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Today's story is about a three-year period in France where people were going missing at an alarming rate and nobody knew why.
But eventually, it was discovered why.
And let me tell you, it is absolute nightmare fuel.
But before we get into today's story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast, because that's all we do, and we upload twice a week once on Monday and once on Thursday.
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Okay, let's get into today's story.
Early on the morning of January 12th 1765, a 12-year-old boy named Jacques Portouffy sat up suddenly in his bed breathing hard.
The room was pitch black that he was in.
But he could feel he was sweating and his heart was racing and he tried to shake his head to kind of wipe the nightmare he had just had from his mind.
But he just couldn't do it.
All he could think about was how, in this nightmare, something had been chasing him and he had been running for his life and he was trying to get away.
But whatever this thing was, horrible beast that was following him.
It just kept getting closer and closer and closer until it finally got him, and that's what woke him up.
Jacques reached up and touched his face and he realized he was crying, and he quickly wiped the tears away because he didn't want any of his brothers or sisters to see that he was crying.
Jacques was the oldest of eight kids in his family, and all of them slept in the same small room on straw-filled mattresses inside of their family's little cottage in the southern French province of Géboudon.
And so Jacques is looking around the bedroom to make sure none of his siblings had woken up and seen him in this state, and he was relieved to see that they were all still fast asleep.
Everybody made fun of Jacques for being a scaredy cat, for being a coward.
And to Jacques, this really hurt his feelings because on some level, he knew it was kind of true.
In fact, just a couple of months earlier he had lost in a physical fight with a much younger boy, and afterwards Jacques had cried.
And the whole town had seen this happen, and so afterward all the kids began calling Jacques the wet chicken, And even Jacques' brothers and sisters began joining in and calling him the wet chicken and really making him feel totally ashamed.
And it wasn't like the adults in this village were stepping up and protecting Jacques, because to them Jacques was kind of like a liability.
In this part of France, you know, the winters were brutal.
People died all the time in this village from the weather.
And then the summers brought all these outbreaks of disease which wiped out even more people in this village.
And so by and large, where Jacques lived, it was kind of like the survival of the fittest.
And many kids didn't live that long unless they were really hardy and tough like their parents, who had managed to survive for that long.
But Jacques was just not like that.
He was very gentle and peaceful, yet somehow he had survived.
And Jacques really was not trying to become this kind of macho guy.
Instead, he really wanted to be a priest like his uncle.
But his uncle lived far away.
And so it was tough to see his uncle all that often to learn about.
You know how to become a priest.
But anytime Jacques did get a chance to actually see his uncle, he would have a chance to read all these books and study alongside his uncle.
And so for a little while it was like Jacques was transported away from the hardships of his village to the life that in many ways he wished.
He had a quiet peaceful, very studious life.
But deep down Jacques felt like there was no chance he would ever actually escape this little village where he effectively was an outcast.
Even though the sun had not risen yet, Jacques just sat on his bed and couldn't fall asleep again after waking up from this nightmare.
And so, just sitting there in the dark and the quiet, Jacques began to think about what he had to do later that day, when the sun did come up.
And like usual, Jacques started to feel afraid.
And so Jacques eventually just laid down with his eyes open, and he laid there until dawn when one of his younger brothers, named Jean, who was eight years old, rolled over and pushed him and said hey, wet chicken, it's time to get up.
It's our day with the sheep.
Let's go.
Jacques scowled at his younger brother and shoved him back, but not that hard, because Jacques never really shoved anybody that hard, no matter what they did to him.
And then both boys hopped out of their bed, they wolfed down some bread and cheese and then headed out the door.
As soon as they were outside, Jacques noticed that the village was much quieter than it normally was.
But then again, these days, villagers did not leave their homes unless they absolutely had to.
And so Jacques and Jean made their way away from their cottage down the dirt road to the pen, where their family kept all of their sheep.
And the boys opened up the gate and then used their staffs to kind of corral the sheep out of the gate back onto the road road and as the sheep kind of bleated and bawled and bumped into each other, the boys worked hard to kind of organize them on the road.
And then, once the sheep understood which direction they were going towards the forest, a very familiar walk for the sheep they kind of fell into line and just began walking very casually, like they knew exactly where to go.
And once the sheep had fallen into this kind of routine rhythm, Jacques and Jean fell in behind them and just walked quietly after them.
And as the boys walked, they both constantly kept looking left and right and ahead of the sheep and behind them, constantly scanning for danger, because they knew something was out here.
For months now, children all across this province in France, Géboudon, had been going missing.
They'd go off into fields or pastures like when they're moving their family's livestock around, and the kids would just vanish.
And then sometimes, if they were found again, they'd be found totally mutilated, far from where they should have been.
The attacks on these kids across Jeboudon had begun a year earlier on June 30th, 1764.
On that day, a 14-year-old girl, who actually was the older sister of one of Jacques' friends, had disappeared and then been found again later that day, partially eaten in a field near her home after she had not come home with the family's cattle.
Now, of course this was very tragic, but to this point there had not been any other attacks, so there was no pattern here, and so the assumption was, she must have been attacked by a wolf, which did happen, and often two children, because kids at this time in France were often in charge of tending to their families grazing animals, the way Jacques and Jeanne were going out with their sheep.
You know, these kids were small, they couldn't really defend themselves, and if a wolf set onto them there was very little they could do.
But five weeks after this 14-year-old girl was found dead and mutilated in the field, two more teenagers were also found mutilated and dead in a field.
And really, this was only the beginning.
As summer turned to fall, that year more and more kids went missing and then turned up dead in fields partially mutilated.
And the more these attacks happened across southern France, the more people thought to themselves this can't be a wolf.
Number one, wolves don't go on extended human killing sprees.
That's just not a thing.
And number two, if it was a wolf, they would be eating more of their victims.
They wouldn't just rip their body to shreds and then leave them.
They would eat the meat.
And so, by this early January day in 1765, as Jacques and Jean were setting out for the day with their family's sheep, the death toll from whatever was killing these kids was now well into the dozens.
People in France had begun calling whatever was killing these children the Beast of Géboudon, and stories about this creature began popping up in newspapers all over France.
People all across southern France began forming these huge hunting parties to go out into the forests and the wilds of Jeboudon to find this creature and kill it, but they would always come back empty-handed.
And then, every now and again, a hunter would be out and they would see a huge wolf and they would kill it and they would declare that they had found and killed the Beast of Jevudan.
But the attacks on these kids all across this province just continued.
So obviously, that wolf was not it.
And so, as these attacks continued, all the fairs and festivals that normally would pop up all year long all across southern France, those all stopped because people were afraid to go out, in fear of this creature.
And then, of course, in villages like Jacques' village, people really just stopped going out unless they had to again because of the Beast of Chevoudon.
But Jacques and Jean's family relied on their livestock and they needed their sheep to go out and graze.
And so on this day in January, Jacques and Jean had to go out because their sheep had to graze.
Their family relied on the sheep.
Livestock was their livelihood.
And so this was a mandatory thing.
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And so, as Jacques and Jean continued walking behind their herd of sheep down this dirt road towards the forest, the two boys eventually came to a stop and just turned around and looked back at their village.
And they saw walking on the road towards them were five more kids, along with two additional herds of sheep that these five kids were in charge of.
Ever since the Beast of Jebudon had become a thing, Jacques and Jean had begun tending their sheep, along with these five kids and their sheep.
They figured the bigger their group was, the safer they were from this creature.
As the five kids got closer to, Jacques and Jean Jacques realized that one of the kids that was with them this day was a tall, thin redhead.
It was the same younger boy who had recently beaten Jacques up in front of the village and he had cried and everyone had made fun of him.
And so Jacques sees this kid coming and immediately he can feel his face burning with embarrassment.
And then the boy.
He sees Jacques, and he immediately smirks and begins flapping his arms like chicken wings.
But once these five kids and their sheep joined Jacques and Jean and their sheep, they all kind of just went quiet because none of them wanted to be out there.
They were all scared of the Beast of Jevudan.
And the only reason they were together was again to be safe from this creature that was killing kids left and right.
And so, in relative silence, all of the kids and their sheep just slowly walked together down this dirt path, and eventually they made it into the big forest where, just beyond the forest, was the pasture where these sheep would graze.
And as the group actually entered into the trees and it became dark and more quiet and kind of eerie, Jean actually tugged on Jacques' shoulder and said will you please tell a story?
Because Jean was scared too.
The kids were all scared.
And they figured.
You know, if Jacques just told a story, it would take their mind off of how tense this moment was.
And when Jacques heard this request, he actually smiled because this was something he loved to do.
He was a great storyteller.
It was like his one strength.
When Jean had asked for the story, the kids and the sheep had actually made it to really the end of the forest path.
And so, by the time Jacques was about to start his story story, all the sheep had made their way out of the forest onto this big open pasture right in the middle of the forest.
And so as the sheep just kind of filtered out into this open area, Jacques stopped and all the kids kind of came up right behind him.
And Jacques started his story by pointing across the pasture to this bog that was right at the base of this big hill.
And he said, do you see those big rocks in that bog over there?
Well, you see the biggest rock?
Well, that's not really a rock.
It's actually a doorway.
And if you move the rock underneath it, there's a portal to another world.
And so, as Jacques began telling this very creative story about this kingdom that existed underneath the bog, He sat down against a rock, kind of facing out towards the sheep and all the other kids kind of filed in around him, taking seats, with Gene, his brother, sitting right behind him, to his right.
And Jacques.
He was just really into the story to the point where he kind of forgot about what was happening with the sheep and he wasn't scanning around for danger, and neither were any of the kids.
Including the redhead, who had beaten Jacques up.
He wanted to act like he wasn't into his story, but in reality he totally was, and he was just as interested in what was going on with the magical kingdom below this rock.
And finally, when Jacques got to the end of his story where this evil giant that had been tormenting the kingdom under the bog had been tricked by an orphan to try to go through this magical portal into their world and the giant had gotten stuck in the doorway because he was so big and he never tormented the kingdom again and they lived happily ever after.
When Jacques got to that point in the story and all the kids are totally locked in and not paying attention to anything else, two things happened in rapid succession.
The first was, even though Jacques is telling the story and focusing on that, in the back of his mind he registers hearing the sound of twigs breaking somewhere right behind him, almost like the sound of someone or something moving along the forest floor.
And the second thing that happened was the red-headed kid who had beaten up Jacques without saying a word, just stood up and began sprinting towards the pasture.
And for a moment Jacques thought this kid, who was kind of like a bully, was doing this on purpose to be rude to Jacques, to kind of run away at the climax of the story like he didn't care about it.
But then Jacques realized that he smelled something terrible behind him.
But when Jacques turned around to see what was making this smell, he saw that his brother Jean, who had been sitting right behind him to his right, was now gone, and where he had been sitting was just his staff laying on the ground.
And for a second, Jacques just couldn't process what his eyes were seeing.
He didn't understand how his brother could have gotten away from him without him noticing.
But before Jacques could do anything, all the kids around him that were still there began screaming and pointing up towards this hill that was right behind them.
And so Jacques turned around, and to his horror he saw there was this huge, 12 foot tall creature that was covered in fur.
It looked like an oversized wolf, but it was standing on two legs and its bones seemed like they were too big for its own skin.
And it made it seem very angular and jagged.
And as it kind of loped grotesquely up the hillside, Jacques realized it was carrying in its front arm Jean, who was screaming and kicking, but could not get away from this creature.
Jacques understood that this was the beast of Gévaudan, and it was going to go kill his brother.
And immediately Jacques is thinking, you got to run, run away, get to safety, get out of here.
And all the kids around him, that's what they did.
They took off running towards the pasture.
They didn't care about Jean.
They only cared about themselves.
And so Jacques, he knows he needs to get away, save himself, but his legs just will not move.
He is rooted to the spot because something inside of him told him he has to save his brother.
It doesn't matter if everyone thinks he's a coward.
That's his brother.
He needs to do something.
And so Jacques, he turns to the kids who are running away from him and he screams at them to stop, come back.
And the kids were so surprised to hear this strong, authoritative voice coming out of the wet chicken that they did stop and turned around to see what he wanted.
And he said, get over here.
I have a plan.
And so the kids, with the exception of the redhead who had run off by himself they came back to Jacques and Jacques began telling them his plan to save Jean.
And the kids again were so taken with how Jacques was really owning this moment and being a leader that they all said okay, let's do this.
And so, after this very quick planning meeting, all the kids turned and began running up the hillside towards the beast of Jeboudon, with Jacques in the front, with his staff out.
And the kids gained on the beast really quickly.
And the creature clearly noticed and kept turning around and kept looking at these kids getting closer and closer.
But the beast did not seem interested in any of them.
It just wanted Jean.
And in fact it moved Jean from its arm up into its mouth and then the creature began kind of using the trees to pull itself faster and faster away from the kids.
But Jacques, he just kept going faster and faster, and pushing himself to get closer and closer.
And as he did, it motivated the other kids to follow along and push it and gain on this creature.
And finally they got close enough to this beast that Jacques yelled out to the kids now and they all fanned out around it and began smashing this beast with their staffs.
They used to shepherd their livestock.
Now none of their blows to this creature were doing any real damage and the creature did not really seem fazed that the kids were now attacking it.
But they were kind of able with their strikes to this creature to direct it and get it to kind of turn in the direction that Jacques had told them to make the creature go.
And so the kids continued to beat and poke and corral this creature and every time they'd hit it the beast would kind of flail out with one of its arms.
But it never really did anything because again, it's really focused obviously, on taking Jean.
But eventually, Jacques' plan worked.
He had corralled the creature to the top of the hillside right over where that bog was, where those rocks in the middle were part of the story that Jacques had told about how there was this portal to another world.
And once this creature was positioned where Jacques wanted it, he again yelled to the kids to do the next phase of their plan.
And all the kids kind of fanned out to the top of the hill and with their staffs they beat and poked this creature down the hill into the bog.
And as they did this, Jacques kept looking to see if Jean was alive, because earlier he had been screaming and kicking, but now there was blood all over his brother and he was limp in the creature's mouth and he wasn't making any sound.
But Jacques didn't care.
He wanted to get his brother back, dead or alive.
And so finally, Jacques stepped forward from the group and he wound up and he smashed the beast as hard as he could, hard enough that the beast actually kind of stumbled forward into the actual marshy bog.
And what Jacques knew about this bog and why he had come up with that particular story about there being a gateway to another world is weeks earlier he had actually accidentally stepped into this bog and saw it was really deep.
And he had been lucky enough that he had grabbed a rock and kind of pulled himself out, because if he hadn't, the bog kind of functioned like quicksand.
You could get stuck in the bog and never get out again.
And this is what happened to the Beast of Jabudon.
It went feet first into the one spot of the bog that Jacques had had all the kids corral it to.
That was the deepest and most dangerous part.
And as soon as the beast stepped into it, it sunk down to its waist.
And immediately the beast reached out with its huge muscular arms and tried to pull itself out of the bog, but it couldn't.
It was stuck.
And so in its panic, it let go of Jean from its mouth, and it actually turned around.
And it looked at Jacques and the other kids.
And when it did, Jacques almost lost his nerve.
Because when he saw this thing face to face up close, he saw this was not a wolf's face.
This was almost like a human face.
Its eyes were making distinct eye contact with Jacques, and it was furious.
It was like the beast understood that Jacques had just trapped it.
He had tricked the beast into walking into this bog and it wanted to kill Jacques.
And for a moment, Jacques was totally entranced by this creature's eyes.
It just struck him that this looks human.
It looks intelligent.
You know, what is this thing?
And while Jacques was kind of in this daze, the creature reached forward and slashed his stomach wide open and Jacques fell backwards on the ground.
But luckily he was far enough away from the beast that he couldn't be pulled back in.
And in this kind of frantic moment one of the other kids saw an opportunity and ran forward, grabbed Jean who was laying on the surface of the bog and he pulled him away from the beast.
And the beast whipped around.
He tried to grab Jean, but he couldn't.
And so, all of a sudden, all these kids were safely away from the beast of Gévaudan, who was totally trapped.
And so at this point, the other kids who were not hurt, they scooped up Jacques, and they scooped up Jean and they began running away from the bog, across the pasture, back towards the village, leaving the beast where it was.
And as they ran they heard it bellowing out and roaring and trying to pull itself out, but it still just remained in the bog.
And finally, as they got back to that dirt path that led back to the village, they saw there was a group of armed villagers running towards them, because it would turn out the redhead who had ran off.
He had told the village and they were coming out to help the kids.
And so, as the armed villagers met with the kids, they told them where the beast was, you know, stuck in that bog, and the villagers took off to go kill the beast and then the kids, along with Jacques and Jean.
They went into the village.
They were put into a home and put on beds, by which point the village doctor had come over and began treating both of them.
Gene was alive, but just barely.
He had lost a lot of blood and the beast had grabbed onto his scalp and really crushed his skull, but he would ultimately survive.
As for Jacques, it was a very painful wound that he had sustained on his stomach, but none of his internal organs had been damaged, and so he would also survive as well.
As for the armed villagers, even though they very quickly got out to that bog where the beast was, when they got there the beast was gone.
And the Beast of Gévaudan would continue to kill people for another two years, until June 19 1767, when a hunter happened to encounter it in the middle of a forest and he shot and killed it.
And by that point, over 100 people had been murdered by this creature.
The hunter would drag the carcass of the beast back into his village and a doctor would perform an autopsy, but the doctor was unable to identify what kind of animal it was.
It did kind of look like a wolf, a really huge wolf, but its body was just so misshapen and its bones were too big, and it clearly walked on two legs, not on all fours, and so there was never any definitive information about what this even was and how this even happened.
But when they opened up its stomach, they did find human body parts.
Jacques was one of the only people to have ever survived an encounter with the Beast of Géboudon, and so he was celebrated all across France.
And he quickly went from being the wet chicken to the little hero, and his story would reach as far away as Boston, Massachusetts.
And in fact, Jacques' story was so well publicized that it eventually reached King Louis XV.
And he was so moved by it that he invited Jacques to come meet him.
And after meeting Jacques, he loved him and offered to pay for his entire education.
And so Jacques would get to finally leave this little village where he never quite fit in, and he would move to northern France and enroll in a prestigious school there, and he would spend his days reading and writing, just like he had always hoped for.
A quick note about our stories.
They are all based on true events, but we sometimes use pseudonyms to protect the people involved and some details are fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
The Mr Ballin Podcast Strange Dark and Mysterious Stories is hosted and executive produced by me, Mr Ballin.
Our head of writing is Evan Allen.
Our head of production is Zach Levitt, produced by Jeremy Bone.
Research and fact-checking by Shelley Hsu, Samantha Van Hoose, Evan Beamer, Abigail Shumway and Camille Callahan.
Research and fact-checking supervision by Stephen Ear.
Audio editing and post-produced by Wit Lacascio and Cole Lacascio.
Additional audio editing by Jordan Stidham.
Mixed and mastered by Brendan Cain.
Production coordination by Samantha Collins.
Production support by Antonio Minata and Delaina Corley.
Artwork by Jessica Clogston-Kiner.
Theme song called Something Wicked by Ross Bugden.
Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin Podcast.
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So that's going to do it.
I really appreciate your support.
Until next time, see ya.
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