Anspach Werewolf (1685)
Strange German werewolf case with vampire overtones, in which a ravaging wolf was believed to be a returning dead person.
In 1685 a wolf terrorized Anspach (now Ansbach), Germany, killing women, children, and domestic animals. The townspeople believed the wolf to be the late burgomaster, a most detested man, who was returning to wreak havoc. A great hunt was mounted, and at last the wolf was chased into a well and killed.
The carcass of the wolf was then dressed up like the burgomaster in a flesh-colored suit, mask, wig, and beard. It was hung from a gibbet. Later, the carcass was put on display in a museum as a werewolf.
The belief of the townspeople that the burgomaster had returned from the dead to attack them made him a vampire of sorts, but in wolf form and not in his own form as the reanimated dead.
Text from The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters (Checkmark Books, 2005) by Rosemary Guiley
