PETER STUBBE: THE WEREWOLF OF BEDBURG

31st of October, Halloween, 1589. This is the night that the notorious “Werewolf of Bedburg” was broken on the wheel, beheaded and then burnt, along with his daughter and mistress. But, Who was Peter Stubbe, and what did he do to deserve such torture.

Not much is known about Stubbes' early life and there is very little evidence that points to an exact date or place of birth. At the time he was executed, many of the locals speculated that he was the child of Satan or Satan himself. Other evidence points that he was born around 1540 on a farm in Germany. Stubbe claimed that when he was 12, Satan visited him and gave him a belt which allowed him to metamorphosis into a creature, a wolf, but it wasn't until around 1566 that Stubbe began his century of torture on the small German town.

It began with livestock, Goats, Pigs and Sheep, Stubbe would cross on to other farms at night and tear them apart with his bare hands, eating the organs of the animals whilst they were still alive. Owners would wake to find their stock gutless and strewn across the fields, limbs ripped apart with nothing left but skin and bones. Stubbes' thirst for blood grew stronger over the years and it wasn't long before he turned to his fellow man to feed the hunger that grew inside.

At time of execution, Stubbe had a Daughter, Sybil, of late teenage years and he had committed many acts of Incest with her. Sybil had given birth to a boy, Stubbes' own son, but he was killed before the execution.

Late one night, Sybil lead her son out into the woods where he would meet his father, who would then proceed to rip the boys throat out, drink his blood and then disembowel him and devour any meat. Stubbe then smashed the boys head in with a rock. All of this revealed under confession at time of execution.

An exact human victim count is dubious, some sources put the count anywhere between 13-15, others put it somewhere closer to 18. What is known is that Stubbe very much enjoyed preying on pregnant woman and children. Stories of Child molestation and cannibalism surged throughout the small village as many of them began to disappear. It is said that when he killed a pregnant woman, he would tear open the carrying mothers stomach whilst she was still alive in order to eat the fetus whilst it was still warm. With children he would generally smash their skulls in with blunt instruments in order to eat their brains.

There are many other stories about the murders committed by Stubbe, not many of them with much more evidence than merely stories passed on for generations.

The story of Stubbes' capture is even more vague. Some say that Stubbe was caught in the act of devouring a young woman on the woods, others say that a trap was set by the locals when a victim he had failed to kill, escaped and spread the word about a man guised as a wolf.

Stubbe was sentenced to death by execution, along with his daughter and mistress, a woman who may have been a close relative, Katharina Trump. Stubbe was broken on the wheel whilst having his skin removed with red hot pincers. He was then bludgeoned with the end of an axe before being beheaded. His torso was burnt along with the bodies of Sybil and Katharina. The wheel he was executed on was divided up into several pieces and spread around the town to remind the people of Bedburg about Stubbe and his reign of fear he spread over them for so long.