you may find scores of masses transmute intowerewolvesin folklore , ledger , andpop culture — and therehavebeen a few cases in which real hoi polloi went down in account as lycanthropes . Here are a few of them .
1. Peter Stubbe // 1589
The only written record of the case ofPeter Stubbe , a.k.a . the Werewolf of Bedburg , is alurid pamphletthat was circulated in London in 1590 . Stubbe ( also spell Stumpp or Stumpf ) , who “ from his youth was greatly disposed to euill , ” made a deal with the devil and request specifically to “ woork his mallice on men , Women , and tiddler , in the anatomy of some brute , wherby he might liue without dread or risk of life , and vnknowen to be the executor of any bloody go-ahead , which he meant to commit . ”
The devil gave him a swath , “ which being put about him , he was straight transfourmed into the likenes of a gréedy deuouring Woolf ” :
“ substantial and mighty , with eyes great and with child , which in the night sparkeled like vnto brandes of fire , a mouth outstanding and broad , with most sharpe and cruell teeth , A huge body , and mightye pawes : And no sooner should he put off the same waistcloth , but presently he should appéere in his former condition , according to the pro∣portion of a human race , as if he had neuer beene change . ”
The pamphlet pegged Stubbe as a serial killer who murdered and sometimes ate his victims over a 25 - yr period . He was also accused of incest with his daughter as well as kill and eat his son . ( Modern historians speculate that Stubbe was railroad for political purposes or to calm those who were terrified of the demon that were pop the town . )
When he was captured , Stubbe told all about his softwood with the Lucifer and the charming whack that turn him into a Friedrich August Wolf , fink to murder , incest , and cannibalism . Stubbe ’s carrying out on October 31 , 1589 , in Bedburg , Germany , was an exceptionally gruesome physical process : He was first whip to a wheel , where the flesh was torn from his soundbox with red - hot nipper . Next , his arm and legs were broken , his head was chopped off , and his body was burned . Stubbe ’s girlfriend ( a remote relative ) and daughter , both accused of incest , were also tortured and burned alive . After the executions , a wolf ’s trunk was set up in world , and its head replaced with Stubbe ’s , as a warning to anyone else meditate lycanthropy .
2. Jacques Roule // 1598
What we sleep together about Jacques Roulet , called the Werewolf of Angers or the Werewolf of Caud ( after two Gallic towns ) , comes from an1865 accountby the antiquarian author Sabine Baring - Gould . In 1598 , the mutilated trunk of a teenage male child was discovered in the woods , and wolves were blot nearby . Not far away , Roulet was discover wounded and half - naked . After he was arrested and concede to the murder , Roulet give away that he was given a salve that transformed him into a wolf . The son was n’t even his first putting to death , he said — he had murdered and eaten others .
Unlike in other case , there is likely no exculpated record of Roulet having been excruciate into make a confession , and he did not profess to making a pot with the the Tempter . Roulet was sentenced to death for murder , lycanthropy , and cannibalism , but after an appeal he was judged mentally sick or and instead commit to an sanctuary and religious education for two years .
3. Gilles Garnier // 1573
About 1572 , in the town of Dole , France , several youngster go miss and were later find torn apart in the woods . That autumn , townspeople were saddle with finding the werewolf responsible . In November , a hunt mathematical group witnessed a crazy animal attack on a baby , and someone recognized that the creature had features that resembled the local hermit , Gilles Garnier .
A calendar week later , when another child disappeared , Garnier and his wife were turn back . Fifty witnesses attest against Garnier , and he was put on the single-foot . He confessed to being a wolfman and to search , shoot down , and eating small fry who hazard into the woods , saying that he share the meat with his wife . In January 1573 , Garnier was burned at the bet . modernistic speculation is that Garnier was shamed of slaying and cannibalism ( he likely find children well-to-do to overtake than wildlife ) , but the werewolf confession is attributed to either mental illness or torture .
4. and 5. Pierre Bourgot and Michel Verdun // 1521
TheWerewolves of Polignywere three men accused of lycanthropy in France in 1521 . A traveler who had been attack by a wolf tracked the injured animal to Michel Verdun ’s house , where Verdun was found dripping blood . He was arrested and , under torment , confessed to being a werewolf and entail Pierre Bourgot and Philibert Montot . Bourgot in turn confessed , and told a story of making a deal with three mysterious homo , get dressed in black , to protect his sheep . Bourgot say he only found out afterward that the deal implicate renounce God and his baptism . Bourgot said in the years that followed that Michael Verdun gave him an ointment that turned him into a Friedrich August Wolf , and together they killed at least two children . It ’s not clear whether Philibert Montot ever confess , but he was executed along with the other two accused wolfman .
6. The Wolf of Ansbach // 1685
One infamous loup-garou case involve an actual woman chaser . In 1685 , the principality of Ansbach ( now a territorial dominion in Germany ) was part of the Holy Roman Empire . It was beset by a Friedrich August Wolf that feed on farm animal — and eventually moved on to eating people . The citizens call up they were being terrorized by a werewolf , and they believe they knew exactly who it was : Their unknown , hated ( and drained ) mayor , who had return to the world of the living in the pretense of a wolf .
A hunting political party with dogs drove the wolf into a well , where it was killed . Still think it was a werewolf , the citizens chop off the wolf ’s nozzle , dressed it in a man ’s vesture , added a human masque , and hung the body from a pole . The carcase was subsequently establish in a local museum .
7. Vseslav of Polotsk // 1044
Vseslav was the rule of Polotsk , a region that is now part of Belarus , from 1044 to 1101 CE . account memorialize him as a strong loss leader and warrior , but he was also say to be a sorcerer . ( In fact , in Russian lit , he ’s called Vseslav the Sorcerer . ) Soon after his death , he was named a lycanthrope in folktale ; this reputation was recorded in the Old Slavic poem “ The Tale of Igor ’s Campaign , ” in which the prince was said to airstream from town to townspeople as a wolf .
8. Hans the Werewolf // 1651
Dozens of people were accused of supernatural law-breaking in a series of hag and werewolf trials that took seat in 17th - 100 Estonia . One 18 - year - old citizen named Hans was convicted of both lycanthropy and witchery . Though he denied making a pact with the devil , Hans admit that he had been a werewolf for two year , and had become one of the beasts after he wasbitten by a man dress in blackwho was , of course , a werewolf himself . The court decide Hansmusthave made a satanic mountain , which made him shamefaced of witchery as well . The teenager was put to demise .
A version of this storey was published in 2011 ; it has been update for 2023 .
Related Tags
