Bessans without its devil would not be Bessans...
So why has the Devil got such an important place in the life of the Bessannaise ?
The story which is told everywhere is about an image, a sculpture, in legend, on the fresco in the Saint-Antoine chapel .

During the last century, a "Songster" from the village, called Vincendet, very angry with the country priest, made a devil out of wood carrying a priest under his arm. One morning, at a very early hour, he placed it under the window of the country priest.
When the priest saw it he was suspicious of where it came from and the next day the statuette went back to its creator.
This little merry-go-round between the "Songster" and the priest lasted several days until a traveller, who was passing through Bessans, saw the statuette under Vincendet's window and offered to buy it.

The sculptor managed to get as much as he could for the object and this was the start of the satirical and commercial myth that surrounded the Devil of Bessans.