Morbid History | Peter Stumpp, the Devil and the Werewolf Trials of Europe

It’s one of the most famous occult trials in history and it took place 100 years before the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. In Europe during the 1500s, on top of having to deal with the black plague, men and a few women were convicted of transforming into werewolves and mutilating and eating adults and children.

However, there is one case in Germany that stands out more than the others because of its brutality and the eventual gruesome execution of the alleged werewolf, Peter Stumpp. William Peter Blatty’s, the author of The Exorcist even references Stumpp in his book.

For months, something was slaughtering the goats and sheep at night in Bedburg, Germany and leaving the carnage for local farmers to wake up to. Their bodies were torn apart and their insides were now on the outside.

Wolves were the obvious predator because they were prevalent in the area, but soon local children started to disappear from their homes and women were disappearing as they walked from one place to another.

Some of their bodies were also found mutilated along the road, if they were found at all. They victims had been strangled, disemboweled, bludgeoned, torn apart, and eaten. Some were even concerned that it was something more sinister like a werewolf, who could walk amongst them unsuspected while in human form.

==========

https://www.faculty.umb.edu/gary_zabel/Courses/Phil%20281b/Philosophy%20of%20Magic/Arcana/Witchcraft%20and%20Grimoires/weredoc.html
https://the-line-up.com/werewolf-of-bedburg
‘A German werewolf's 'confessions' horrified 1500s Europe’
https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2022/10/a-german-werewolfs-confessions-horrified-1500s-europe
https://theravenreport.com/2017/09/18/how-the-werewolf-of-bedburg-passed-from-man-to-myth/
https://archive.org/details/TheWerewolfInLoreAndLegend/page/n283/mode/1up?view=theater