Werewolf lore has freaked out humans since the dawn of storytelling. A man living in a civilized society, with friends, neighbors, and people who count and depend on him, while several times a month transforming into a bloodthirsty hunter, armed with the senses and abilities of both human and wolf. Regular wolves are terrifying enough, but those are not typically expected to attack people on city streets. Keep reading to discover the scariest Accounts Of Werewolves Throughout History.
There have been hundreds of spins on werewolves stories over the centuries, and they are, of course, entirely a work of fiction, but there have been multiple accounts where the lore came a little too close to manifesting in reality. It has happened enough that people have been conditioned into believing that only silver bullets from special guns can save them should they ever encounter a werewolf. In this piece, we want to talk about 8 such accounts. If you hear howling outside, you may think twice about what it is that is roaming your streets after these stories.
TOP 8 Accounts Of Werewolves Throughout History
1. Accounts Of Werewolves: The Werewolf Pack
In 1521, a gentleman walking a street in Poligny, France was unexpectedly confronted and attacked by a vicious wolf. He was able to escape only by injuring the wolf severely enough to hurt the animal and make his getaway. He stumbled down the road where he ran across another man, who he would come to find out was Michael Vurden. Vurden was also injured, and his injuries were eerily similar to those the man had inflicted on the wolf.
Vurden was later questioned by the French authorities and confessed to making a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for the ability to transform into a Lycan creature. At the time, the region was plagued by mysterious murder sprees and grotesque cases of cannibalism. Vurden confessed to committing these as a wolf and even named two wolf accomplices in Piere Bourget and Philibert Montot, noting that they were roaming the town as werewolves on the hunt together.
2. Accounts Of Werewolves: Wolf In Wedlock
In the 1500s, Giles Garnier, a notorious hermit living in a cottage just outside of Dole, France found a woman who would marry him. It didn’t take him long to realize that she was not going to put up with how he had been living, and the stresses of having to provide for more than just himself and changing everything about his lifestyle caused him to make some questionable decisions.
It is said that he summoned a ghost of a former friend and pleaded with him to allow Garnier to turn into a werewolf by night so that he may hunt for food to provide for his family. Whether he became a werewolf from this or not isn’t officially documented (he did not), but unfortunately for the stressed-out Giles, children began to disappear, and it wasn’t long before rumors and fingerpointing directed the authorities to his doorstep. He was put on trial and admitted to
“crimes of lycanthropy.” Being the 16the century, people still held a lot of insane, unrealistic beliefs, forcing there to be ludicrous legislation like burning someone at the stake for killing while in the form of a wolf. That was just the fat the Giles met after his guilty plea.
3. Accounts Of Werewolves: The Devil’s Belt
After being questioned in 1589, Pete Stubbe admitted that he was in fact a serial killer with a list of victims that included two pregnant women in Bedburg, Germany, as well as fourteen kids. He was further tortured by the authorities, and the torment triggered another “memory” where he recalled that he received a magic belt from the devil himself, and this belt would allow him to change into a wolf, so he could commit these murders in the form of one.
Somehow he just happened to recall this questionable memory during the torture session. If he thought this would help his case, he was wrong. Stubbe was beheaded, and his head was attached to a body of a recently killed wolf.
4. Accounts Of Werewolves: Murders Too Foul
A French tailor from Chalons was charged with multiple crimes in 1698. His atrocities were so vile, that the court refused to keep the trial records on file, ordering them to be destroyed. What is known about the case is that he was accused of luring children into his home. He would then proceed to cut their throats and consume them.
But not all children were so easily lured. Those who resisted his attempts would find another way to be murdered, and that was by the tailor turning into a wolf and hunting them down at nightfall. While many cases during that time took next to no evidence to convict those on trial, this one had plenty of it. In the deep cellars under the tailor’s home, right next to the sewing materials were barrels of human bones.
5. Accounts Of Werewolves: The Young Werewolf
A string of assaults and disappearances of children in Gascony, France in 1603 led to a stunning confession by a boastful teenager, 14-year old Jean Grenier, to having hunted with a pack of nine other wolves by night, terrorizing the town. He claimed that his powers came from a mysterious pelt given to him by a strange man, which would transform him into a Lycan when worn. He even admitted to eating three or four children while in wolf form.
As he was still a child, the courts decided against putting him to death. Enough children had died in the town already. Instead, Grenier was sent to live in a local friary with the hope of being healed by religious teachings.
6. Accounts Of Werewolves: Hey, Here’s An Idea…
If you ever wondered where silver bullets in werewolf lore came from, this might be the root. In the German town of Griefswald in 1640, a pack of werewolves began tormenting the town, picking off its citizens. After the attacks began, a group of townsfolk had gone hunting for these wolves but realized that their regular bullets were not doing the trick. For some unknown reason, they then decided to make silver bullets by melting all of the town’s silver and shaping them into what turned out to be the werewolves’ sole sensitivity and weakness. One can only wonder why this, of any other ideas, came to their minds.
7. Accounts Of Werewolves: Ansbach, Just To Be Sure
Ansbach, Germany was the site of another werewolf haunting in 1685. The town’s mayor was thought to have passed several weeks before the discovery that he was, in fact, alive, and was roaming the streets attacking people in the form of a wolf. Eventually, the wolf in question was killed. People were not sure that its death could be relied upon to keep the creature permanently dead, so they dressed him in the mayor’s clothing and strung him up by the neck in the middle of town. I mean, it’s a werewolf, right? Who can blame them for playing it safe?
8. Accounts Of Werewolves: The Hounds Of Divinity
Jurgenburg, Livonia was the site of arguably the nuttiest explanation of werewolves yet in 1692. When a man named Theiss plead guilty in a trial for lycanthropy, he attempted to convince the court that werewolves were not inherently evil beings. In fact, they were trying to unite to save the country, and potentially the entire world, from evil witches who were supposedly the reason for bad crop seasons and the potential risk of famine.
Theiss told the court that witches would drag the crop to hell, and have them damned to not be fruitful. He claimed werewolves were actually hounds of God who battled the witches on the seasonal change corresponding holidays of Saint John, Saint Lucia, and Pentecost.
The court was not convinced that he was a werewolf even though he confessed to it, but they were certainly sure he was really crazy. They thought a punishment of ten lashings for this madman would do him justice.
Accounts Of Werewolves Throughout History: Conclusion
One does have to wonder how it is that multiple towns across several nations had the human collective conscience of coming up with similar stories about werewolves roaming town streets during a full moon or due to magical talismans, terrorizing humans. It is almost like it’s too linked to be coincidental, right? Does it have you convinced that werewolves might just be real? No? Us either, but as the modern horror scene proves, werewolves have been planted in our mythical lore with enough monster-prowess for their legend to stand the test of time.
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Frequently Asked Questions:
what are werewolves afraid of?
Werewolves, as depicted in folklore and fiction, are not real and therefore do not have fears. In traditional folklore, werewolves were believed to be afraid of silver, as it was thought to have the power to repel or harm them. However, this is just a myth and has no basis in reality.
where do werewolves live?
Werewolves do not actually exist in real life, so they do not have a physical location where they live. They are a fictional creature commonly found in legends, folklore, and modern media. In these stories, werewolves are often depicted as living in forests, wilderness areas, or secluded regions.
do werewolves age?
In fictional depictions of werewolves, their aging can vary depending on the specific story or myth. Some tales suggest that werewolves age normally as humans until they are bitten or transformed into a werewolf, at which point they stop aging or age at a much slower rate.
Hello, and welcome to my blog! My name is Idammah, and I am the founder of this site dedicated to exploring the world's mysteries, uncovering fascinating facts, and delving into science's weird and beautiful aspects. I have always been fascinated by the unknown and the unexplained, and I love nothing more than digging deep to find the answers to some of life's greatest mysteries. Whether it's exploring the depths of the ocean, investigating ancient civilizations, or unraveling the mysteries of the universe, I am always on the hunt for new knowledge and insights. As a self-proclaimed weirdo and science enthusiast, I believe that there is always more to learn and discover, and I am constantly seeking out new and exciting ways to expand my understanding of the world around me. Through FoxPeek blog, I hope to share my love of all things strange and wonderful with like-minded readers and inspire others to embrace their inner curiosity and seek out the world's mysteries for themselves.
