Gilles Garnier
| Gilles Garnier | |
|---|---|
| Died | January 18, 1573 |
| Alias(es) | The Hermit of St. Bonnot The Werewolf of Dôle |
| Penalty | Burning at the stake |
Gilles Garnier (died January 18, 1573) was a French hermit and cannibalistic, serial murderer convicted of being a werewolf. Alternately known as "The Hermit of St. Bonnot" and "The Werewolf of Dole".
The Werewolf of Dole, Gilles Garnier was a reclusive hermit living outside the town of Dole in the Franche-Comté Province in France. He had recently been married and moved his new wife out to his isolated home. Being unaccustomed to feeding more than just himself he found it difficult to provide for his wife causing discontent between them. During this period several children went missing or were found dead and the authorities of the Franche-Comté province issued an edict encouraging and allowing the people to apprehend and kill the werewolf responsible. One evening a group of workers traveling from a neighboring town came upon what they thought in the dim light to be a wolf but what some recognized as the hermit with the body of a dead child. Soon after Giles Garnier was arrested.
[edit] Confession
According to his testimony at trial, while Garnier was in the forest hunting one night trying to find food for himself and his wife, a spectre appeared to him offering to ease his troubles and gave him a magic ointment that would allow him to change into the form of a wolf, making it easier to hunt. Garnier confessed to have stalked and murdered at least four children between the ages of 9 and 12. In October 1572, his first victim was a 10-year-old girl whom he dragged into a vineyard outside of Dole. He strangled her, removed her clothes, and ate the flesh from her thighs and arms. When he had finished he removed some flesh and took it home to his wife. Weeks later Garnier savagely attacked another girl, biting and clawing her, but was interrupted by passersby and fled. The girl succumbed to her injuries a few days later. In November, Garnier killed a 10-year-old boy, again cannibalizing him by eating from his thighs and belly and tearing off a leg to save for later. Finally, he strangled another boy but was interrupted for the second time by a group of passersby. He had to abandon his prey before he could eat from it.
Garnier was found guilty of “crimes of lycanthropy and witchcraft” and burned at the stake.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Everitt, David. "Human Monsters: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Most Vicious Murderers", New York: McGraw-Hill 1993, pp. 13–15. ISBN 0809239949
- Schechter, Harold. "The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers", Pocket Books, 2006 ISBN 1416521747
- Sidky, H. "Witchcraft, Lycanthropy, Drugs, and Disease: An Anthropological Study of the European Witch-Hunts." New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. 1997. ISBN 0820433543
- Mackay, Charles "Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds", New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks. 1980. ISBN 1566191696
