Beast by S. R. Schwalb

Author:S. R. Schwalb [Schwalb, S. R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2016-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

The Case of Jean Grenier, French Wolf Boy

Our first case is unique because the phenomenon of transformation associated with wolves and skins smeared with magic potions knows no particular age. Jean Grenier, a real-life French boy, was exposed to this phenomenon from an early age: “When I was 10 or 11 years old,” Grenier said, “my neighbor, Duthillaire, introduced me, in the depths of the forest, to a M. de la Forest, a black man, who signed me with his nail, and then gave to me and Duthillaire a salve and a wolf-skin. From that time have I run about the country as a wolf.”

For this youth, the “black man,” whom he also called “Lord of the forest,” was the devil himself, a being who had shackled Grenier with a great and horrifying curse: the ability to transform himself into a fearsome beast, and, in that form, commit terrible crimes. Grenier would later admit that, craving human flesh, especially that of little girls, he had devoured more than thirty children. He openly stated that he searched the countryside until he identified a vulnerable, unattended victim. Then he hid within the shadows of the woods until he attacked and killed the child. Afterward, he would take the body to a remote location and consume the remains. Area officials confirmed the corresponding disappearances of children in many of these locations. Grenier’s story is well documented in The Book of Were-Wolves by cleric and scholar Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924):

Jean had often told her [Marguerite Poirier] that he had sold himself to the devil, and that he had acquired the power of ranging the country after dusk, and sometimes in broad day in the form of a wolf. He had assured her that he had killed and devoured many dogs, but that he found their flesh less palatable than the flesh of little girls, which he regarded as a supreme delicacy. He had told her that this had been tasted by him not infrequently but he had specified only two instances: in one he had eaten as much as he could, and thrown the rest to a wolf, which had come up during the repast. In the other instance he had bitten to death another little girl, had lapped her blood, and, being in a famished condition at the time, had devoured every portion of her, with the exception of the arms and shoulders.

Eventually, fourteen-year-old Grenier stood trial in June 1603. The court found that the youth was essentially “feral,” having experienced throughout his short lifetime abuse, neglect, and malnutrition. Physically, the boy was hairy, had fingernails like talons, seemed oblivious to his surroundings, presented “physical developmental delays and cultural incompetence,” and “was incapable of rational thought because of a disorganized brain.”

Jean was imprisoned for life at a nearby cloister, where, initially, he behaved as a wild animal. His incarceration did not better his condition: As the years went by, Grenier remained small in size, was inarticulate, seemed muddled in his thinking, was ill at ease or totally withdrawn around people.

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