The Werewolf of Ansbach
In 1685, a wolf terrorised a German town. People believed it was their dead mayor, returned as a werewolf. When they killed it, they dressed it in his clothes and hanged it.
What was reported
In 1685, the area around Ansbach, in Franconia, was hit by attacks from a wolf that killed livestock and was said to have attacked people. Rumours spread that the wolf was the town's former mayor, a hated man who had recently died, come back from the dead.
When villagers finally trapped and killed the wolf, they cut off its muzzle, dressed it in a flesh-coloured suit, a brown wig and a long beard and mask made to look like the mayor, and hanged it from a gallows. A printed broadsheet of the time shows it hanging there.
Explanations offered
The wolf was real, and wolves were a genuine danger in the region at the time. The 'trial' of the dead wolf shows how fears about werewolves and about returning dead people could merge with anger at authorities. The stuffed animal was later displayed as a curiosity.
- When
- 1685
- Where
- Ansbach, Bavaria, Germany
- Witnesses
- The people of Ansbach, recorded in a print of the time
- Status
- A real wolf
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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