The Truth Behind Europe's Brutal Werewolf Trials

Werewolves started as a term meant to denigrate outlaws, and became something much worse. Whether it’s killing children or dressing up a dead wolf in the mayor’s clothing, here is the horrible truth about the people who were accused of being werewolves in Renaissance-era Europe.

People who can transform into animals have appeared in legends for almost as long as we've had the ability to write those legends down, but the modern idea of a person who turns into a violent, bloodthirsty beast is comparatively recent. The word "werewolf" didn't enter the English language until around 1,000 years ago, when it appeared in King Cnut's Ecclesiastical Ordinances. Werewolf literally means "man wolf," but the word was originally meant to be a disparaging name for an outlaw. Sort of how you might say "that guy is a wet blanket" even though you don't actually think that he's a saturated piece of fabric.
Fortunately, we modern people haven't ever gone from calling someone a wet blanket to actually believing that some people can transform themselves into soggy bed coverings. But at some point a few hundred years ago, people did start to think that man-wolves could become literal man wolves. So the name stuck.

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#Werewolf #Europe #History

Origins of werewolves | 0:00
Medieval werewolves weren’t so bloodthirsty | 1:10
Werewolves turn violent | 2:24
Henry Boguet’s werewolf court | 3:51
Werewolf or just plain crazy? | 4:57
The sad tale of the Dirk family | 5:50
Werewolves for God | 6:46
Even kids weren’t spared from the ax | 7:42
A werewolf mayor’s revenge | 8:37
Lycanthropy as a surrogate for psychopathy | 9:43
Serial Killers as werewolves | 10:52

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