to the illustrations...

(18th-century engraving of the Beast of Gevaudan, now called Lycopardus Parthenophagus, or basically “panther-wolf”)

Oh yeah I see wolves and werewolves that look like that all the time!

Does that remotely resemble a wolf to you? (note: don’t ask that to people designing stylized wolf models for video games, especially WoW, or most people who design werewolves in Hollywood)

Look, I get it. The medievals were super terrible at artistically portraying basically anything. Pick up 90% of bestiaries and they’re full of laughs.

(Cutout from a bestiary entry on wolves. But at least these weird little cuties kind of resemble wolves, you know, in the smallest amount?)

Here’s another Beast of Gevaudan...

(So is she saving herself from getting her hair licked or from getting mauled? More at 11)

Arguably a little more wolfish by medieval standards? Still not doing it for me.

So what’s the problem here?

For a long time, scholars got triggerhappy categorizing things as werewolf legends, vampire legends, dragon legends, etc. - trying to find a way to fit everything into a certain category, because humans seem to have an irresistible need to categorize everything (just look at TV Tropes).

But not all of these categorizations are true. That, and they were trying to make these fields into a thing, trying to prove there was enough material for something like “werewolf studies” to exist, so they got pretty ridiculous about it.

Before someone jumps in with “but Mav, Jean Chastel killed it with a silver bullet!” I’m going to cut you off at the pass, because we have no actual reliable source stating that this is true.

And also other sources say one Monsieur Antoine killed the beast, not some guy named Jean Chastel, so we have conflicting sources about this legend absolutely everywhere.

About the “silver bullet” thing: Until I am given a small mountain (or honestly at least 2-3) of verifiable sources from the actual time period, I 100% stand by that this was retroactively inserted into the Beast of Gevaudan legend by someone who watched The Wolf Man movie, and then the completely fake “source” was made and thrown out there because some scholar wanted to be the first one to find it (i.e., make it up).

And even if it was true, you know what? That wouldn’t make it more of a werewolf legend. Because guess what? Werewolves in literally every other legend ever, everywhere on the face of planet earth, aren’t sensitive to silver like that.

So, no, that is not a property of folkloric werewolves and if true (which I still hold that it is not), does absolutely nothing to nudge the Beast of Gevaudan closer to the “werewolf legends” category.

Because the Beast of Gevaudan is not a werewolf legend. It meets not even a single requirement necessary to be called one. It’s a cool legend, sure, and people have a relatively easy (arguably; I’m not a huge fan of a lot of the media, but some of it is alright) time turning it into a werewolf story, but that doesn’t make the historical legend about a werewolf. Any werewolf media that uses it needs to be aware of that.

This applies to a lot of other “werewolf legends,” too, such as the trial of Peter Stubbe, for a whole lot of reasons. It’s simply a miscategorization. A mistake. And it is one that needs to stop being further solidified, despite being a pretty literal error, in the scholarly world.

Don’t get me wrong, though, the legend itself is pretty hardcore (and horrible, because those people did actually die, you know). It’s just not a werewolf legend.

Note: All quotes in this article are from The Werewolf by Montague Summers, cross-examined with various other sources. But any actual quotes are from that book.

(If you like my werewolf blog, be sure to check out my other stuff!

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[dirt-juice]

Bête du Gevaudan, 250 years later, the investigation goes on.

On June 19th 1767, a farmer shot down "the" creature and put an end to 3 years of terror. But numerous things remain unclear. A mystery that still holds the "bestieux" spellbound.

250 years after terrorizing the country, la Bête du Gevaudan keeps fascinating and causes much ink to flow. Latest book published, in May, La Devoreuse ("The Devourer", De Borée edition.). The book is signed Pierric Guittaut, passionned by the beast, a "bestieux" as they say. For him, there is no doubt, the responsible for this carnage is a type of lynk. A new book and theory added to the dozens of investigations already dedicated to the case. Spring 2017, the snow falls on Rocles, Raymond Martin, mayor of this small village of Lozère, in the old Gevaudan area, takes out a big register from his archives. A treasure for the "beastologists". It contains the death certificate of Magdeleine Mauras, 12 years old, burried on 30th september 1764. In it is written that her body, found the previous day, was "gnawed on at the collar and chest by the ferocious beast that has been wreaking havoc for the past 5 months." Magdeleine's throat was slit "as she was leading her uncle's cattle back around half past four in the evening. The rest of her body which was missing an arm, torn and eaten by the beast, was put in the graveyard."

Experts still aren't sure about the number of victims. Some talk about 200 attacks, and between 80 and 100 killed. Women and children, for who a lot were guarding their livestock. The first attacks, in 1764, too place around the Vivarais and the Mercoire moutain chain, in the east of today's Lozère. Then the wave drifted toward the west in the fall, through the Margeride. Some cases were reported as far as the deep parts of the Aubrac and Cantal areas. Several teams of wolf hunters were put into action. But they all came back empty-handed. While every state of the Languedoc promised a big reward, Mende's bishop asked people to pray against this "plague sent by God". The newspapers were only too pleased to report the case. In America, Québec, in England or in Russia, people were passioned by those events that stained the royal power. In september 1765, François Antoine, hunt lieutenant of Louis XV, and his son killed a big wolf. Offically, the beast was dead, and the king didn't want to hear about it anymore. But the murders started again. On 19th June 1767: surprising turn of events ! Jean Chastel, a mere farmer of the region, shoot down the animal on the place called "La Sogne d'Auvers".

Other stories of devouring beasts marked France. But la Bête du Gevaudan's story, which was the first to be so mediatised, stays the most famous one. And the most documented, according to Alain Bonet, author of the Chronodoc, a book gathering all known sources on la Bête. However, the case is far from being closed. Why ? Because the culprit's nature itself is unclear. Archives speak of a "ferocious beast" most of the time, without precision. Is it a wolf, a theory that often comes back ? Impossible according to Sylvain Macchi, director of the "Loups du Gevaudan" park. He agrees with the creator of the park, Gérard Ménatory, who wrote a book to exculpate this animal. Their main argument: the wolf fears man and doesn't attack unless it's rabid... which was not the case of our predator. According to them, people at that time understood this, or else they wouldn't have let chldren lead the cattles alone. What's more, they could recognise a wolf and would have described it as such. However testimonies mention an animal with orange fur, with a black line on its back, a flat head and small ears. According to the autopsy report, the canine killed by Chastel was an hybrid of dog and wolf. This is the theory of journalist Jean-Claude Bourret, who went as far as to build last year, for 150 000 euros (around 174 670 USD), a sculpture of the supposed culprit. Problem, dogs and wolf don't mate... Other researchers say that there it was several killer beasts, or a now extinct canine species, or a pack of wild dogs... The theory of a hyena often comes back: that animal is very easy to tame... if human involvement there is ! For some doubt the responsibility of a four-legged criminal. Why were the sheeps left alone ? Why were some bodies beheaded and found in strange positions ? A child is even said to have been taken from a closed yard. And why did the attacks sometimes take place at great distances from each other in a short lapse of time ?

The first theories accusing a man date back to the beginning of the 20th century. The count of Morangiès, an important local lord, was accused. It's this theory that inspired the film Brotherhood of the Wolf, which came out in 2001. For André Aubazac, author of several books about the case, the culprit is someone else. It's Pierre Chastel, Jean's brother. Twice a widower, Pierre would have been looking to marry again. Without success. He would have taken revenge on the potential spouses' families, helped by his two sons in his macabre task. Why was he never stopped ? For Aubazac, we have to look at the higher ups. In 1764, the duke of Choiseul, leader of Louis XV's government, appointed a new archbishop, François Joachim of Bernis. The latter is the son of... a Chastel, relative of Jean and Pierre. Letting his social rise be stained by such a scandal was out of the question !

An attractive theory... but impossible according to Bernard Soulier. Born in a village 2km (1,25 mile) away from where Chastel killed La Bête, he's been passionned by the case since his youth. "All the texts talk about an animal, he says. If it were a man, they would have said it !" This new contradiction illustrates how, for 250 years, while hundreds of books have been published, the only sure thing about the Gevaudan beast's case is the victims' existence. The "bestieux" keep looking for the truth, while confessing they don't really want to find it: it would be the end of a captivating mystery.

(Original article by Aurore Staiger)

@cryptid-wendigo