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Gilles Garnier | |
|---|---|
| Died | 18 January 1573 |
| Cause of death | burned at the stake |
| Other names | The Hermit of St. Bonnot The Werewolf of Dôle |
| Criminal penalty | Burning at the stake |
Gilles Garnier (died 18 January 1573) was a French serial killer, cannibal, and hermit convicted of being a werewolf. He was 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 travelling from a neighbouring town came upon what they thought in the dim light to be a wolf but what some recognised as the hermit with the body of a dead child. Soon after, Gilles Garnier was arrested.
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 an ointment that would allow him to change into the form of a wolf, making it easier to hunt. Garnier confessed to having 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 passers-by and fled. The girl succumbed to her injuries a few days later. In November, Garnier killed a 10-year-old boy, again cannibalising him by eating from his thighs and belly and tearing off a leg to save for later. He strangled another boy but was again interrupted by a group of passers-by. He had to abandon his prey before he could eat from it. In 1572, he brutally attacked an unknown boy who was passing by and tore him in half by biting and tearing at his belly. In 1573, he strangled a girl, ate her flesh, tore away her left leg and took it to his wife.
Garnier was found guilty of "crimes of lycanthropy and witchcraft" and burned at the stake on January 18, 1574. [1] Even though Garnier was burned at the stake, his trial was done by the secular authorities and not by the Inquisition, as superstition was not judged by the Inquisition. [2] [3] More than 50 witnesses deposed that he had attacked and killed children in the fields and vineyards, devouring their raw flesh. He was sometimes seen in human shape, and sometimes as a "loup-garou". [4]
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