1 00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:03,880 Speaker 1: Welcome to This Day in History Class from how Stuff 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:06,080 Speaker 1: Works dot Com and from the desk of Stuff you 3 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:08,560 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class. It's the show where we explore 4 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 1: the past one day at a time with a quick 5 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: look at what happened today in history. Hello and welcome 6 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. Wilson, and it's January eighteen. 7 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: Gil Gagnier, known as the Werewolf of Dole, was found 8 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: guilty of like cantherropy and witchcraft on this day in 9 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: after a series of just gruesome attacks on children and 10 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: possible cannibalism. Gill Gargnier lived in the forest north of 11 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: Dole in France, and he was kind of a recluse. 12 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,599 Speaker 1: He had been nicknamed the Hermit of Dole. A lot 13 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: of other hermits this time were reclusive for religious reasons, 14 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:50,879 Speaker 1: and this wasn't the case for him. He was just 15 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: kind of a loner and an odd ball, living out 16 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: by himself in the woods. He also got married to 17 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 1: a woman named Apollonia, and we know all most nothing 18 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: about her, including how he met her or why she 19 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: married him. Given his very solitary and kind of odd existence, 20 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: he also didn't have any way of really supporting the 21 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:13,960 Speaker 1: two of them. They didn't have any animals, they had 22 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: no garden. They were mostly scavenging food and trying to 23 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: glean it from other places. On September twenty nine of 24 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: fifteen seventy two, a girl of about ten or twelve 25 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 1: was attacked and mauled and killed while out in a vineyard. Allegedly, 26 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: Guarnier was the culprit, and allegedly he took parts of 27 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: her body home to use his food. Another similar attack 28 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 1: happened in a meadow not long afterward, but this time 29 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:43,399 Speaker 1: the culprit was chased away before taking any parts of 30 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: the girl's body, and the witnesses said that it was 31 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: some kind of a wolf. Attacks continued. They focused on 32 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: children who were outdoors, either walking or working in gardens 33 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: or vineyards, and then, finally, in one of these attacks, 34 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: witnesses said that it wasn't a wolf that they saw, 35 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: it was Garnier. He was linked back to all of 36 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: these earlier attacks and then arrested and put on trial. 37 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: About fifty witnesses gave testimony at the trial. Some of 38 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: them said things like that they had seen a wolf 39 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: in the woods, and then they had seen Guarnier in 40 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: the woods, so they concluded that they were one and 41 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: the same, and then at the trial, Guarnier also confessed 42 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: to these crimes, but he had made that confession after 43 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 1: being tortured. He said that one day he had been 44 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: out looking for food and he met a specter and 45 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: the specter said that he could help Guarnier. He said 46 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: that the specter gave him a salve that would let 47 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: him turn into an animal. He had a few animals 48 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: to choose from, and he decided to be a wolf 49 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: because that made the most sense out of the French countryside, 50 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: and this really fit right in with an existing belief 51 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: in like antherropy in sixteenth century France. After the trial, 52 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: he was sentenced to be drawn on a hurdle to 53 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: the place of execution and then executed, and then his 54 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: body burned into ash. The didn't really get rid of 55 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: local fears of werewolves, though, and a law was passed 56 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 1: later in fifteen seventy three that made it legal to 57 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 1: hunt werewolves. Today, it's not really clear whether Garnier had 58 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: anything to do with any of these deaths. A survey 59 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: of the forest in the early two thousand's did identify 60 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: the remains of a structure that dated to about the 61 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: same time. It might have been his home. There was 62 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:27,839 Speaker 1: no sign of any human remains there. It's often suggested 63 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 1: that he may have been experiencing some kind of delusions, 64 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 1: especially if he believed that confession that he had given 65 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: under torture. And it's also possible that some of these 66 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: attacks really were animal attacks. Wolf attacks have been very 67 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: rare in other times in history and in other parts 68 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: of the world, but in early modern Europe they were 69 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: a big problem. There is more to all this in 70 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 1: the October episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class. 71 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: I also have a note for the folks who maybe 72 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: don't listen to this show over the weekend. On Monday, 73 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: this show will have a brand new host, Eve's Jeff Coat, 74 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: who will be taking over for me. She's going to 75 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: be introduced onto the show on Sunday, so stay tuned 76 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: for that. Thanks to Casey Pegram and Chandler Mays for 77 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: their audio work on the show, and you can subscribe 78 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: to This Day in History Class on Apple podcast, Google podcast, 79 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, and wherever else you get podcasts. 80 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:25,119 Speaker 1: Tune in tomorrow for its telegram that changed the course 81 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: of a war.