The Werewolf of Hüsby

Time again for another supposedly true tale reported in the middle ages. This werewolf occurrence happened in Hüsby, Germany. In this small village lived an old, penny-pinching woman. So stingy was this woman that she gave her farmhands very little to eat, although there was fresh meat every Sunday.  The household wondered about this, because the strange old woman never actually bought any meat.

A young farm hand wanted to discover how the woman got the meat, so one day he hid himself in the hayloft instead of going to church with the rest of the workers. While watching he saw the woman pull out a wolf strap, a magical belt that transforms someone into a wolf. The old lady then put the belt on and immediately became a wolf, ran out into the field, and soon came back with a sheep.

“If she can get meat that easily,” thought the boy, “then she can be more generous with us.” Later on as the woman was cooking the day’s meal she put meat into the pot, sighed and said the same thing she often said, “Oh, dear God, if only I were with you!”

The boy was still hidden from sight and, pretending to be God, answered, “You’ll not come to me for all eternity.”

“Why not, dear God?” cried out the woman.

“Because you put too little into the pot for your people.”

“Then I’ll do better.”

“Yes, that’s my advice to you.”

From then on she put a much larger piece of meat into the pot for her farmhands. But the boy just couldn’t keep his big mouth shut and while in the village he talked about what had happened with the woman turning into a wolf. The next Sunday morning the woman again turned herself into a wolf, little did she know the townspeople were waiting nearby for the very moment. However, no bullet could harm her, not until they finally loaded a flintlock with a silver bullet. They shot her with that silver bullet and from that time to the end of her life the woman had an open wound that no doctor could heal. She never again showed herself as a werewolf.

– Moonlight