Gandillon Family (Pierre, Georges,
Antoinette, Perrenette) (d. 1598)
French werewolves of St. Claude, in the Jura region,
France, one of the major historical cases of lycanthropy. Perrenette
believed that she was a wolf and one day in 1598 attacked
two children who were picking wild strawberries. One of the
children, a four-year-old boy, defended his sister with a knife,
but Perrenette wrenched the knife from him and gashed his
throat. He died of the wound after communicating the news
that the wolf had human hands. Perrenette was found in the vicinity
and torn to pieces by the enraged villagers.
Antoinette confessed to being a werewolf, and also to sleeping
with the devil (who had taken the form of a goat), attending
a Sabbat, and producing magical hailstorms. Her brother
Pierre was also accused of making hailstones, luring children
to a Sabbat, turning himself into a wolf, and killing and eating
people. He stated that Satan clothed them as wolves and that
they hunted on all fours. Pierres son Georges also confessed
to changing into a wolf by smearing himself with a salve and
killing two goats.
Antoinette, Pierre, and Georges were all convicted as werewolves
and burned in 1598. The presiding judge was Henri
Boguet whose Discours des sorciers became a standard guide to
witchcraft.
