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.