Werewolves: Legends, Cases, Theories
There are also psychological theories. Victims could be suffering from schizophrenic delusions. Another theory is that they are driven by subhuman urges and they wish to escape and, in their minds, become animals to they can fulfill these desires without guilt. Lycanthropy is considered to be a mental illness in which the victims are driven to kill. Two psychiatrists, Frida G. Surawicz and Richard Banta believe lycanthropy is a very severe form of depersonalization which can be triggered by paranoid schizophrenia, drug abuse, brain damage or other causes.
Cases and Sightings
In the 1500s, a hunter was attacked by a huge wolf and he cut off its paw. The wolf escaped. The hunter put the paw in his pouch and went to a friend's house. When he pulled it out to show a friend, he found a woman's hand with a ring on it. His friend recognized the ring as his wife's. They found the wife and talked to her, they discovered she had lost her hand. She confessed to attacking the hunter, while she was in the form of a wolf. She was burned to death.
Pierre Bourgot of Poligny was brought to trial in 1521. The trial is recorded.
He was a shepherd and confessed that 19 years earlier, there was a terrible storm and his flock scattered. Three black horsemen appeared. Bourgot told them what happened. A few days later, one of them returned and told him that if he would become a servant of the devil, he would be given wealth and protection. Bourgot agreed.
In the shapes of wolves, Bourgot and another werewolf, Michel Verdung roamed the countryside and committed many savage murders. Their spree ended when Verdung attacked a traveler who fought back and wounded him while in the form a wolf. He loped into the woods. The traveler followed the trail of blood until he came to a hut. He found Verdung in human form having the wound tended to by his wife.
Bourgot, Verdung and a lesser werewolf were executed.
In 1573, a French village near Dole was terrorized. One day, a group of villagers surprised an enormous wolf horrifying a child. They noticed the facial resemblance to a recluse, Gilles Garnier.
They apprehended him and brought him to trial. Garnier lived in poverty and hunger. He admitted to having made a pact with the devil. He was burned to death.
Jean Grenier, a homeless youth, tried in 1603. He confessed to
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