All Wolves Go to Heaven

"Hey did you know you can fit so many werewolves in France? Lets meet Old Thiess of Kaltenbrun. An 87 year old man who needed to testify in court who well just maybe was a werewolf. But how did he become one you ask? Tune in to find out."

Presented by: Cristina
Category: Historical Mystery

Thiess of Katelbrun was an old man living in modern day Estonia when he was called as witness in 1691. As an aside in the trial, the judge asked him about his time as a werewolf. Thiess explained that he and his werewolf friends would travel down to Hell once a year in the their wolf form to fight the devil and his army of witches to take back the grain they had stolen and to ensure a good harvest. He cited a previous trial were he accused a farm of breaking his nose as wound from one such fight. The judges confirmed that his nose had been broken but didn't take the claim seriously, in part because Thiess kept changing his story. He claimed to have been retired but that he had fought the year before. He also at first claimed there was a pelt that allowed him to change before he'd given it away, but said there was no pelt when asked who he gave it too.

A year later he was put on trial for heresy. He still wasn't believed to be a werewolf, but was convicted and flogged for not mentioning God in a prayer he used.

This story was localized until an academic at a conference spoke of it as example of the, he believed, widespread belief that the region was full of were wolves. However, in trying to disprove it, he guaranteed the audience, who'd never heard such a tale, would think of nothing else.

Takeaway: Get your story straight. Don't go too hard in your defence.

Trivia

 * Patreon skit: The tiers as the 10 Commandments.