The Real Wolfman
by admin on Oct.23, 2009, under Uncategorized
This Wednesday, October 28th my long awaited werewolf documentary will premiere on the History Channel (9pm EST), with a re-broadcast later that evening and then again on Halloween. For the investigation, I had the distinct pleasure of pairing with one of the top criminologists in the United States and together we traveled to France to look into one of the most famous legends in that nation’s history. La Beté (The Beast) as it became known, was allegedly responsible for a three year killing spree in the mountainous and remote Gevaudan region during the 1760s. Up to 102 victims, mostly children and women may have fallen victim to the monster, which witnesses described as resembling a werewolf. Eventually, the king became concerned and dispatched entire batteries of soldiers to deal with the blood thirsty menace. Hunts were undertaken and many wolves killed. But, in 1767 a hunter named Jean Chastel apparently dispatched the Beast with a lone silver bullet. Whatever became of the creature’s body is still unknown, though it was said to have been paraded around the region before being presented to the king in a smelly and decomposing state. Amazingly, my partner and I were able to reach some startling conclusions about this enduring mystery that spans more than two centuries. Tune in to see the story behind The Real Wolfman!
October 24th, 2009 on 8:04 am
Nifty. I love the story of La Bete.
October 24th, 2009 on 9:28 am
Ken,
I’m excited for you and this production, you’re at a place I’d like to be in my research!
Norm
October 28th, 2009 on 10:07 am
Hey, I search my TV listings and it isn’t going to be shown here. Maybe it will be posted online and i will be able to see it in the future. I know that you have worked hard for this and i’m very proud of you.
October 29th, 2009 on 1:16 am
Very interesting except for your forensics,wrong weapon wrong powder wrong rifle. You need to do it over useing a smooth bore with black powder made the way they made it, it was apt to misfire more then fire.
October 29th, 2009 on 11:51 am
I saw the show, ” The Real Wolfman” on the History Channel and it was excellent. The approach in the investigation and final conclusion was well done! You and your partner worked well together and made a great investigative team….great chemistry! I would like to see more….
October 30th, 2009 on 1:30 pm
George Deuchar’s ballistic tests were not valid. First, smooth-bore rifles were being used in the 1700s, not rifled barrels; hence, both bullets would have been – at least — equally accurate. Second, the mattered, long-haired hyena’s beastly fur coat may have provided a bullet-proof barrier against the softer (and round)lead bullets used at the time – only a more hardened silver bullet would have penetrated the hide!
October 31st, 2009 on 12:39 am
Ken, I loved this special and would really enjoy it if History paired you guys up again. I thought there was good chemistry there.
I have a question: Were you ever truly satisfied with the conclusion that Chastel trained a hyena to attack and kill a bunch of people, only to kill it himself later? I had read of that hypothesis before I saw “The Real Wilfman,” and have found it quite interesting. While it is certainly possible, I never saw anything more than debatable circumstantial evidence to prove it.
Was there more to it?
October 31st, 2009 on 10:24 pm
Hey Ken,
Am watching your special right now and totally enjoying it. What an awesome opportunity for you!! Congrats.
Have you done any research into “wolf attacks” that happened several years back – maybe the late 1990s or early 2000s – sorry, can’t remember the dates exactly, but attacks I believe were in Uttar Pradesh, India. I remember reading about it on a ufo website back then and may have notes filed somewhere on this. But I did converse with the webmaster at that time and he had several articles from local papers on the attacks, and many of the accounts noted that the wolf like creature stood upright and ran off carrying the children. It was really horrible to read about it. Now when I googled to try and find more info on this most sites and articles I come up with just state it as simple wolf attacks. Seems to me that Uttar Pradesh area has had a lot of strange occurrances/activities in past few years. Will have to try and research this more and also see if I had kept any of the correspondance on this. I tossed a lot when I moved and am not totally organized right now, lol.
Again, congrats!
Barb
November 10th, 2009 on 10:39 pm
I tried to watch the show but due to my schedule I missed it. However if the final conclusion was that the beast was a Hyena trained by Chastel, who later laid claim to shooting it, I saw the movie. It’s the plot of the 2001 movie “Brotherhood of the Wolf” in which a local nobleman kept a trained hyena and sent it off to terrorize the local countryside (for political reasons.)
I also understand there was a segment on the effectiveness of silver bullets. From what I’ve read, Chastel’s use of a silver bullet was an embellishment added by later story tellers. Though the use of silver against shape shifters and lycanthropes has been a aprt of werewolf legend for some time.
November 12th, 2009 on 4:12 pm
Hi Ken, I’ve never been convinced that there was anything of a werewolf nature regarding the Gevaudan beast. The hyena possibility has often been mentioned, and even a large cat – over the years however the tale has been prone to drama and romanticism. I would love to see your documentary.
November 20th, 2009 on 11:30 pm
First, comparing these attacks to the African lion attacks in the 1800s that killed hundreds of people (as depicted in the movie, “The Ghost and the Darkness”), could there have been TWO beasts? Second, using the theory of comparative evolution, why are there no fossil records of a carnivorous canine animal above the 180 lbs range? The prehistoric American lion and the lion-tiger hybird (Liger) each reached weights of 800 lbs or more as do the present grizzly and polar bears.
February 15th, 2010 on 8:33 pm
Here is a copy of one article about the India wolf attacks I was speaking of. The website, ufoindia.org no longer exists – at least I have been unable to bring it up any longer.
Ganges Valley Autumn 1996
UFO ROUNDUP Volume Number 39. November 1996
Editor: Masinaigan
TERROR IN THE GANGES VALLEY
Since July 1, approximately 33 children have disappeared from the village of Banbirpur, in the Southeastern corner of India’s Uttar Pradesh state, 350 miles (530 kilometers) from New Delhi. The Indian police claim that the children were killed by a rogue wolfpack, but the villagers say the culprits are “white wolves” or werewolves.
“It came across the grass on all four paws – like this,” said Sita Devi, the 10 year old sister of the boy killed by a wolf August 16 in Banbirpur. She moved forward in a crouch from a cluster of villagers gathered by a well. She told her story with tears in her eyes, to anxious murmurs from the crowd.
“As it grabbed Anand (age 4), it rose onto two legs until it was as tall as a man,” she said. “Then it threw him over its shoulder. It was wearing a black coat, and a helmet, and goggles.”
The girl’s grandfather, Ram Lakhan Panday, who drove a truck in Calcutta for 60 years before retiring to his native village, said, “As long as officials pressure us to say it was a wolf, we’ll say it was a wolf, but we have seen this thing with our own eyes. It is not a wolf; it is a human being.”
(Editor’s Comment: sounds more like a humanoid” to me. Note Sita’s description of “goggles.”)
Copyright © Prashant Solomon 1999-2002
March 7th, 2010 on 10:13 am
Inconclusive. The forensics tests were wrong, wrong weapon, wrong powder, wrong rifle.
March 7th, 2010 on 8:08 pm
Yeah hey Ken,
So i watched the documentary this morning and it was very interesting to say the least. The team of a cryptozoologist and a crimnologist was pure genious. The Wolf man myth has always interested me the most. Though, after watching “The Real Wolfman” it got me to think a bit. So apparently, the conclusion you and Duke(was it Duke? O_o) was that it was something that Jean Chastel and a hyena, was it not? Well what i thought, heres my opinion, that as we all know at that time it was the age of enlightenment. The Church was losing its grip on the people that they once had. Could a theory be that the Church was affliated with the “Wolfman”, like as if they used this story to strike fear of the people and start going back to church. Who wouldn’t seek refuge at God’s Temple of they knew there was a devil man out there. Corruption of the Church thats, my theory. I would kind of hope for some feedback but of course im sure you’re busy so I’m not expecting anything anytime soon.
March 8th, 2010 on 6:41 pm
Hi. I realize one of the movies in reference in your film is the French movie (I have) “La Bete du Gevaudan”. What are the other 2? One has a brownish werewolf and the other is timberwolf gray color. If they are fictional films I would like to track them down! Thanks! Loved your show!!!!!!
March 9th, 2010 on 4:44 pm
Hi. I’m just about to read Guy de Maupassant’s “The Wolf” short story and I think it’s about the Beast of Gevaudan….still hoping you’ll detail what those other 2 movies are mentioned in my last Q above.