Anspach Werewolf (1685)

Anspach Werewolf (1685) Strange German werewolf case with VAMPIRE overtones, in which a ravaging wolf was believed to be a returning dead person. In 1685 a wolf terrorized Anspach (now Ansbach), Germany, killing women, children, and domestic animals. The townspeople believed the wolf to be the late burgomaster, a most detested man, who was returning to wreak havoc. A great hunt was mounted, and at last the wolf was chased into a well and killed. The carcass of the wolf was then dressed up like the burgomaster in a ﬂesh-coloured suit, mask, wig, and beard. It was hung from a gibbet. Later, the carcass was put on display in a museum as a werewolf. The belief of the townspeople that the burgomaster had returned from the dead to attack them made him a vampire of sorts, but in wolf form and not in his own form as the reanimated dead.