Paul Summers Young

  They put him to the rack in the Town of Bedburg; fearing torture, however, he confessed everything, all his villainies over the space of twenty-five years, and the sorcery he performed to receive his girdle from the Devil.  He told the magistrates he had cast the girdle off in a certain valley. When they went there to look, there was nothing to be seen; the Devil had retrieved his property, and abandoned Stubbe Peeter to the suffering he deserved.  He had been imprisoned some time before the magistrates learned his daughter and the gossip Katherine Trompin had been accessories to many of his murders, and were arraigned for this, and for their lewd way of life. The three of them were condemned, judgement pronounced on 28th October 1589: Stubbe Peeter was named principle malefactor, and was sentenced to be laid upon the Wheel, and his flesh torn in ten places from the bone with red-hot pincers, his arms and legs broken with a wooden cudgel or hatchet, his head struck from...

  They tried to trap the wolf by all means men could devise, but they could only fail until the Lord ordained his fall; even so, they went out daily with great mastiffs and dogs to chase him down and take him.  But one day, it so pleased God that they came across him in his wolfish guise, ready to meet him in the field. They beset and set their dogs upon him; he had no means of escape, and as the Lord delivered Goliath into the hands of David, so the dogs snapped at his heels, and seeing he had nothing now to lose, he slipped out of his girdle and immediately assumed his true form, staff in hand like one walking to town. However, the hunters had fixed their gaze upon him, and saw the transformation take place, and were amazed.  Had they not known him, they would have taken him to be some devil in the shape of a man; however, they recognised him as someone who had long dwelled in their town, and took him to his own home to confirm it was indeed Stubbe Peeter, and not an il...

 Stubbe Peeter passed five-and-twenty years like this, and none suspected him. Nobody knows how many men, women, children, sheep, lambs, goats and other cattle he slew; when he couldn't draw a person from their warrens, he'd take out his frustration on the animals he tore apart. He wrought an unbelievable amount of mayhem, as all High Germany now must acknowledge.  So, the people of Cologne, Bedburg and Quadrath lived in constant fear of this roaming wolf. Often, they'd find the body parts of men, women and children among the fields, their arms and legs scattered; if any lost sight of their children, they'd be seized by the fear they'd never see them again.  Here, I note an incident manifesting God's power and merciful providence, for the comfort of every Christian heart. Not very long ago, some small children were playing just outside town, in a meadow among the cattle nursing their calves. Like a flash, the wolf ran wild among them, and took a pretty little gi...

  He led this life a long time, wild and villainous, sometimes a wolf, sometimes a man, sometimes about town or in the city, other times haunting the woods and hedgerows. The German account mentions the occasion he met a woman and a pair of men on the way; he greatly desired the woman, but feared the three of them would be too much even for him. So, the better to win his prize, he did this: he chose a spot on their path, and crouched down low out of sight; when he sighted the party - but not they him - he called out the name of one of the men, whom he knew. That man, hearing his name called from among the leaves and assuming a friend was beckoning him hither, he went among the trees, but found instead Stubbe Peeter in his other form, who sprang upon him and quickly took his life.  The second of the men was curious to learn what had delayed his fellow so long in the woods there, and went among the leaves to find him, but to find his death. When both her companions vanished in t...

  That, and he'd take lambs and kids, too, feeding on them raw and as bloodily as if he were indeed the wolf he appeared to be; so much so, indeed, that men suspected not his sorcery.  He had still living a daughter, whom he desired unnaturally and took in most cruel incest, that sin surpassing far adultery or fornication, though the least of those three would drive the soul to hellfire, but for a repentent heart and the boundless mercy of God. He begot this daughter of his in those when he was not entirely given to wickedness, and he named her Stubbe Belle, and her grace and beauty was praised by all who knew her.  However, his foul desire and boundless lust was such that he begat a child by her, still daily visiting her like a concubine. So deep was his greed, so given over was he to evil, that even she was not enough to satiate him, so he lay with his sister, too.  One day he paid a visit to a gossip, with whom he made merry and good cheer. He won her by his fair ...

  His new form caught his fancy, and agreed with his nature. Stubbe Peeter lusted for blood and cruelty, and so was well satisfied with this most strange and devilish gift; afterall, the girdle was no great burden, and could be put on quietly in any small room, from which he would emerge to commit the most vile, heinous murder.  If any displeased him, he would nurse the hurt until broke as a thirst for revenge; they would be about their business in the fields or streets when he'd be on them like a wolf, and run them down to worry at their throats and tear them asunder, joint from joint. He acquired the taste, and delighted so in the shedding of blood that he would stalk the fields, day and night, for the chance to work some cruelty.  Often, he'd stroll the streets of Cologne, Bedburg and Quadrath, well-dressed and civil, like one known to all, passing the time of day with those whose children he'd butchered, friends slain, and nobody suspected a thing. He'd walk about, ...

In High Germany, in the towns of Quadrath and Bedburg near Cologne, was born and raised Stubbe Peeter. He was inclined to evil from the start, practising wicked arts from his twelfth year to his twentieth, and until the day he died; bursting with the damnable desire for magic, necromancy and sorcery, he made the acquaintance of all manner of spirit and fiend, and so forgot the God who made him and his Saviour who spilled his blood for our redemption.  In the end, caring nothing for his salvation, he gave himself to the Devil, body and soul, for all time, all for the small carnal pleasures of this life, for the sake of earthly fame and reputation, even though he lost Heaven thereby. The Devil - who ever gives ear to the lewd desires of cursed men - promised him whatever his heart desired for the term of his mortal life. But this vile wretch desired neither riches nor status, or the satisfaction of any pleasure he could imagine; rather, having a heart full of rapine and cruel bloody ...

  A Most True Discourse, Declaring the Life and Death of one Stubbe Peeter, Being a Most Wicked Sorcerer.  Those whom the Lord leaves to follow the imagination of their own hearts, despising his proffered Grace, in the end, through the hardness of heart and contempt of his fatherly mercy, enter the right path to perdition and destruction of body and soul forever.  In this present history, therefore, this may perfectly be seen; the strangeness whereof, together with the cruelties committed and the long time they continued, may drive many to doubt whether it be truth or no, but rather like those sundry false and fabulous matters which have passed in print and wrought incredulity in the hearts of men generally. Nowadays, few things escape, be they never so certain, but that they are made base by some lie or false report.  So, in the reading of this story, I ask you keep an open mind, and peruse it with patience. It is published to set an example, and as a warning in the...

  A True Discourse. Declaring the damnable life and death of one Stubbe Peeter, a most wicked sorcerer who in the likeness of a wolf committed many murders, continuing this devilish practise 25 years, killing and devouring men, women, and children. Who for the same fact was taken and executed the 31 of October last past in the town of Bedburg near the city of Cologne in Germany. Truly translated out of the High Dutch, according to the copy printed in Cologne, brought over into England by George Bore's ordinary post, the xi day of this present month of June 1590, who did both see and hear the same. I've taken the liberty of correcting the place names (Bedbur and Collin in the original).  I don't think George Bore, or Bores, has been traced. I understand the name could be Dutch or German, which would figure with the note on how the story was conveyed; he doesn't bring the broadsheet or translation over himself, but posts it from the continent.  George Bore is sometimes ca...