What do we know about werewolves? Their existence has not been scientifically proven, but throughout history many werewolves have been recognized. We will tell you about the most famous ones.
Werewolf of Bedburg
Peter Stump (Stump, Stamp, Stumpf) was recognized as a werewolf in 1589. At the trial, he confessed to killing 16 people, two of whom were pregnant women. Peter claimed that the devil himself gave him a belt, putting on which, he turned into a wolf, insatiable and bloodthirsty. He also said that the devil several times sent a succubus to him, with whom Peter communicated.
On October 31, 1589, Peter Stam was executed by the wheel. Then his mistress and daughter followed him.
Despite Stump's confessions, not everything is clear with his story. There is a version that the trial of the "werewolf" was a show trial showing the strength of the Catholic Church. At that time, in Cologne, there was a heated struggle between Protestants and Catholics, and Stump, apparently, took the side of the "new believers".
Be that as it may, but the name of Peter Stump even became part of the musical culture. The American band Macabre recorded a song about him called "The Werewolf of Bedburg".
Promotional video:
Wolf from Ansbach
The story of the wolf from Ansbach clearly shows how humans are able to personify evil. The hunt for the wolf that terrorized Ansbach lasted more than one month. During this time, people began to suspect of werewolves not just anyone, but the mayor of the city himself. It so happened that the death of the hated mayor and the capture of the wolf occurred almost at the same time. For the residents of Ansbach, this was proof that the wolf and the recently deceased mayor are one person.
Therefore, the wolf was not just killed. Already dead, he was hanged, dressed in the costume of the former mayor, and glued to the wolf's mouth with a beard so that the resemblance was quite obvious. The residents of Ansbach did not stop there. A dead wolf in a mayor's suit was also put on public display in the city museum.
Man from the forest
Unlike the other werewolves featured in the material, Petrus Gonzalez was not a brutal killer. Moreover, his portrait is even presented in the House of Lords, and Petrus himself was awarded an audience with the French king Henry II. The king sent Gonzalez to the court of the stadtholder of the Netherlands, Margaret of Parma.
Petrus, obviously, had hypertrichosis, that is, hair all over his body, but popular rumor unambiguously dubbed him a werewolf. He was called "the wolf man" and "the man from the forest."
Gonzalez even got married, and some of his children inherited a rare disease from their father. Italian scientist Ulysse Aldrovandi became interested in this phenomenon, for whom the Gonzalez family became objects of research.
Allariz Werewolf
The story of Manuel Blanco Romasant is unique in that he himself recognized himself as a werewolf, as well as the fact that the circumstances of his death are still unknown.
He was born in 1789, worked as a tailor, was widowed at 24 and decided to become a traveling salesman.
He made friends with various women who soon simply disappeared. At the same time, he diligently supported the legend of his trustworthiness, wrote letters on behalf of his female partners and told them how well they were living.
The fatal mistake was that he began to sell the clothes of his victims.
He began serving his first term back in 1844, he was accused of murdering a constable and given 10 years, he did not serve the full term. Romasanta did not deviate from his gloomy craft and was captured in 1852.
He pleaded guilty to 13 murders, depicted in court how he became a werewolf. The court found him guilty of nine deaths. The public demanded the death sentence, but it was postponed, as the doctor Phillips decided to investigate the "werewolf from Allariz" and wrote a petition to the Queen.
The queen ordered to transfer Romasanta to Selanov's prison … and here the biography of Manuel Blanco ends, since no documents about his stay there have been preserved.
Livonian werewolf
In 1692, a trial took place over perhaps the most original "werewolf" - the 80-year-old Tiss, who recognized himself as a werewolf and assured him that he was a "good werewolf", "a hound of God."
Tiss vividly told that he had teamed up with other shipwrels and would fight with them in hell against the devil and witches himself.
The court, however, did not find a single evidence of werewolf Tissa and, since no crimes were established behind him, confined itself to an indicative flogging of the extravagant old man and his exile.
This episode in the history of shapeshifting has become the basis of a number of scientific articles.