what is the origin of the werewolf legends?????
The first documented account of an actual werewolf began in 1591 in Germany; however the fear of wolves started much earlier since villagers tended to live near the woods. It was like a nightmare for the villagers since they would wake up in the morning and find half-eaten limbs scattered across their fields since wolf attacks tended to be frequent. However, these were mere wolves.
The first werewolf account started with a man named Peter Stubbe in a German town called Colongne and Bedburg in 1591. A couple villagers cornered a large wolf and started to attack it with sticks and spears. Suddenly the wolf became a middle-aged man who lived in the village called Peter Stubbe.
When Stubbe was put on a torture wheel, he confessed all his evil crimes. Apparently, Stubbe was responsible for several murders (men, women and children) in the past as well as sorcery. His obsession with dark magicks resulted in a pact with the Devil; hence, his ultimate transformation into a wolf so he could attack his victims with more brutality. Some of his more atrocious acts including roaming fields and raping young girls. He even ate his son’s brain.
For his death, the villagers pulled of Stubbe’s flesh with a hot pincer, broke his arms and legs and decapitated him. Then he was burned to ashes.
And thus, imagery of the werewolf today is often related to savagery and atrocity because of the extent of Stubbe’s evil crimes.
