It seems as if werewolves were an epidemic in Europe during the Middle Ages. So may horrible murders were committed by people accused of shapeshifting and sorcery, most notably the Beast of Gevaudan in France. But one particular loup garou committed crimes so horrible that officials literally tried to erase all mention of him from history.

It was December 14, 1598, when a seemingly common tailor from Châlons, France, found himself in court facing numerous crimes. His name has vanished since that very day, yet what he did would live on as nightmares for centuries. At his shop in Paris, the tailor was accused of luring children in, capturing and torturing/sexually abusing them before slicing open their throats.(Some accounts state that necrophilia was also part of his routine.) Then, the tailor swapped his role of tailor for that of a butcher; he laid out their bodies, disjoined them neatly, carved them up like a side of beef, and had them for his dinner. This might sound like a simple case of cannibalism, except that he allegedly captured more children by prowling the nearby woods at night after taking the form of a wolf.

With dozens of children going missing, the tailor became a suspect. His shop was searched and among the many horrific things uncovered there were barrels filled with the bleached bones of children. The tailor was taken into custody and summarily tortured to get a confession for the 10-48 estimated murders he committed.

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A verdict of guilty was quickly reached. The tailor was sentenced to burn at the stake, which was customary for witches, werewolves, and other fiendish people at the time. From the courtroom up until his body was consumed by flames, the Werewolf of Châlons made no attempt to plead for his innocence. He continued to cuss and curse in the most evil of fashions until his last breath.

Of course, we can’t review his case and explore it further in modern times. All we’re left with is the story as it has been passed along over the centuries. The court felt that the acts of the Demon Tailor were so horrible and shocking that no one should ever dare read the accounts ever again. Just like the cannibalistic serial killer, the court documents were burned to ashes.

Just remember that the next time someone tells you that terrible crimes are a modern-day thing.

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