The French werewolf epidemic, which between 1520 and 1630, resulted in the execution of more than 30,000 individuals was the result of a link forged between the werewolf and a new, more aggressive attitude toward witchcraft arising in ecclesiastic councils taking place in Basel Switzerland in the 1430s. The first regions in France to begin prosecutions were therefore naturally those adjacent to Switzerland. Many there were overseen by Henry Bouguet, a judge who tried approximately 600 witchcraft cases in the locality.
In the 1521, Jean Boin, sometimes written Jean Bodin, Inquisitor of Besancon, brought three men to trial for murder, torture, having made a pact with the devil, and lycanthropy. These men became known as the werewolves of Poligny. One of these men was Michel Verdun, self-proclaimed werewolf.
These men came under suspicion when a traveler passing through the area was attacked by a wolf. While defending himself, he was able to wound the animal, forcing it to retreat to a thicket after he fought off. Following the trail of the injured creature, hoping to prevent the angry wolf surprising him again further along his route, the man came upon a hut where he found a local resident, Michel Verdun, under the care of his wife, who was washing a wound on his body.
The man became convinced that Verdun was able to transform himself from human to wolf, and something in between. Believing Verdun’s injury to be a sympathetic wound, the man notified the authorities. The story spread like wildfire, and Verdun was charged with lycanthropy. Arrested and tortured, Verdun admitted that he was a shape-shifter; he also revealed the names of his two werewolf accomplices, as well as confessing to hideous crimes: diabolism, murder, and eating human flesh.
Their trial by the Inquisition drew throngs of people. During Verdun’s trial, Verdun confessed to having renounced God and swore to serve the devil. He named two accomplices to his horrific deeds–Philibert Montot (who never confessed to lycanthropy) and Pierre Bourgot alias ‘Gros [fat] Pierre’. Bourgot also claimed to be a werewolf.
Bourgot said that one night in 1502 he was struggling to herd his flock of sheep during a thunderstorm when three riders dressed in black approached. Bourgot told them that he was fearful that his sheep would be taken by predators. One of the riders said that if Bourgot would acknowledge him as his lord and master, none of the sheep would be lost. This he did, renouncing God and kissing the rider’s corpse-cold hand.
Bourgot corroborated the account involving Verdun, and said at trial that Verdun had taken him to Sabbat where They each had a candle of green wax which gave off a dark blue flame; they would go to the edge of the woods, light the candles, and perform dances and sacrifices to the devil after which they spread an “ointment” on themselves which turned them into bloodthirsty werewolves. the two werewolves together waged a campaign of bloody violence against unwary travelers and children in the district.
In that form, Bourgot confessed to killing a seven-year old boy tearing him to pieces before the alarm was raised. Verdun admitted that he had killed a young girl who was picking peas in a garden as well as eaten four other girls. They also ate a little girl whole, save only an arm, and killed agricultural workers indiscriminately. Bourgot also confessed to tearing out a 9-year-old boy’s throat with his teeth.
Their chief motivation in procuring only free-range meat was the taste of warm blood, which they would lap up like a kitten with a saucer of milk. Shockingly, they also confessed to bestiality: Bourgot and Verdun would seek out she-wolves and stated that they preferred fornicating with the beasts than human women.
Convicted of lycanthropy and murder–all three men were burned at stake. Verdun’s wife was also convicted, although there was never any evidence provided that she could shape-shift like Verdun and the others. But the high court wanted to be sure.
Sources: Summers, Montague. The Werewolf. London, 1933. Reprint, New York: University Books, 1966. Michael R. Lynn, The Sublime Invention: Ballooning in Europe, 1783‐1820, https://thrillvania.com/haunted-house-stories/legend-werewolf-michel-verdun/, http://www.werewolfpage.com/myths/verdun.htm, Jay M. Smith, Monsters of the Gévaudan: The Making of a Beast (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2011).
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