This is factual: The werewolf trial of 1589 ended with one of the most brutal executions in German history. A farmer named either Peter Stumpp, Peter Stube, or Peter Stübbe was accused of killing fourteen children and two pregnant women while in the shape of a ravenous wolf. He was accused on account of his missing left hand, for the werewolf in question was missing a left forepaw. Peter was also a wealthy Protestant in a time and place where Protestants were suspect. Under torture, he confessed to practicing black magic, consorting with the Devil, and possessing a magic belt that allowed him to transform into a wolf. No such belt was ever found. He also confessed to having an incestuous relationship with his young daughter, whose name was either Beele or Sybil. She was likely fifteen years old. Both Peter, Beele, and Peter's lover, a woman whose name we do not know, were put to death on October 31st, 1589. Peter was broken on the wheel, his limbs shattered and his head removed, before he was then burned in a pyre. Beele and the woman Peter loved were flayed and strangled, their bodies burned. When it was done, a pole was erected carrying the torture wheel and a figure of a wolf as a warning against evil. Peter's head was placed on top.

No evidence has ever been found to support the guilt of Peter Stumpp, his daughter, or his unnamed lover. 


All that is factual. And in some ways, this is true.