During this meeting, the devil gifted Peter with a magical girdle or belt that allowed him to transform into “the likeness of a greedy, devouring wolf, strong and mighty, with eyes great and large, which in the night sparkled like fire, a mouth great and wide, with most sharp and cruel teeth, a huge body, and mighty paws.” Whenever Peter removed the belt, he would return to his human form.
Background
The sordid events of Peter’s life and his cruel and brutal death are quite lurid. Although records from this time period are scarce, it is widely believed that Peter Stumpp was born around 1535 in the village of Epprath, near Bedburg in the Electorate of Cologne. At some point, he lost his left hand, leaving him with only a stump. It is assumed by many that his last name was a reference to his disability and was not his actual last name.
This is further backed up by the fact that his last name had several variations, including Stube, Stub, Stubbe, and Stumpf. Additionally, he used several aliases during his life, including Abal Griswold, Abil Griswold, and Ubel Griswold.
Monster in Disguise
Stumpp was a wealthy farmer and widower with two adolescent children. He was generally well-regarded in the community; however, no one knew the perverse wickedness that lurked beneath his pleasant exterior. This dual nature allowed him to get away with his crimes for 25 years.
He would eventually be charged with murdering and devouring 14 children, one of whom was his own son, as well as two pregnant women and their fetuses, which were brutally torn out from their mothers.
While supposedly in wolf form, Stumpp also attacked and mutilated wild animals such as sheep, lambs, and goats, devouring their flesh raw. He would also be charged with sorcery, Black Magick, consorting with the devil, cannibalism, incest, and carrying on a continuing relationship with a “she-devil.”
After the death of his wife, Stumpp carried on relationships with several women, including his mistress, Katherine Trompin. During this period, he also began an incestuous relationship with his daughter, Sybil. By his own confession, it was during the 1580s when Peter used his magical belt to become a wolf in order to satisfy his bloodlust.
He would stalk his unsuspecting victims, often young maidens, and when the opportunity presented itself, would strike. Stumpp would often sexually assault the young women before he murdered them. Many of these victims disappeared, never to be seen again.
He would sometimes attack a group of children playing in a field, causing them to scatter. He would then focus his attack on one of them and overpower them while the others fled.
According to one of the surviving records from the time, a 16-page pamphlet from 1590 translated from German and published in London:
“Yea, often it came to pass that as he walked abroad in the fields, if he chanced to spy a company of maidens playing together or else milking their kine, in his wolfish shape he would incontinent run among them, and while the rest escaped by flight, he would be sure to lay hold on one, and after his filthy lust fulfilled, he would murder her presently. Beside, if he had liked or known any of them, look who he had a maid unto, her he would pursue, whether she were before or behind, and take her from the rest, for such was his swiftness of foot while he continued a wolf that he would outrun the swiftest greyhound in that country; and so much he had practiced this wickedness that the whole province was feared by the cruelty of this bloody and devouring wolf.”
“Thus continuing his devilish and damnable deeds within the compass of a few years, he had murdered thirteen young children, and two goodly young women, in the most bloody and savage sort, and after ate their hearts panting hot and raw, which he accounted dainty morsels and best agreeing to his appetite.”
This was the situation that one young girl found herself in when attacked by Stumpp. He tried to bite her throat, but her stiff high collar prevented him from being able to do so, and her screams startled a group of cattle grazing nearby, who then charged at Stumpp, causing him to flee.
Unthinkable Cruelty
Sadly, Stumpp’s son would not be as fortunate. Though it is said that Stumpp loved and treasured his son, by this time, his bloodlust had overwhelmed him, and one day, he enticed his son to come with him into the forest, where, according to records, he put on his belt and took the form of a wolf, mercilessly devouring the boy, after which
“he presently ate the brains out of his head as a most savory and dainty delicious mean to staunch his greedy appetite: the most monstrous act that ever man heard of, for never was known a wretch from nature so far degenerate.”
Peter Stumpp reveled in his cruelty and received enjoyment from saluting and greeting friends and family of people he had murdered when he passed them in the street. The people of Bedburg believed they were dealing with a bloodthirsty wolf and were rightfully frightened to travel and move about for fear of being attacked.
Residents would find severed arms and legs scattered about nearby fields. The men of the town knew that they had to stop the wolf, or it would continue to terrorize them.
Capture
A group of them formed, determined to hunt and kill the wolf. Accompanied by large Mastiffs and other hunting dogs, they searched for days until they came upon the beast, who was stalking yet another maiden. They sicced their dogs on him, and he fled.
Finally, the dogs had him cornered, and there was no escape. It was then that Stumpp apparently removed his belt and returned to his human form. When the hunters came to the spot where the dogs were barking, they were quite confused, as there was no wolf there, but rather a man whom they all knew. After determining that it was, in fact, Peter Stumpp and not the devil in disguise as some had supposed, they brought him before the magistrates to answer for his crimes.
Confession and Execution
Fearing torture, Peter Stumpp confessed to all of the crimes that he was accused of. Beginning with his practice of occult magick starting at age 12, and all of his other ghastly deeds up until the time of his capture. Also tried were his mistress, Katherine Trompin, and his daughter, Sybil (also known as Belle because of her beauty). They were both found guilty of being complicit in Stumpp’s crimes and sentenced to be burned alive.
If Peter’s goal in confessing was to avoid being tortured, he severely miscalculated. On October 31, 1589, Peter Stumpp was tied to a wheel, where he had red-hot burning Pincers placed on ten parts of his body, which pulled the flesh off his bones. After this, his arms and legs were broken with a wooden ax, and finally, his head was cut off with a sword.
Afterward, according to the surviving pamphlet titled “Declaring the damnable life and death of one Stubbe Peeter.”
“After the execution, there was by the advice of the magistrates of the town of Bedbur a high pole set up and strongly framed, which first went through the wheel whereon he was broken, whereunto also it was fastened; after that a little above the wheel the likeness of a wolf was framed in wood, to show unto all men the shape wherein he executed those cruelties. Over that on the top of the stake the sorcerer's head itself was set up, and round about the wheel there hung as it were sixteen pieces of wood about a yard in length with represented the sixteen persons that was perfectly known to be murdered by him. And the same ordained to stand there for a continual monument to all ensuing ages, what murders by Stub Peeter was committed, with the order of his judgment, as this picture doth more plainly express.”
Thus ended the incredible and strange tale of Peter Stumpp, “The Werewolf of Bedburg.” Whether you choose to believe all, some, or none of the story, it is nevertheless a fascinating historical account and gives an insight into the lives and mindset of a group of people living in a particular place and time.
Regardless, it seems only fitting that a “Werewolf” would be executed on Halloween.
Sources:
Wagner, Stephen. “The Werewolf of Bedburg: The True Story of a Monster That Terrorized a German Village.” Liveabout dotcom, 15 July 2018, https://www.liveabout.com/the-werewolf-of-bedburg-2597445
“The Werewolf Trials - The Damnable Life of Peter Stubbe.” The Spirit Realm Network, 25 March 2021, https://www.spiritrealm.net/the-werewolf-trails-the-damnable-life-of-peter-stubbe/
Tietz, Tabea. “Peter Stumpp - The Werewolf of Bedburg.” SciHi Blog, 28 October 2021, http://scihi.org/peter-stumpp-werewolf/
Flight, Tim. “12 ‘Real’ Werewolf Cases Throughout History.” History Collection, 14 May 2018, https://historycollection.com/12-real-werewolf-cases-throughout-history/
I just spent a week researching Peter Niers — executed in Germany in 1581, eight years before Stumpp — and the parallels are uncanny. Same decade, same country, same theatrical cruelty as public messaging. What strikes me most is the pamphlet: a 16-page account translated and published in London the year after, turning a local execution into international entertainment. The wheel, the display pole afterward — the punishment was the medium. Niers got the breaking wheel and the quartering; Stumpp got equally inventive horrors. The 1580s in Germany really were the golden age of the execution as public spectacle.