The Bizarre Werewolf Case of Peter Stubb

By Rosemary Ellen Guiley

c. Visionary Living, Inc.

In 1589, a German man named Peter Stubb was accused of being a murdering sorcerer and werewolf. Stubb (also given as Stubbe, Stube and Stumpf, and as Stubbe Peeter), of Bedbur in high Germany, gained notoriety for making a lurid confession. An illustrated account of his trial and grisly execution is at the Lambeth Palace Library in London.

According to Stubb’s confession, he had practiced the “wicked arts” from the age of 12. He had from early childhood had an evil bent, and began dabbling in magic, sorcery and necromancy. The devil gave him a magic girdle (belt) that enabled him to change into a wolf, and promised him that in exchange for wreaking evil in animal form, he would be protected from danger. When Stubb put on the girdle, he was:

…transformed into the likeness of a greedy, devouring wolf, strong and mighty, with eyes great and large, which in the night sparkled like brands of fire; a mouth great and wide, with most sharp and cruel teeth; a huge body and mighty paws.

By taking the belt off, he returned to the shape of a man.

Stubb spent the next 25 years stalking victims, both human and animal, as a werewolf. He would walk about the areas of Bedbur, Collin and Cperadt as a nicely dressed man looking for victims. When he could catch them unawares, he changed into a wolf and attacked and murdered them. He sexually assaulted maidens before tearing them apart.

Stubb terrorized the countryside at night, attacking children, women, men, lambs, sheep, and goats. He was an “insatiable bloodsucker,” taking great pleasure in killing. He killed lambs, kids and other livestock, devouring them raw and bloody.

Over the course of a few years, Stubb murdered 13 young children and two pregnant women. He tore the fetuses out of the women’s wombs and “ate their hearts panting hot and raw,” which he said were “dainty morsels.”

Stubb also confessed to an insatiable sexual appetite. He committed incest with his daughter, Beell (Bell), who had a child by him. He carried on sexual escapades with various mistresses, including a “gossip,” Katherine Trompin. Still his lust remained unsated, so the devil sent him a succubus in the form of an angel-like, beautiful woman.

Meanwhile, the townspeople did not suspect him. When the limbs and body parts of adults and children were found in the fields, it was believed that a savage wolf was responsible.

Stubb finally was exposed when hunters chased him down in wolf form, and he slipped off his belt and was recognized.

Stubb was arrested and brought to trial at Bedbur. He was put on the rack. Fearing the torture, he quickly made a confession. A search was made for his magical girdle, but it was never found. It was assumed that the devil had spirited the evidence away.

Stubb named Bell and Trompin as accessories to some of his murders. The two women were arraigned. All three were found guilty on October 28, 1589, and were condemned to death. The sentences were carried out on October 31:

Stubbe Peeter as principal malefactor, was judged first to have his body laid on a wheel, and with red hot burning pincers in ten places to have the flesh pulled off from the bones, after that, his legs and arms to be broken with a wooden axe or hatchet, afterward to have his head struck from his body, then to have his carcass burned to ashes.

Also his daughter and his gossip were judged to be burned quick to ashes, the same time and day with the carcass of the aforesaid Stubbe Peeter.

After the executions, the magistrates of Bedbur constructed a warning to others. The wheel on which Stubb was broken was placed on a high sharpened pole and above it was fastened a likeness of a wolf in a wooden frame. Sixteen yard-long pieces of wood, representing the 16 known victims of Stubb, were hung on the wheel. Stubb’s head was stuck onto the pole.

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Adapted from The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves and Other Monsters by Rosemary Ellen Guiley, published by Facts On File, 2004.