CANNIBALS (True Crime) by Ray Black Read Free Book Online Page A

investigation and torture, confessed, and suffered a vile death at the stake. For those who escaped such a fate, the trauma of interrogation must have left lifetime scars. Here is a collection of some French werewolf trials which have been recorded.
     
    J EAN  G RENIER
     
    In the early spring of 1603 fear spread through the St. Sever districts of Gascony, in the extreme south-west of France. Young children had mysteriously begun to disappear from the hamlets and smaller villages in the area, and no trace was ever found. It seemed no children were safe, and even a baby was stolen from its cradle while its mother went about her work around the cottage where they lived. There was talk in the villages of wolves, but deep down inside the people knew that it was something far more sinister.
    Just when fear was at its height, a 13-year-old girl named Marguerite Poitier came forward to tell of an attack by a savage beast, resembling a wolf, on the night of the full moon. The girl told the Judge that she had been watching her cattle, when a wild beast, not unlike a huge dog, had rushed out from the thicket and tore at her skirt with its sharp, fang-like teeth. She said she had been able to ward off the attack by using a pointed staff which she kept with her.
    Meanwhile a 14-year-old boy, Jean Grenier, was proudly announcing to his fellow villagers that he was in fact the wolf and had hunted down and eaten many young girls. He claimed he could transform himself into a wolf by means of a ‘magic ointment’ and a wolfskin cloak that had been given to him by a black man whom he called ‘Maître de la Forêt’.
    The next girl to come forward with information was 18-year-old Jeanne Gaboriaut. She told the Judge that she had been tending her flock, accompanied by Jean Grenier, both of whom worked for a farmer by the name of Saint-Paul Pierre Combaut. Jean commented that Jeanne was a ‘bonnie lass’ and he vowed that one day he would like to marry her. When she enquired who his father was, he coarsely replied, ‘I am a priest’s bastard’. Jeanne remarked that he was both rude and dirty and would never dream of marrying someone like him. To this he replied, that when he wore the wolf-skin it somehow turned him into a beast that prowled the forests by night. He also told the girl that he belonged to a coven of werewolves and that there were nine other members. He claimed that he lusted after the flesh of small children, which he preferred because they were nice and tender. When he took on his wolf’s shape and he felt hungry, he told her that he often killed dogs and would lap at their hot blood, but it was not as tasty as the flesh of young boys and girls.
    The girl complained to her parents about the behaviour of Jean and told them that he frightened her with his horrible stories. However, her father and mother ignored her accounts until one day she returned home early from watching her flock, and this time she was in a state of complete alarm.
    Sobbing uncontrollably she told her parents once more about the terrible stories that Jean had related to her about acquiring the form of a wolf and eating the flesh of young girls. She said she had been watching her sheep as usual, this time without the company of Jean Grenier, when she heard a rustle in the bushes behind her. On turning around a wild beast rushed towards her and tore at her clothes with its sharp fangs. She managed to beat the creature off by using her shepherd’s staff. The creature retreated a few paces and seated itself on its hind legs like a dog. She fled in terror from the animal which she said resembled a wolf, although it was a little shorter and stouter. It had red hair, a stumpy tail, and the head was considerably smaller than that of a genuine wolf.
    The child’s statement caused panic among the parish, as it was well known that several young girls had vanished under mysterious circumstances of late. The case was immediately taken up by the authorities and