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Revenants

Werewolves

Belief in people turning into wolves is as old as Europe, but in the 16th and 17th centuries it took on a very real form: in Germany and France dozens of 'werewolves' were tried and executed after confessing under torture to murder and cannibalism. This group also includes the Beast of Gévaudan, which killed over a hundred people in the 1760s. Historians see serial killers, mental illness, rabies and real wolf attacks behind these cases.

cases
10
years
1573–2026

Unexplained: 1 Disputed: 4 Legend: 1 Explained: 4

  1. 16th century

    1. 1573–1574 Werewolves · Disputed Gilles Garnier – the Werewolf of Dole Dole, Franche-Comté, France A hermit near Dole confessed that an ointment from a spectre turned him into a wolf in which form he killed children – he was burned in January 1574.
    2. 1589 Werewolves · Disputed Peter Stumpp – the Werewolf of Bedburg Bedburg, Rhineland, Germany A wealthy farmer confessed under torture to turning into a wolf with a magic belt – he was executed in Bedburg on 31 October 1589.

  2. 17th century

    1. 1603 Werewolves · Explained Jean Grenier – the Teenage Werewolf of Gascony Parlement of Bordeaux (Palais de l'Ombrière), Bordeaux, France A young shepherd claimed he attacked girls wearing a wolfskin – instead of the stake, the Bordeaux court sentenced him to life in a friary.
    2. 1685 Werewolves · Explained The Wolf of Ansbach Dressed as an Official Neuses near Windsbach, Principality of Ansbach (Franconia), Germany Locals believed a child-killing wolf was the reincarnation of a hated official – after the hunt they dressed the carcass in his clothes and hanged it from a gibbet.
    3. 1691–1692 Werewolves · Explained Thiess of Kaltenbrun – the “Hound of God” of Livonia Jürgensburg (Zaube), Swedish Livonia, Latvia An old man in his eighties told a court that as a werewolf he went down to Hell to fight witches for the harvest – and called himself a “hound of God.”

  3. 18th century

    1. 1764–1767 Werewolves · Disputed The Beast of Gévaudan Sogne d'Auvers near Mont Mouchet, Haute-Loire, France For three years an unknown predator killed shepherd girls and children in the hills of Gévaudan – King Louis XV sent his best hunters after it.

  4. 19th century

    1. 1852–1853 Werewolves · Explained Manuel Blanco Romasanta – the Werewolf of Allariz Allariz, province of Ourense, Galicia, Spain A travelling pedlar confessed to thirteen murders but claimed he killed as a wolf because of a curse – the Allariz trial is unique in Spanish legal history.

  5. 1900–1909

    1. 1907–present Werewolves · Legend The Seventh Son and the President – Argentina's “Werewolf Law” Casa Rosada, Buenos Aires, Argentina Since 1907 Argentina's president has stood godparent to seventh sons. People say it is protection against the lobizón – the werewolf of Guaraní legend.

  6. 1970–1979

    1. 1971–1972 Werewolves · Disputed The Hexham Heads and the Wolf-Like Figure Rede Avenue, Hexham, Northumberland, United Kingdom After two small stone heads were dug up in a garden, a scholar of Celtic culture said a half-man, half-wolf figure walked through her house.

  7. 1980–1989

    1. c. 1989–present Werewolves · Unexplained The Beast of Bray Road Bray Road near Elkhorn, Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States Drivers on a rural Wisconsin road described a tall, hairy creature with a wolf's head that ran on two legs and lunged at their cars.