A
Few Werewolf Cases
As
centuries passed there arrived a point when fanciful
stories told to amuse people were replaced by real
incidents. Suddenly, tales resembling Stubbe started
to emerge. They broke out at an epidemic rate between
1520 and 1630. In France alone some 30,000 individuals
had the misfortune of being labeled as werewolves.
Many of them underwent criminal investigation and
torture. Some of them confessed and were put to death.
For those who escaped death, the trauma of interrogation
left a lifelong scarces on their minds.
The
trial of two French peasants in 1521 received wide
spread notoriety. Pierre Burgot and Michel
Verdum were the convicted werewolves. Nineteen
years ago when Burgot was desperately trying to gather
his storm frightened sheep, he met with three mysterious
horsemen dressed in black. One of them assured him
the future protection of his sheep and gave him some
money as well. In return the stranger just wanted
Burgot to obey him as the Lord. Accepting the proposal
Burgot agreed to meet again. In the second meeting
the so-called Lord announced the full conditions of
the deal: Burgot must renounce God, the Holy Virgin,
the Company of Heaven, his baptism and also his confirmation.
As
years passed Burgot became reluctant to maintain the
pact. Then he was called by Michel Verdum. Verdum
demanded him to strip naked and rub a magic ointment
on his body. When Burgot obeyed the order, he found
his arms and legs had become hairy, his hands reshaped
into paws. Verdum changed his shape too and together
they ran through the surrounding countryside. They
committed various awful crimes. They tore to pieces
a seven-year-old boy, killed a woman and abducted
a four-year-old girl. The unfortunate girl was fully
eaten by the two of them. When they were caught they
were duly put to death. Their picture was hung in
the local church as a reminder of all the evil deeds
that men could commit under the influence of Satan.
Lycanthrope
trials increased in the following years. In 1573 werewolf
attacks became more apparent. After finding several
half-eaten children the authorities of the town Dôle
in Frenche-Comté province put a price on werewolves'
head. Two months after the injunction, an alleged
werewolf named Gillas Garner was arrested.
His victims were nine to twelve-year-old children.
He slew them with his paws and teeth. To satisfy his
appetite, he ate flesh from their thigh, legs and
belly. The story of his crimes and sentencing him
to death still survive and have become a folk song.
After
an interval for a few years the werewolf menace rose
again in 1584. This time two alleged werewolves, Pierre
Gandillon and his son George were apprehended.
They were accused of having murdered and eaten numerous
youngsters under the narcotic influence of the salve
with which they rubbed their bodies.
Again
in 1598 Jacques Roulet was tried for killing
and eating a boy of fifteen. He was known as the werewolf
of Caude. When he was found in the woods, he was half-naked
with long matted hair and blood covered hands. He
was still holding a lump of flesh. At his trial he
described how he had slaughtered various people, including
a number of attorneys, lawyers and bailiffs. Though
he was sentenced to death he was later sent to a madhouse.
Strangely he stayed there for only two years.
Among
other werewolf cases, the story of a tailor stands
out for its peculiarity. The alleged werewolf would
hide in the forests and lie in wait for a passerby.
Whenever he could get a chance, he jumped out and
killed the ill-fated man. He had a shop and used it
as a bait for young children. He tempted them into
his shop, and then killed them. In his cellars he
stored their meat like a butcher. Some barrels were
used to stack up bones and "other foul and hideous
things". The records accumulated during his trial
were so repulsive that the court decided that it would
better destroy them.
There
is also a record of a child werewolf. He was Jean
Grenier of Aquitaire. His story was more or less
like that of Burgot. When his father beat him, he
ran away from home and wandered around the countryside.
One evening another boy named Pierre La Tihaire took
him to the depths of the woods. The Lord of the Jungle
was present there. He was a tall black man, dressed
in black, upon a dark horse. The Lord got off his
horse and kissed Grenier with icy lips. In the second
meeting both of the boys submitted themselves to the
Lord of the forest. Their master scratched tattoos
on their thighs as brands. He brought out a winebag
and gave them a drink. He also presented them wolf
skins and an ointment. The Lord taught them how to
rub their bodies with the ointment before putting
on the fur.
During
their reign of terror fifteen children including one
from Grenier's cradle disappeared. When finally Grenier
was caught in 1603, he confessed of eating them all.
At that time he was fourteen, physically and mentally
retarded.
Taking
into account his age and limited mental capacity,
the Judge ordered Grenier to be confined in a cloister
for life. There he refused to eat any regular food
and devoured offal instead. Seven years later when
a man called Pierre de Lancre visited him, he had
grown gaunt and lean. His deep-set black eyes burned
incessantly. His hands were like claws with bent nails
and his teeth were like canines. Apparently he enjoyed
hearing about wolves and readily imitated them. After
one more year he died, to be remembered forever in
the history of werewolves as the "boy lycanthrope".
Greiner's
case is among those that contributed to the shift
in attitude towards the werewolf phenomenon. The head
of the inquest committee who looked into this case
found him incapable of rational thought. "The change
of shape existed only in the disorganized brain of
the insane. Consequently it was not a crime that could
be punished". Judges began to regard werewolf cases
with approaching tolerance.
