2. People Were Killed For Being Werewolves
Werewolves, the terrifying creatures that are a hybrid between man and wolf, or the people who, voluntarily or involuntarily turn into wolves, have long fascinated and terrified those who believe in their existence. The concept of the werewolf dates back at least to ancient Greece, where a myth holds that Zeus turned Pleasgus and his sons into wolves for serving him a boy that had been sacrificed. However, the legend began to take on its pure form in Medieval Europe.
The Icelandic Volsunga Saga tells the story of a father and son who discovered a magical belt that transforms its wearer into a wolf for ten days. The father and son don the strap and, when turned, go on a killing spree as wolves. The carnage ends when the father lethally wounds his son.
In Germany during the 1400s, a man named Peter Stubbe was “caught” transforming from his human form into the figure of a wolf. The village of Bedburg had been experiencing a spate of gruesome killings, which were blamed on Stubbe. He was imprisoned, tried, and tortured into confession to the murder of both people and animals. He went on to be executed and is today remembered as history’s most notorious werewolf.
In the 16th and 17th century, at least three Frenchmen were killed for allegedly claiming to have a special potion, given to them by the devil, which turned them into wolves. They used their wolf-like characteristics to kill children, even their own.