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.