In Marvejols, at the junction of the bridge across the Colagne and the N9, there stands a hideous, flattened-out bronze statue of a semi-wolf, which represents the terrible legendary Bête du Gévaudan, supposedly the culprit of a series of horrific attacks in the eighteenth century. Between 1764 and 1767, the whole area between here and Le Puy was terrorized, and 25 women, 68 children and 6 men were slain. The king sent his dragoons, then his best huntsman, who eventually found and killed an enormous wolf, but the mysterious deaths continued until one Jean Chastel shot another wolf near Saugues.It has never been established if a wolf was really guilty of these deaths – a wolf that attacked women and children almost exclusively, that moved about so rapidly, that never touched a sheep – and the question remains whether it was perhaps a human psychopath. If you would like reassurance about the temperament of real wolves, visit the Parc Zoologique du Gévaudan in the hamlet of Ste-Lucie just off the N9, 9km north of Marvejols, where more than a hundred wolves live in semi-liberty (guided visits every one and a half hours: Feb–Dec daily 10am–5.30pm; €6), the first to do so in France since the beginning of the last century.
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