Henri Boguet (1550 - 1619)

In 1584, a werewolf was seen attacking a small girl in a village locatedin the Jura Mountains of France. When the childs 16-year-old brother came to her rescue, the werewolf turned on the boy and killed him. Enraged villagers, hearing the cried and sounds of the struggle, cornered the werewolf and clubbed it to death. Amazed, they beheld the grotesque beast in its death throes turn into the nude body of a young woman they recognized as Perrenette Gandillon.

In his Discours des Sorciers (1610), Henri Boguet, eminent judge of Saint Claude in Jura Mountains, writes that an offical investigation of the matter led to the arrest of the entire Gandillon family, and he states that he personally examined observed then while they were in prison. According to his testimony, the Gandillons walked on all fours and howled like beasts. There eyes turned red and gleaming; their hair sprouted; there teeth became long and sharp; their fingernails turned horny and clawlike.

As a judge, Boguet was known for his cruelty, especially toward children. He had no doubt satan gifted witches wih the ability to change shape into a variety of animal forms, especially the wolf, so that they might devour humans, and the cat, so they might better prowl by night. In another case recounted in Discours des Sorciers, of 8-year-old Louise Maillat, who in the summer of 1598 was possessed by five demons; Wolf, Cat, Dog,jolly, and griffon. In addition the little girl was accused of shapeshifting into the form of a wolf.