11 Historical 'Werewolves' That Terrorized Villages

In the 1500s, a French tailor cooked his victims for dinner.a tailorconvicted of luring in, torturing, and slaying his victims before cooking andThe Werewolf of Châlons cooked his victims for supper in the 1500s.He was also accused of turning into a werewolf to terrorize the town by night. He killed dozens; the exact victim count remains unknown.

The tailor made no defense; he cursed until death when burned at the stake. The court burned the documents because it was shocked by his evil acts.

Peter Stubbe admitted he was a werewolf. In 1589, he claimed hiswolfskin belt let him transformhim, and he said he killed over a dozen victims.One story wentPeter Stubbe claimed the devil transformed him into a greedy, devouring wolf, strong and mighty, with eyes like fire brands, a wide mouth, sharp cruel teeth, a huge body, and mighty paws.

Take Stubbe's story with caution: he confessed afterPeter Stubbe claimed prolonged torture.He was decapitated on Halloween 1589 and burned at the stake.

In1685, the people of Ansbach attacked their livestock with a wolf. This happened beforeit began taking lives.Locals thought their dead mayor returned as a wolf to torment them.

Townspeople killed the wolf. They dressed it as the mayor, displayed the carcass, and moved it to a local museum.

Estoniaheld werewolf trials in the 17th century, including one forHans the Werewolf. Many accused werewolves claimed a devil deal gave them shapeshifting power, but 18-year-old Hans said a man in black bit him. He admitted hunting as a werewolf for two years.

Hans did not claim a pact with the devil, but the court still found him guilty of sorcery and sentenced him to execution.

The French seemedGilles Garnier was obsessed.with werewolves; one famous case involved theGilles Garnier was the Werewolf of Dole.. Gilles Garnier lived on the outskirts of his town with his wife.

When children went missing and turned up mutilated, townspeople hunted a wolf. They blamed Garnier. He confessed a demon gave him an ointment to turn into a wolf and said he killed and ate at least four children. He was burned at the stake.

Jacques Roulet, the Werewolf of Angers, mutilated a boy.Jacques Roulet mutilated a boy in the woods.Jacques Roulet mutilated a boy in 1598, with theunfortunate Jacques Rouletdiscovered nearby. Roulet, hurt and stripped, confessed to killing the boy and others before him.

Roulet claimed an ointment turned him into a wolf. Unlike other lycanthropy cases, he avoided execution; on appeal, he was declared insane and placed in an asylum.

Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun confessed they were werewolves, leaving gore behind them in 1521.1521.

Their deeds were gruesome; asrecords indicate"they killed a woman gathering peas and seized a four-year-old girl, eating the palpitation flesh, missing one arm... other people died this way because they liked the warm, flowing blood."

One chillingAmericanthe werewolf legend comes from Georgia.The story goesThe widowed Mildred Burt lived in a rural part of the country during the mid-19th century. One of her daughters, Emily Isabella Burt, had trouble sleeping. She had extra hair and sharp teeth.

When William Gorman told the Burts someone killed his sheep, Mrs. Burt feared Emily was involved. One night, Mrs. Burt went out to check. An animal lunged at her. Mrs. Burt shot it, but the animal escaped. The next day, Emily lost her left hand. They sent her to Paris for lycanthropy treatment, and the attacks stopped. She died in 1911.

VseslavVseslav was the ruler of Polotsk in modern-day Belarus. Known as Vseslav the Sorcerer for his rumored magic, he also took wolf form.

He died in 1101, but the legend continued. Even a 2005 commemorative coin in Belarus showed a wolf behind Vseslav's portrait.commemorative coina coin in Belarus showed a wolf behind Vseslav's portrait.

The tale ofBeast of Gévaudanis filled with mystery and much bloodshed. Between 1764 and 1767, the French province of Gévaudan faced attacks.Gévaudanvictims had their throats ripped out. People debated who or what caused this; most thought a giant wolf was the cause.

Locals shot at the Beast and tried to poison it, but there were no effects. The Beast disappeared in 1767, and its fate remains unknown.

Beliefs differ on how someone becomes a werewolf. In ancient Greece, people apparently thought transformation happened by eating meat mixed from a wolf and a human.ancient Greecepeople believed someone could transform by eating wolf and human meat together.

This story resembles the tale ofKing Lycaon. He tried to trick Zeus into eating human flesh. Zeus was angry and turned Lycaon into a wolf as punishment. His name likely forms the root of "lycanthropy."