The History Channel had a compelling story on last night about the Werewolf of Gevaudan, the mysterious case of the killing of over one hundred women and children in France. Many claimed the mysterious beast was a werewolf, while others thought it was just a wolf.

Two men, a police officer and a cryptozoologist went to the area to investigate and try to solve this very cold case. They found a lot of information including some good eyewitness accounts of what happened. They talked with a few historians who had extensive records of the case written by priests in the area at the time.

The descriptions led the cryptozoologist to believe the animal was a hyena as some witnesses described a laughing like sound the beast made. Eventually, dogs and wolves were ruled out and the hyena theory began to take hold. It is the only creature capable of biting off limbs and decapitating people. The question then went to who did it and why?

The mystery comes down to the man (Jean Chastel) who shot and killed the beast with a silver bullet (starting the idea that werewolves can only be done in with a silver bullet). The theory was expanded that the man actually trained the beast to kill on command. We learn that hyenas are very intelligent and can be trained to do such a thing. We also learn that the Catholic Church was very unpopular as it had a cozy relationship with the royals and nobility at the time.

Could the Church have been in cahoots with Jean Chastel to cause this panic to get people back into the Church? The natural history museum does have hyenas in it that lived with nobility at the time. It was popular back in the day for them to keep exotic animals (usually caged up) as "pets". The mystery seems to be solved as all evidence indicates that this is what happened.

Now to investigate the conspiracy theory that the Church and Jean Chastel worked together.

An excellent program which actually solves a mystery for a change.

I agree, it was an excellent show. I wish they could have investigated further into the church's involvement, but I doubt there would be any evidence left of that.

The History Channel will rebroadcast this episode of the real wolfman on Saturday night at 10 pm.

I finally watched this show as well; having recorded it on DVR. I think another possibility to consider is a circus animal; or a animal with a band of gypsies. Certainly they also might have such a animal in there troupe. Why put the suspicion on the guy that killed the animal. They showed a map of all the killings; which seems to cover a large area. A travelling band would be consistent with such a large range of killings. Certainly such a large animal would have to be chained or caged by an owner. All the uproar about the killings would certainly cause an animal sited to be reported. Where there any reports of such animals? Certainly it was a hyena; but was it the hunters animal. I believe not.

The case against Jean Chastel is circumstantial at best, but it does make the most sense. A traveling band of gypsies would of been noticed by the locals as they would have stuck out like a sore thumb. Msr Chastel was known and not too popular among the locals. He also lived outside of the village and could of had room to raise a hyena without the other townspeople noticing.

The killing spree went on for a few years and a wild hyena would of been tracked by then. The only other answer that makes sense is a local man trained the beast and hid it away when the hunting parties went looking for it.

I have a hard time believing that a man of his means could afford a hyena and I have no idea where he would have got it. Seems to me there is someone else involved, someone or some organization with money. Likely that someone could have used him to hide and care for the animal, but I am not convinced that it was him alone that trained and raised it.

It is doubtful he did this on his own, which is why the questions must be asked on how involved the Catholic Church and nobility were in this case. The reality is a wild or escaped animal would have been captured by the skilled trappers who were out there looking for it.

I should state that this mystery is only partially solved, as there are many others who would have been involved to help pay for and keep the hyena.