Sandy"s great-grandfather"s tale of the werewolf that terrorized an Italian town.
My Nonna (Italian for grandmother) told me this story when I was a child. It happened to her father, my great grandfather, when he was a young husband and father living in Italy in 1899.
My great-grandfather, Vincenzo Fumento, was 28 and my Nonna was six years old the year it happened. They lived in the mountain town of Montescaglioso, in the Province of Matera, Basilicata in southern Italy. In fact, the town's name Montescaglioso means "mountain assembly" or "settlement in the mountains".
In 1899, the mountain settlement of Montescaglioso was being plagued by creatures from the woods that were thought to be half man, half wolf. The people of the town called these creatures the luna lupi (moon wolves) because they were thought to roam the mountainside whenever there was a full moon.
My great grandfather Vincenzo was a devoutly religious man who did not believe stories about supernatural creatures -- that is until the night when he faced the horror of the creature that the town folk called the luna lupi.
Vincenzo worked in a sawmill about five miles from his home. He and four other men from the town would leave for work when the sun came up and walk the five miles of winding path through the woods to the sawmill. For the long trek to work, the men had to carry their lunch in metal lunchboxes. For the after dark trek home, they carried torches and lanterns to light the way on the dark, winding, wooded path.
It was all routine for Vincenzo and his fellow workers. They had been working at the sawmill for many years, and the five-mile walk was just another part of their grueling day.
But unknown to the men when they went to work one morning was that the following night would be different. This night would change them forever, and their tale would be told in fireside chats from that moment on and into the present day.
Here is Vincenzo's tale in his own words:
"I began my walk home from work one night with the other four men from town who I worked with. It was dusk when we started our trek home. About a mile into our walk, we stopped to light our torches and lanterns because it had grown darker. And we continued on our way home.
"About two miles into our walk, we began to hear an animal howling in the distance. We all knew there were lots of wolves in the mountain woods. Wolves never bothered groups of men; they were as afraid of us as we were of them. So, we didn't think much of it.
"Within what seemed like seconds, the howling grew much closer to us. And another couple of seconds and we could hear what sounded like the pounding of hooves on the path behind us along with the now extremely loud, terrifying howls. No time to think now. We all dropped our heavy metal lunchboxes and began running down the path. We all knew we had another three miles to go before we reached our town outside of the woods.
"We also knew there was an empty barn up ahead, if we could make it that far, before whatever was behind us caught up with us. Fear gripped us... the howls were deafening and the sound of pounding hooves seemed only feet behind us. We were running for our lives. Even my co-worker who weighed over 250 pounds kept right up with the rest of the men. I was out in front, making for the barn up ahead.
"The howls and the pounding of the hooves now resounded in our ears. We all believed that this thing, this creature, whatever it was, would catch us before we even reached the barn. But a second later we were at the barn, and we all clamored to be the first one in. All in, we slammed the old barn door and quickly dropped the board latch down to lock ourselves in.
"No sooner was the board secured in place, the creature was at the door, pounding, clawing, and howling. We stood shaking and covering our ears because the howls were so persistent and unendingly terrifying. One second the creature would be pounding and clawing at the door, and the next second it would be in back of the huge barn, pounding and clawing. No animal could move that fast. It was racing around and around the outside of the barn, continuing to pound and claw, seemingly looking for a way to get in.
"We even heard the creature on the roof. It was relentless. The pounding, clawing and howling went on for hours. At one point the creature found a separation in the wood slats of the barn wall. It was able to work its claw through just far enough for us to see the black claws that were at least four inches in length. We stood unmoving, silent, praying for this creature to go away. But it ran around the barn, pounding, clawing, and howling all night long until the sun came up... and then everything was silent.
"We were still afraid to move a muscle. Eventually, though, we started peering through the slats of the barn walls to see if we could see anything out there. After looking outside for over an hour after the sun came up, we finally cracked open the door. There was no creature out there anymore, but what we did see horrified us.
"There were claw marks and blood covering the entire barn. We could even see splatters of blood on the ground. Also, we saw hoof prints all around the barn and leading away from the barn. We also noticed something very strange. The hoof prints went as far as the path before turning into what appeared to be barefoot human prints. This particular sight was the most unnerving for all of us who spent the night trapped in the barn. And there is nothing more to say about that night.
"The other four men and I walked home in silence. I believe we were in shock. I never dreamed that creatures like this really existed. I thought they only existed in stories and the minds of people with vivid imaginations. But I was wrong.
"We reported this incident to our town officials. Apparently, they had other reports as well, though none as frightening as ours. Ours was the closest encounter with this unknown creature. The town officials took it very seriously though, and being a devoutly religious community, it was feared that a demon might be in our midst.
"The Pope was summoned and he traveled from Rome to Montescaglioso to bless the town, the surrounding woods, and the mountain countryside: 'Bless this town, the woods, and the countryside, so that we may remain free from the plague of evil that threatens us all.'
"No one ever saw or heard from the luna lupi again."
And that, readers, is my great grandfather's true story of his night.
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My great-grandfather, Vincenzo Fumento, was 28 and my Nonna was six years old the year it happened. They lived in the mountain town of Montescaglioso, in the Province of Matera, Basilicata in southern Italy. In fact, the town's name Montescaglioso means "mountain assembly" or "settlement in the mountains".
In 1899, the mountain settlement of Montescaglioso was being plagued by creatures from the woods that were thought to be half man, half wolf. The people of the town called these creatures the luna lupi (moon wolves) because they were thought to roam the mountainside whenever there was a full moon.
My great grandfather Vincenzo was a devoutly religious man who did not believe stories about supernatural creatures -- that is until the night when he faced the horror of the creature that the town folk called the luna lupi.
Vincenzo worked in a sawmill about five miles from his home. He and four other men from the town would leave for work when the sun came up and walk the five miles of winding path through the woods to the sawmill. For the long trek to work, the men had to carry their lunch in metal lunchboxes. For the after dark trek home, they carried torches and lanterns to light the way on the dark, winding, wooded path.
It was all routine for Vincenzo and his fellow workers. They had been working at the sawmill for many years, and the five-mile walk was just another part of their grueling day.
But unknown to the men when they went to work one morning was that the following night would be different. This night would change them forever, and their tale would be told in fireside chats from that moment on and into the present day.
Here is Vincenzo's tale in his own words:
"I began my walk home from work one night with the other four men from town who I worked with. It was dusk when we started our trek home. About a mile into our walk, we stopped to light our torches and lanterns because it had grown darker. And we continued on our way home.
"About two miles into our walk, we began to hear an animal howling in the distance. We all knew there were lots of wolves in the mountain woods. Wolves never bothered groups of men; they were as afraid of us as we were of them. So, we didn't think much of it.
"Within what seemed like seconds, the howling grew much closer to us. And another couple of seconds and we could hear what sounded like the pounding of hooves on the path behind us along with the now extremely loud, terrifying howls. No time to think now. We all dropped our heavy metal lunchboxes and began running down the path. We all knew we had another three miles to go before we reached our town outside of the woods.
"We also knew there was an empty barn up ahead, if we could make it that far, before whatever was behind us caught up with us. Fear gripped us... the howls were deafening and the sound of pounding hooves seemed only feet behind us. We were running for our lives. Even my co-worker who weighed over 250 pounds kept right up with the rest of the men. I was out in front, making for the barn up ahead.
"The howls and the pounding of the hooves now resounded in our ears. We all believed that this thing, this creature, whatever it was, would catch us before we even reached the barn. But a second later we were at the barn, and we all clamored to be the first one in. All in, we slammed the old barn door and quickly dropped the board latch down to lock ourselves in.
"No sooner was the board secured in place, the creature was at the door, pounding, clawing, and howling. We stood shaking and covering our ears because the howls were so persistent and unendingly terrifying. One second the creature would be pounding and clawing at the door, and the next second it would be in back of the huge barn, pounding and clawing. No animal could move that fast. It was racing around and around the outside of the barn, continuing to pound and claw, seemingly looking for a way to get in.
"We even heard the creature on the roof. It was relentless. The pounding, clawing and howling went on for hours. At one point the creature found a separation in the wood slats of the barn wall. It was able to work its claw through just far enough for us to see the black claws that were at least four inches in length. We stood unmoving, silent, praying for this creature to go away. But it ran around the barn, pounding, clawing, and howling all night long until the sun came up... and then everything was silent.
"We were still afraid to move a muscle. Eventually, though, we started peering through the slats of the barn walls to see if we could see anything out there. After looking outside for over an hour after the sun came up, we finally cracked open the door. There was no creature out there anymore, but what we did see horrified us.
"There were claw marks and blood covering the entire barn. We could even see splatters of blood on the ground. Also, we saw hoof prints all around the barn and leading away from the barn. We also noticed something very strange. The hoof prints went as far as the path before turning into what appeared to be barefoot human prints. This particular sight was the most unnerving for all of us who spent the night trapped in the barn. And there is nothing more to say about that night.
"The other four men and I walked home in silence. I believe we were in shock. I never dreamed that creatures like this really existed. I thought they only existed in stories and the minds of people with vivid imaginations. But I was wrong.
"We reported this incident to our town officials. Apparently, they had other reports as well, though none as frightening as ours. Ours was the closest encounter with this unknown creature. The town officials took it very seriously though, and being a devoutly religious community, it was feared that a demon might be in our midst.
"The Pope was summoned and he traveled from Rome to Montescaglioso to bless the town, the surrounding woods, and the mountain countryside: 'Bless this town, the woods, and the countryside, so that we may remain free from the plague of evil that threatens us all.'
"No one ever saw or heard from the luna lupi again."
And that, readers, is my great grandfather's true story of his night.
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