The Truth Behind Europe's Werewolf Trials Is Brutal

You've heard of the Salem Witch Trials and the Spanish Inquisition, but did you know that people who lived circa 400 years ago (give or take a hundred years or so) not only believed that infidels should be burned at the stake and witchcraft was a thing, they were also pretty sure that some human beings possessed the ability to transform into animals? And this wasn't just a weird metaphor or like scary stories to make their children behave, either, they for real thought that some people could become wolves (and occasionally also cats). Unlike most of the witch trials and most of the Spanish Inquisition, though, some of the people accused of werewolfery were bona-fide bad guys, because regular people couldn't wrap their heads around the idea of a serial killer, and it was just easier to say that those types must have had some animal instinct compelling them to do horrible things.

We hear a howl. "Werewolf?" asks Dr. Victor Frankenstein. "There wolf," replies Igor, adding, "There castle." Young Frankenstein just never gets old. And neither does the legend of the werewolf. A lot of what we think we know about werewolves is actually the product of Hollywood's fertile imagination, including the "rules" of were-dom. In 1941 Universal rolled out The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot, the poor schmoe who, once bitten, is forever to be subject to dramatic, hirsute transformation into a ravenous killing machine. (Well, it is 1941, after all, so it's not all that horrendous. The makeup effects are kind of cool, though.) Eventually the character would even meet Abbot and Costello (along with Frankenstein's Monster).

First off, it's important to note that the modern justice system is far from perfect. Innocent citizens are convicted unjustly, and the guilty are handed punishments disproportionate to their crimes. With that said, it is so important to hang onto the little victories ... like the fact that people don't still torture, behead, and cremate folks suspected of being werewolves.

France is an amazing nation, known for everything from world-class cheeses to Napoleon. Werewolves, though? Believe it or not, the late 1700s were a surprisingly scary time to be a French peasant, primarily because an allegedly supernatural creature terrorized hundreds of people. This might sound like a wacky tall tale, but these murders were all too real, and centuries later, the true identity of the so-called "Beast of Gévaudan" remains one of history's great mysteries.

These days, monsters feel as American as apple pie. They star in our movies, and turn our Six Flags theme parks into Fright Nights. Tom Cruise fights them, and Kristen Stewart gets freaky with them. We treat them like a novelty, like something to give us a jolt, or smooth over an awkward first date.