Peter Stumpp, Werewolf of Bedburg

The Werewolf of Bedburg was a beast who terrorized women, children, and livestock. This monster was a man of flesh and blood named Peter Stumpp. He truly embodied all the fears of the worst sorts of nightmares.

Peter Stumpp (also called Peter Stubbe, Stumpf, and other variations) raped and devoured fourteen children and two pregnant women, that he confessed to. He claimed that he began practicing black magic when he was twelve years old, and that the Devil had given him a magical belt. The belt would turn him into a wolf, and when he took it off he would become human again.

He did horrible things to his victims. He also had a daughter, Belle, who he sexually abused. She had a son as a result of rape by her father. Peter confessed to eating the brains of this child.

He was captured in 1589 and tortured on the rack, a device which slowly rips the arms and legs out of their sockets. After his confessions, they also arrested and confined his daughter Belle, who they deemed guilty of being associated in her father’s atrocious crimes.

They tore off flesh from his body in ten places, and then methodically broke the bones in his limbs. They then cut off his head. Not satisfied with this, they also threw his body into a pyre and burned it. They threw in his daughter Belle as well, burning her to ashes with her father. It’s horrible that they murdered Belle, when she was a victim as well. It seems that the masses were bloodthirsty themselves, to be able to torture Peter Stumpp so gruesomely and then throw a young girl into the pyre as well.

It’s a chilling history. It’s the stuff of nightmares, and to believe that we humans have done such things to each other is all the more unsettling.

By holiday

Holiday is a secretive squonk from deep in the darkness of the forests. She loves helping people, reading about obscure myths and folklore, and having adventures.

11 comments

  1. This story is sad that people tortured people like this while believing they were a mythical creature.
    Poor Belle. All I can say is that poor Peter had some head disease or something . . .

  2. Dear Werewolves.com
    Hello My name is George
    I was doing research on Peter Stumpp A.K.A. The Werewolf of Bedburg
    on Google images i see pictures of him drawn as a Werewolf. Im emailing you to see if you
    have good information Most likely you will because as i can see your site is about Werewolves. Anyway i have a really good question i hope you can inform me Did Peter Stumpp really look like a Werewolf? If you do have any information about that I would really like to know.
    Thanks
    Sincerely
    George

  3. in order for you to progress in your research George, you will need to seek out the parish records , in so doing you must then obtain a list of his genealogy, the church will not release anything pertaining to the recorded confession obtained by torture, look not there for answers, you will only find lies .

  4. George , what images drawn by man, lead you to believe that you know what werewoven look like ? they exist , they have the right to exist, as do all that walk the earth,
    The white wolf may be their most ancient guardian and pre dates written works of man, as do the Nephilim, amongst other ancients , leave them be .

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