Jean Grenier was discovered by his stepmother by vomiting up bones and body parts.
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The Jean Grenier werewolf case was a series of interesting events that took place in Landes in southern France. His case was one of the most famous cases in Europe of lycanthropy, a disorder where a person believes that they are a wolf or another wild animal. Jean Grenier was thirteen at the time and had thick, long red hair and a tanish complexion.

Confessions

Two shepherd girls came across the boy sitting on a log. They looked at him and noticed his hair, his fangs sticking out over his lip, and his long, pointed black fingernails that resmembled claws of a bird. His clothing looked like rags, they were dirty and torn and he gave out a loud laugh. He started to talk to the girls, he told them his father was a priest and was trying to determine which of the girls was the prettiest so that he could marry one. He could see the girls were quite scared and told them that he looked like a wolf because he wore a wolf-skin every once in a while. He said that the skin was given to him by a man named Pierre Labourant. He said that Pierre lived in a place with fire and wore an iron chain necklace. Labourant wrapped the skin around Grenier and told him to wear it every Sunday, Monday, and Friday, and also to wear it every other day for about an hour at dusk to turn him into a wolf. He then told the girls, “I have killed dogs and drunk their blood; but little girls taste better, their flesh is tender and sweet, their blood rich and warm. I have eaten many a maiden, as I have been on my raids together with my nine companions. I am a werewolf! Ah, ha! If the sun were to set I would soon fall on one of you and make a meal of you!” With that said the girls quickly ran away.

Marguerite Poirier

Another encounter with him from another thirteen year old was recorded, a girl named Marguerite Poirier. She lived near the village of St. Antoine de Pizon and she often worked with Grenier tending sheep. He would talk to her about eating dogs, drinking blood, and killing little girls. He told Poirier about a girl that he ate, telling her grusesome details, including him giving the remains of the little girl to a nearby wolf. He also told her about a girl that he bit to death and ate everything except for her shoulders and arms.

Poirier was tending sheep alone one day when she was attacked by a wolf wearing clothes, later believed to be Grenier. She tore his clothes as she attacked him with great panic with her shepherd’s staff. She said he backed off but looked at her with rage in his eyes. She said it looked like a wolf but it was shorter, stalkier, had a small head, and red hair with a tiny tail. This incident scared her so bad she left the sheep alone and ran home.

Poirier Describes the Event

After the incident the villagers were scared and noticed a few small girls were missing. Poirier told the villagers about Grenier’s graphic stories that he had told her, which led to an investigation. Grenier was found and arrested. When he was found they discovered he wasn’t the son of a priest at all, he was the son of a poor laborer in St. Antoine de Pizon. Grenier had left home three months earlier and performed odd jobs, along with begging. He then started tending sheep with Poirier, but was slacking caught slacking off.

Grenier goes to Court

In court Grenier told the everyone about him being a werewolf. He started by telling them how it all began, when he was eleven years old. A neighbor took him into the woods to meet a black man named Monsieur de la Forest (Lord of the Forest), who gave them both a wolf-skin and magical ointment. He was told to put the ointment on and the skin to become a werewolf, and he did so from then on.

He admitted to trying to kill Poirier, and told the court about how he ate a white dog by drinking its blood. He injured another dog but was chased off by the owner. He also admitted to killing an infant sleeping in her cradle, he ate her and shared her with another wolf. He also devoured a shepherd girl and another child standing by a bridge. He told everyone the Monsieur de la Forest was his master and would tell him when to hunt for children. He was told to would put the ointment on, and to go in the daytime, but sometimes he would also go at night. He was also not allowed to bite off his left thumb nail, it was the longest and thickest nail. He had to keep it in sight when he was a wolf.

One night after being a wolf he ate a dog and a child, when he went home he got sick and threw up. His stepmother went to clean it up and saw that there were dog paws and children’s finger in it. This made her leave for good. He also said that his father had a wolf skin and both went out one night and ate a girl tending her geese in Grilland. His father was dismissed from court, there was no other evidence against him.

Many of the details about the attacks were matched up with wounds. The president of the court thought that Grenier had something wrong with him and suffered from hallucinations and didn’t believe that he was directed by the devil. He was given life imprisonment in a monastery in Bordeaux, where he would recieve a religious direction.

Seclusion

When he first arrived he ran around on his hands and knees and ate raw bloody intestines. Seven years in the monastery he was visited by Pierre Delancre, a demonologist. Grenier had changed since then, both mind and appearance. He told him his story and how the Lord of the Forest came and visited him twice in the monastery, but kept him away with a cross. Not long after the visit Jean Grenier died at age 20.

Gilles Garnier, a hermit accused of being a werewolf.
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The Gilles Garnier werewolf case took place in 1873. Gilles Garnier was described as an old hermit that lived in the forest near Amanges, France with his wife, Apolline. He was described as having a long beard, pale face, walked with a hunch, and had a pale complexion. The town only saw him around, he rarely spoke to any of the townspeople and wasn’t a suspect until later in the werewolf attacks that occurred in the area.

The Attacks

In the fall of 1873, a few reports of missing children and witnesses telling parliament that a werewolf took the children to Dole. The authorities ordered the peasants to hunt the werewolf down. On November 8th a scream was heard from deep in the woods from a girl, which caught the curiosity of the local peasants. When they reached the child they saw her trying to defend herself against the wolf. The wolf was scared off into the woods and a few of the peasants thought that the wolf had the same features of the hermit, Gilles Garnier.

The Confession

On November 14th, a ten-year old boy went mysteriously missing and Gilles was captured and immediately put on trial. He and his wife both confessed that he was a werewolf. He talked about how he also attacked and killed a 12-year old back in September. He took her clothes off, chewed up, and ate the girl’s legs and arms. He enjoyed the taste so much that he brought some meat back for his wife. He also admitted to attacking another young girl and later strangling a ten-year old to death and enjoyed eating his legs, arms, and belly. He also killed a young teen boy, he didn’t get to eat him because he was scared off by some peasants. The men that claimed to have seen him all said that they saw him in human form, not in wolf form. He was then sentenced to death, where he was burned alive.

Fire can hide many crimes.
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Also Known As: Gilles de Rais, Marechal de Retz

Introduction

The Gilles de Laval was a murder case from the 15th century. Gilles de Laval was a French nobleman and the oldest son of Guy de Laval, a noble of Brittany, France. Gilles inherited his father’s estate at the age of 20 and married a wealthy woman named Catharine de Thouars in 1420. His grandmother died in 1432 and his fortune increased. He had a spending problem and most of his money was gone in less than two years. He sold much of his land but spent alot of time in his Castle of Machecoul which had a moat surrounding the castle. The drawbridge would come down and servants would give the poor food and money. Rumors went around the town about children who went to beg were led into the kitchen and never came back out.

The Accusations

In 1440 Gilles was accused of murdering children and performing sacrificial rituals to the devil. The matter reached the Duke of Brittany, but he just ignored it for a little while. But he then finally he agreed to arrest him and have him taken to court. His servants and wife all left except for two, Henriet and Pontou. Henriet was believed to be his mistress. Parents began to testify against him telling the judges that they haven’t seen their children since they went to that castle. They believed their children were murdered then burned.

A Letter

The investigators told the testimonies to the duke of Brittany. The duke didn’t know what to do, that is until he recieved a strange letter in the mail from Gilles himself confessing to the gruesome crimes. He wanted to spend the rest of his life in a Carmelite monastery and all of his money to go to the poor.

His trial was on October in 1440, where he was said to have mental instabilities. He told the court that he would concentrate on God and dressed in all white like a Carmelite. He was charged with murdering over 200 children and burning each and every one in his giant fireplace. After it was said he was guilty he denied everything, saying everything was false.

Unknown to him Henriet and Pontou confessed to helping him with all the crimes. Henriet said she helped remove all of the children’s corpses, which were in the Castle of Chantonce, owned by Gilles, and were taken to Machecoul where they were burned. It was said that the children were killed in a particular room where Henriet and other servants tortured the children and would stab them in the jugular so that the blood would splatter. Gilles would stand underneath and take a blood shower. After they died Gilles would cry and pray in his bed while the ashes were hurled out the window into the moat. Other bodies were severely burned they were stashed in a hayloft at Castle Marchecoul.

The story that she told in the court room was so grotesque and many didn’t believe her. She told them that it was true and he enjoyed chopping the children’s heads off. She said he was inspired by the Roman Empire and took great pleasure in torturing and killing children. The minute after he read about the Romans he started committing murders. She also described in great detail how he would sit on the child’s chest and cut the throat half-way and would take the blood and rub it on his beard and hands. He would order the servants to hang the infants until almost dead, take them down and cut their throats open. She confessed that a little girl was crying on the steps because she recently lost her mother, he brought the little girl in and brutally killed her. Her body was thrown out of the tower, but somehow her body got caught on a nail and anyone could see it. Pontou had to go down on a rope and take the body down.

The Trial

His trial was October 24th, he thought he would be able to retire to a monastery. When he learned what Henriet and Pontou said about him, he was in shock. It got to him and he finally broke down and confessed to everything. He told everyone he cut throats, strangled children, chopped off their heads with cleavers, bashed their skulls with a hammer, and would cut them open to examine their organs. He told the jury he killed about 800 people, about 120 of those were done in a single year. He confessed to being involved with the devil, which they considered witchcraft. His trial lasted a few hours, he tried to bribe them with giving them everything he owned to go to the monastery and was denied.

Gilles gets his wish

On October 26th, the two servants were hanged and burned and their ashes were thrown in the wind. Gilles preached to the public about God and resisting the devil before burning to death. His body was taken down before it was all gone in the fire and was placed in a coffin . It was carried away by six Carmelites and six women in white robes. His dream of going to the monastery was fullfilled, they took his remains to the monastery.

The gandillon werewolf of France.
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The strange case of the Gandillon werewolf took place in France in 1598. The events started when a young girl named Pernette from the Gandillon family walked around on her hands and knees believing that she was a wolf. She roamed around the woods one day acting like a wolf and came across a boy and girl, both brother and sister, picking berries. Pernette went crazy for blood and started to attack the girl. The girl’s little brother, aged four years old, grabbed a knife and tried to protect his sister while getting a huge gash on his neck but both made it out of the woods alive. They told the townspeople what happened and a mob of peasants went after Pernette and destroyed her.

Not very long afer the incident, Pernette’s brother Pierre, kidnapped children and took them to witch sabbats. He was said to have an ointment that he received from the devil that made him transform into a wolf. When he was a wolf he would run around killing people and animals, and to turn back into a human he would roll in the wet grass. He wasn’t the only one that used the ointment, his son also claimed that he used it and killed two goats. Once the spirit becomes the animal, the body lies in bed in a trance. They were both accused of witchcraft, and both had scratches all over their bodies and bite marks. The two men were taken into prison where they didn’t turn into wolves, but they did run about on all fours howling uncontrollably. It was believed they couldn’t take the shape of a wolf because they didn’t have access to the ointment.Pierre’s daughter also confessed that she sold her soul to the devil who took the form of a black cat.

The Beast of Gevaudan reigned terror on France for 3 years in the 18th century until it was killed.

Introduction

The Beast of Gevaudan was a mysterious creature that struck terror into the heart of Gevaudan, France in the 18th century. There was an estimate of 210 attacks, which resulted in 113 deaths, 49 injuries July 1764 to June 1767. Up to 98 of the slain victims were partly eaten, while the rest of the slain were mutilated beyond recognization. Some people believed it to be two smaller wolves, while others believed it was a liger (tiger and lion offspring) or a hyena. But others claimed that the beast was a gigantic wolf. It was described as having reddish fur, as big as a donkey, having a massive jaw, and a furry tail.

The Attacks

The first attack occurred on June 1st 1764, when a woman saw the Beast come out of the forest. Just as fast as she spotted it, it began to charge at her. She narrowly escaped and she provided the first description of the creature. The first death caused by the creature occurred on June 30. A woman named Jeanne Boulet was found in a field. The scariest thing was the fact that the beast seemed to go after people more than the farm animals. For example, in many circumstances, a person would be found dead and partially eaten in a field full of livestock, all of which were untouched.

The beast was thought to be MUCH larger than the average wolf.

The continued attacks began to create fear in the hearts of many French people. No one in rural areas would go outside alone. Eventually, the widespread panic got the attention of King Louis XV. He sent out professional wolf hunters numbering over 20,000 to hunt down all the wolves in France. They tried many different methods, from metal trapping to poisoning and old fashioned hunting. Thousands upon thousands of wolves were slain, but it didn’t seem to stop the pandemic.

The Escalating Attacks

After the wolf massacre occurred, the attacks continued and eventually they became fiercer than ever. In one week alone the Beast killed and ate four people. A woman, and eight-year old child, a 15-year old girl, and another unidentified person were all found tore to shreds. The bodies of these people were so badly eaten that some of the pieces found were too small for burial. One victim almost went completely unidentified, but they managed to identify her by her eyes. Most of the victims were children. In the rare occasions that it was an adult, it was most likely a woman.

Conclusion

The peasants were beginning to think that the Beast was a werewolf sorcerer and would never be killed,until eventually, the killings ceased. Two possible suspects for the beast of Gevaudan were two large wolves. On September 21, 1766, a large male wolf was killed, and in June 1767, a very large female wolf was killed. The wolves had very unusual markings and coloration. Even though the wolf attacks stopped in Gevaudan after the slaying of the two large wolves, other wolf attacks have been reported in France up until 1954.