Serial killers are a special kind of evil. Since being coined by FBI investigator Robert Ressler, the term “serial killer” has come to denote any murderer
Thiess strolled into court in 1691 to testify in a theft trial. He wound up admitting he turned into a wolf and feasted on pigs. You know, that old story.
A few of the accused may have been actual pedophiles or serial killers, but many were beggars, hermits or recent émigrés who were tortured into confessions.
The Truth Behind Europe s Brutal Werewolf Trials Shutterstock
By Becki Robins/Feb. 16, 2021 12:09 am EDT
You ve heard of the Salem Witch Trials and the Spanish Inquisition, but did you know that people who lived circa 400 years ago (give or take a hundred years or so) not only believed that infidels should be burned at the stake and witchcraft was a thing, they were also pretty sure that some human beings possessed the ability to transform into animals? And this wasn t just a weird metaphor or like scary stories to make their children behave, either, they for real thought that some people could become wolves (and occasionally also cats). Unlike most of the witch trials and most of the Spanish Inquisition, though, some of the people accused of werewolfery were bona-fide bad guys, because regular people couldn t wrap their heads around the idea of a serial killer, and it was just easier to say that those types must have had some animal instinct compelling them to do