You are likely familiar with the Salem witch trials of 1692, in which a pair of young girls accused three local women of witchcraft, sparking a hysteria that would consume colonial Massachusetts over the next year.
But did you know that centuries before, Europe had its own trials involving the supernatural? Back then, it was a different culprit: werewolves.
A Brief History of Werewolves
Although largely associated with the Middle Ages, werewolf folklore can be traced back to at least the time of the ancient Greeks. Herodotus, in Histories, wrote of a tribe in Scythia that was transformed into wolves once per year. And even within Greek mythology, King Lycaon of Arcadia is turned into a wolf by Zeus after testing his omnipotence by serving him human remains.
But the time period most closely associated with werewolves is the Middle Ages – and for good reason: there’s evidence to suggest that belief in werewolves was common throughout Europe during this time.
Although recognized as dangerous, they were often viewed with a sympathetic eye because their transformations were out of their control. Werewolves were desperate to stop their affliction and protect their family and neighbors from themselves.
However, somewhere along the way, commoners lost their sympathy for werewolves. During the 15th century in Valais, Switzerland, what is believed to be one of the first werewolf trials took place.
Witches and werewolves alike were blamed for particularly poor crops one year, and soon after, pretty much every other bad thing that happened to anyone at any time. Livestock died? Had to be werewolves. Sick? Werewolves and witches did that. Impotent? Uh, a witch did that… sure.
Not Lycan This
From there, accusations of werewolfery spread throughout Europe. Wolf attacks on both livestock and people (a somewhat common fact of life in this era) were blamed on werewolves.
In 1521, the Pope himself got involved; Inquisitors he appointed presided over trials for those accused of being a werewolf. Two men, Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun, were tortured into a shocking confession.
The men admitted that they sold their souls to Satan, could transform into werewolves, and ritualistically ate children. They were promptly burned at the stake.
Some scholars believe that blaming werewolves was a way for the public to rationalize disturbing serial killings. Two infamous alleged serial killers of the era – a German farmer named Peter Stumpp and a French hermit named Gilles Garnier – were accused of werewolfery and executed.
Under fear of torture, Stumpp confessed to killing fourteen children and two pregnant women. In detail, he described eating the fetus’s hearts, which he allegedly described as “dainty morsels.” Rather than come to grips with human evil so deep, one could see how it might be easier to blame it on werewolves and call the matter settled.
Because it’s been so long and we can’t exactly call Forensic Files in to sort this whole thing out, whether these men were guilty of their crimes or merely confessed under extreme duress might never be known. And thankfully, werewolf accusations have really petered out these last few centuries.
However, the phenomenon of blaming evil behavior on supernatural forces doesn't appear to have gone away. Just a few years ago, Pope Francis made headlines when he declared that the devil was responsible for the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal.
What is your reaction?
33 comments
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Danielle Edwina Marie Shull
The unvaccinated are the Jewish( parts of the world detaining families, talk of removing children and emptying of bank accounts. let's learn from tragedy and try understanding differences in beliefs. Just because someone's beliefs aren't the majority it certainly does not make them wrong.
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Ronald Raymond Williams Jr
Satan/AntiChrist hasn’t come yet. All these humans doing evil things in the name of God or country, (or both) is humans delving into their lower selves. However, Satan as an entity is real. Evil is an entity, and Satan is evil. We can’t explain infinity with an finite mind. Most people can’t grasp it. If you don’t believe in something (a Higher, All Powerful Being that created you, no matter how, in perfectness) through your personal triumphs and lessons, then you are unlovable. You have no morals and you are short minded. Your life really ends here. On earth. What hope do you have in really being happy as a good person? You are selfish. To not give praise to The One GOD is utterly stupid. Everything in existence is due to GOD. What scientist find out about any history, animal, dna, or futuristic, it was already perfect before us, & will be perfect after us. Remember, there’s only one of you & me. Anything like you is called a clone. Thank GOD for that!!! Amen.
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P. Keith Benefiel
What is everybody's favorite werewolf movie? I like "The Werewolf", 1954
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Victor Marcus Monroe
All one has to do is look into the mirror and understand why people want to believe in something bigger than them. Humans will find a way to replace their ugly nature by blaming something on anything else but themselves. It's why we can never be on the same page in our existence. All it takes is for someone with enough narcissism and a thought to convince others this is the right way to act or speak.
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Rev. BH
So now we believe in satanic child eating pedophiles and reptilian overlords. Has anything changed?
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Norma Battes
" Has anything changed? " Well, he was voted out last November.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
You are describing the Catholic church. They've been doing this for 2,000 years, nothing new.
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Father Frederick
Theology and opinion on Halloween aside, I'm in it for the Kit-Kats. Optional Reece's Peanut Butter Cups run a strong second.
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
The Howling was a good movie.
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Greg Formoe
Confessions from long ago were the result of torture, they mean only that evil people ran the church at the time.
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Shango MasterExorcist, D.D.
Since I keep a bowl of chili falvored chocolate by the bed, never been bothered by a werewolf even once.
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Norma Battes
And as an exorcist, what are you bothered by?
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Mark Hannon
Isn't it strange how easy it is to make people believe someone or some group would want to eat children? Children are so often and easily abused by their parents we should really be more wary of parents.
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Rev. Dr. G. Waldron
Yes, Q’s and some Republicans believe Democrats east children. With Trump spreading lies and getting such a cult religion following, I now can see how easy it is to convert, even normally rational, people to such extremes. I would have thought in America it couldn’t happen, but then see how quickly Hitler came to power and destroyed so many people and his country.
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Leona Weisenbach
Both the Republican's and the Democratic are both cult's. But we had world peace with Trump... Biden is nothing more than another Hitler...
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Norma Battes
Ms. Leona, when was the last time you recall Nazi's parading through the streets of America? When was the last time a "tour" in Congress got hundreds of arrests and a fatality within it's halls? All for the expressed purpose of stopping the election of a United States President? If that was peace..., Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!
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Tracy Lea Lemons
Amen!
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Mark Hannon
Jewish people were often accused of killing and eating children in history. My grandparents were taken in by Hitler in the 1930's, I'm not proud to say. Fortunately they came to realize their mistaken trust but they, and my mother, were still annoyed after the war was over that people from the concentration camps often were given food and rations before other Germans were.
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Krystina S.
Leona, false equivalency ("whataboutism") creates a nihilistic situation in which nobody can accurately depict one side without some imagined equivalent on other side. It is unimaginative and stifles intelligent debate. You are also playing the "Hitler" card with Biden, which makes NO sense at all. Which you would know if you actually were concerned with facts. Per usual, the U.S. far right goes after the current president with nonsense. Tracy Lea, shame on you for your pseudoreligious outburst of agreement. I mean, really. Norma, thank you for using actual facts and real events to show the inane Leona statement.
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Rev. SolomonSaint
trump is that false prophet; for more info, consult your local church library...
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Douglas Robert Spindler
If it repeated often enough, people believe. There was a time when you had to believe in God and the Bible or die. I don't think there were many non-believers around after that.
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Nicholas J Page
Werewolves, Witches etc are all a myth stories that's all they are written by fanatic authors.I mean come on who believes all that ,No scientific proof No DNA no witnesses all stories passed down from generation to generation. Besides it's not catalogued.Same as Vampires, Frankenstein etc all written by authors
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Same goes for God and Gods. Please explain how a virgin pregnancy and birth occurs in humans?
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Greg Formoe
Read the Urantia book, it explains it all. Many things about Jesus were distorted. It was a normal birth, with an extremely rare double personality implant, he was literally fully hum and fully divine at the same time, but his divinity was revealed slowly over time as he first mastered his human mind. The wine happened, walking on water was a dream, feeding the thousands happened, and the full story about the temple and the moneychangers spoke to his disgust at religion being commercialized.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
@Greg I agree with you when you say many things about Jesus were distorted. At the time Jesus was a very common name and there were many Jesuses. What's written in the Bible is a composite of many of the Jesuses who were alive at the time. Some of them were doing magic tricks.
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John P Maher
WEREWOLFE? THERE WOLF ! FULL MOON BABY THATs MY BOWL of WOLF EATs !
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Lionheart
That doesn’t surprise me that Pope Francis blamed everything on a mythical creature called the Devil, rather than accept responsibility for those Christian’s under his leadership.
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Bruce Kuppersmith'
I think this Pope is a Globalist Demon I used to be a Cathokic I was raised Catholic but turned away from it in disgust over toleration of paedophile pervert priests abusing boys. These are not moral religious men they are scum. This sub human continues the tradition of making a mockery of Christianity by providing cover for Satanists and chikd rapists
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Lionheart
But, isn’t your jealous god also lacking in morals by his infanticide, and genocidal dealings over millennia, along with his other anger management issues dealing with people he is supposed to have created?
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Leona Weisenbach
Spot on..
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Norma Battes
Those weren't Christians.
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Lionheart
Correct, true Christian’s that believe in doing things that their god approves of would be stoning people to death that went against their gods edict’s, and having slaves.
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Let’s give European Christians, the proper credit, whenever proper credit might be due — as it saith, in the Christian Bible (but not the patriotic Thomas Jefferson Bible) “thalt shalt not suffer a witch to live” — was taken to mean, what it was clearly meant to mean, to the believing Christians who actually accepted that there were real alive witches, especially witches who controlled large amounts of material goods, cash, and property. So when contemporary clergy, identified anyone whose property would be better used by them (the clergy) than it might have been used by the rightful owner, accused of being a witch, doing so was the eminent domain tactic of its time. And, one thing is clear, the European Christian’s rid Europe of its witches, by exiling some of them to places, such as Salem (which might explain, the sighting of witches in today’s USA).