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Spain’s First Recorded Serial Killer
MA N U E L Blanco Romasanta was Spain's first recorded serial killer. Born in Galicia, he admitted to thirteen murders, but claimed he was not responsible because he was suffering from a curse that caused him to turn into a wolf.
Although this defense was rejected at trial, Queen Isabella II commuted his death sentence to allow doctors to investigate the claim as an example of clinical lycanthropy. The only case in the world of clinical lycanthropy.
Manuel Blanco Romasanta was Spain’s first documented serial killer nicknamed the “Werewolf of Allariz.” Born on the 18th November 1809 in Regueiro, Esgos, Ourense province of Spain, Manuel’s life was complicated from the start. His mother had a difficult birth, and he suffered from genetic abnormalities.
According to sources, he was originally named Manuela due to having androgynous gender, and his parents believed him to be female. For the first six years of his life, society treated him as a female until a doctor discovered his growing penis. While pundits surmise how this affected Manuel’s adulthood, there is no hard evidence that this event affected his future criminal nature.
Being part of a well-off and privileged family, Manuel knew how to read and write at a time when only a few adults could. In his early teens, his growth stopped, and he stood between 4’6” and 4’11”.
As a grown man, he acquired work as a tailor and got married. However, his attempt towards a life of normalcy turned out to be short-lived when his wife suddenly expired in 1833.
He left the job to start a new life and became a traveling salesman. He also worked as a travel guide for people traveling through the mountains of Castile, Asturias, and Cantabria. However, his life took a bad turn when he was struck with murder charges in 1844.
Crimes
Romasanta was allegedly charged with the murder of Vicente Fernández, a constable from Leon. Supposedly, Fernández had come to collect a debt of 600 rheostats from Romasanta, which he owed to a supplier. Not long after the attempted collection, Fernández was then found dead. Romasanta fled with a false passport and didn’t appear for his trial. He was assumed guilty and given a prison sentence of 10 years in his absence.
Romasanta lived in hiding for almost a year, but eventually, he returned to his hometown. He used a close-by village as his hideout while and continued to make a living by befriending local women and working as a guide to newcomers in town.
Things once again turned grim when quite a few women and children connected to Romasanta had mysteriously disappeared. Several newcomers, including seven women and two children traveling with their mothers, were never seen again. No one noticed the connection between the victims and Romasanta until he was caught selling his victims’ clothes and pawning out their belongings.
But the final piece linking Romasanta came In September of 1852. The town was in shock when a complaint was filed accusing Romasanta of using his victims' body fat to make soap to sell to the public. Investigating authorities confirmed the case, and justified with the other pieces of evidence, set out to arrest Romasanta.
He was captured in Nombela Toledo and bought to trial in Allariz, Orense, for the murders of 13 people from age 10 to 47.
Romasanta said he was cursed and claimed to be a Lycanthropy victim, an illness that made him transform into a wolf. This wasn’t the first time European courts heard of such a defense.
According to Romasanta’s own statement:
The first time I transformed, was in the mountains of Couso. I came across two ferocious-looking wolves. I suddenly fell to the floor, and began to feel convulsions, I rolled over three times, and a few seconds later I myself was a wolf. I was out marauding with the other two for five days, until I returned to my own body, the one you see before you today, Your Honour. The other two wolves came with me, who I thought were also wolves, changed into human form. They were from Valencia. One was called Antonio and the other Don Genaro. They too were cursed… we attacked and ate a number of people because we were hungry.”
Romasanta’s trial concluded on April 6, 1853, with the court sentencing him to death by garroting. Court also ordered him to compensate 1000 reales each to the family members of his victims.
Nevertheless, Romasanta’s death sentence was overturned on the claim of “Mr. Phillips,” a French hypnotist. He requested the Spanish minister of justice delay the sentence claiming that Romasanta could be suffering from “Monomania,” a mental disorder that can be treated with hypnotism. Eventually, on May 13, 1854, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by Royal decree.
Romasanta was sent to a prison in Celanova, where he died behind bars on December 14, 1863. Locals say the cause of death was stomach cancer, but a persisting rumor suggests he was shot by a guard who saw him transform into a wolf
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