# Gilles Garnier

Gilles Garnier (died 18 January 1574) was a French serial killer, cannibal, and hermit convicted of being a werewolf for the murder of at least four children. Already locally known as "The Hermit of St. Bonnot", he was dubbed "The Werewolf of Dole".

## Life

Gilles Garnier was a reclusive hermit living in an area commonly called Saint Bonnot, outside of Amanges in the County of Burgundy. He had been previously noted for trespassing disputes with the townsfolk of Amange and the larger village Dole. Garnier was purportedly a former resident of Lyon or its surrounding area and had recently been married to his new wife Appoline. Being unaccustomed to feeding more than just himself, he found it difficult to provide for his wife and the children they had, causing discontent between them.
During this period, several children went missing or were found dead and the authorities of the Franche-Comté province issued an edict encouraging and allowing the people to apprehend and kill the murderer responsible. At the time, unsolved violent crimes were frequently attributed to werewolves.
One evening, a group of workers travelling from a neighbouring town came upon what they thought in the dim light to be a wolf but what some recognised as the hermit with the body of a dead child. Soon after, Gilles Garnier was arrested and a confession was extracted through torture.

### Confession

According to his testimony at trial, while Garnier was in the forest hunting one night, trying to find food for himself and his wife, a spectre appeared to him, offering to ease his troubles and gave him an ointment that would allow him to change into the form of a wolf, making it easier to hunt. Garnier confessed to having stalked and murdered at least four children between the ages of 9 and 12. The year the murders took place is contradictorily given as either 1572, 1573 or between both years, with his execution date of 18 January 1574 (the year being transcribed in Roman numerals as MDLXXIIII) also sometimes shifting to 1573.
The first murder occurred in fall, with dates being described around Feast of Saint Michael, either the first day (29 September) or shortly after its beginning (early October). Garnier abducted a girl, aged 10 or 12, by dragging her into a vineyard near the Gorge farm near Châtenois (misspelled in sources as Chastenoy) He strangled her, removed her clothes, and ate the flesh from her thighs and arms in nearby Serre forest. When he had finished, he removed some flesh and took it home to his wife.
Weeks later, either on All Saint's Day (1 November) or eight days before or after, Garnier attacked another girl in the meadows of Le Pouppe, between Authume (misspelled as Athume) and Châtenois. Garnier bit and scratched her, but was interrupted by passers-by and fled. The girl succumbed to her injuries a few days later.
In November, around two weeks after the beginning of Feast of Saint Michael, Garnier killed a 10-year-old boy between Gredisans and Menote, again cannibalising him by eating from his thighs and belly and tearing off a leg to save for later. He strangled another boy but was again interrupted by a group of passers-by. He had to abandon the victim before he could tear away any flesh.
On the Friday before the end of Feast of Saint Bartholomew (24 August) he attacked a boy, aged 12 or 13, near Perrouse and Cromary. The victim was "torn in half" with bites and his belly was torn open.
In November, either the 5th or 8th, he strangled a girl near Châtenois. Villagers heard the victim's screams and caught Granier mid-attack. The girl died of her wounds a few days later.
Garnier was found guilty of "crimes of lycanthropy and witchcraft" and burned at the stake on January 18, 1574. Even though Garnier was burned at the stake, his trial was done by the secular authorities and not by the Inquisition, as superstition was not judged by the Inquisition. More than 50 witnesses deposed that he had attacked and killed children in the fields and vineyards, devouring their raw flesh. He was sometimes seen in human shape, and sometimes as a "loup-garou".
It was claimed by the early 17th century that "Garnier" or "Grenier" was a common name among people accused of being werewolves, naming Jean Grenier, his father as well as his son Pierre, and François and Estienne Garnier as examples.