Doing a little Werewolf research and just read a fascinating account of a German farmer in the 16th Century who was also known as the "Werewolf of Bedburg." Apparently, people were disappearing and only parts of their bodies were found, thrashed and masticated. A group of men formed a hunting parting as wolves were thought to be the culprit and when they cornered a particularly large wolf, it calmly stood on its hind feet and became a man: Peter Stubbe (also Stumpp, and various other aliases, including Abal Griswold...go figure). In any case, he was put on The Wheel and tortured and eventually confessed to the murders and cannibalization of some 15 or 16 people, one of whom was his own son who Stubbe admitted to dragging into the woods and cracking his skull open before eating the child's brains.
The entire account was recorded in a pamphlet that was subsequently translated into English. The German pamphlets were all destroyed, but three of the English versions remain in various libraries in the United Kingdom. The pamphlet details Stubbe's testimony in which he claims to have made a pact with the Devil, who gifted to him a belt made of wolf skin. This belt is what gave Stubbe the ability to turn into a giant wolf and carry out his horrific deeds...
More online all over the place, just thought I'd wet your appetite!
Enjoy!
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Intriguing! But, like so many of these historical accounts, it begs several questions:
ReplyDelete1) Was Stubbe just delusional or cunning in his confession, playing on superstition and fear to feed his delusion/ego?
2) What ever became of this wolf-skin belt?
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio...
That's exactly the point! Most, if not all, accounts of werewolves come back to the question of insanity or clinical lycanthropy. Whether he was crazy, cunning, or just plain psychotic...or a werewolf for that matter, doesn't make the story any less intriguing.
ReplyDeleteAnd the belt...I don't want to say any more about it because I'm working on a new project...and the belt is pivotal. = )
If my name was Stubb I might eat my child's brain. Wait! The name I carried from my German ancestors was hideously close to that! Beware.
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