Was Manuel Blanco Romasanta Really a Werewolf?

Manuel Blanco Romasanta, known as the Werewolf of Allariz and Sacamantecas (Fat Extractor), is Spain’s first documented serial killer, born in 1809 in Regueiro, Galicia.

Between 1844 and 1852, he confessed to thirteen murders, claiming a lycanthropic curse forced him to transform into a wolf and kill. His 1853 trial in Allariz captivated the nation, blending gruesome crimes with folklore and early psychological analysis.

Queen Isabella II commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment for medical study, marking a rare case of royal intervention.

Overview

Who Was Manuel Blanco Romasanta?

Manuel Blanco Romasanta was born on 18 November 1809 in Regueiro, a remote village in Esgos, Ourense, Galicia, Spain.

His birth was marked by physical ambiguity, leading his parents, Miguel Blanco and María Romasanta, to register him as Manuela and raise him as a girl until age six, when a doctor confirmed his male gender.

This early misidentification, one of five siblings, may have shaped his social and psychological development, though no direct link to his later crimes exists.

Standing between 1.37 and 1.49 meters (4 ft 6 in to 4 ft 11 in), Romasanta was slight, with blonde hair and tender-looking features described as feminine, earning him the nickname Belorukov (Little Wolf).

In his youth, Romasanta was literate, a rarity in rural Galicia, suggesting a privileged upbringing despite his family’s modest means. By his teens, he trained as a dressmaker, a trade typically associated with women, which reinforced perceptions of his effeminate nature.

In 1832, at age 23, he married a local woman, but she died in 1833 under unclear circumstances, with no suspicion of foul play.

Widowed, Romasanta left dressmaking to become a travelling salesman and guide, traversing the rugged paths of Galicia, Castile, Asturias, Cantabria, and Portugal.

His charm, soft-spoken demeanor, and unassuming appearance allowed him to gain trust easily, particularly among women and children, whom he later targeted.

Known for his ability to blend into communities, Romasanta’s itinerant lifestyle provided the perfect cover for his descent into one of Spain’s most notorious criminals.

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Manuel Blanco Romasanta’s Story

Manuel Blanco Romasanta’s criminal career began in 1844 with the murder of Vicente Fernández, a León constable, over a debt dispute in the village of Ozores.

Fernández’s body, found bludgeoned in a ditch, bore signs of a frenzied attack. Sentenced in absentia to ten years, Romasanta fled, adopting the alias Antonio Gómez and moving between Galicia and Portugal.

From 1844 to 1852, he killed at least nine people, though he confessed to thirteen, with some estimates suggesting up to twenty victims. His crimes, committed in isolated rural areas, were marked by deception, savagery, and a chilling entrepreneurial streak.

Romasanta’s modus operandi was calculated and predatory. Posing as a guide, he targeted vulnerable women and children, often widows or families seeking better prospects, promising safe passage through Galicia’s treacherous mountains to cities like Santander or Lisbon.

Once isolated, he murdered them with a knife, axe, or by strangulation, then dismembered their bodies with chilling precision. He rendered their fat into high-quality soap, sold in markets as sacaúntos (tallow), and peddled their clothing and belongings, earning the moniker Sacamantecas (Fat Extractor).

Some accounts suggest he engaged in necrophilic acts, feeding on victims’ flesh, though evidence is inconclusive.

Confirmed victims include:

• Manuela García (47) and daughter Petra (15), killed in June 1846 near Rebordechao. Their bodies, found in a ravine, were slashed with deep gashes, Petra’s face partially eaten, and limbs severed.
• Benita García Blanco (34) and son Francisco (10), murdered in August 1847 in a forest near Corgo. Their remains showed bite marks, missing organs, and signs of disembowelment.
• Antonia Land (37) and daughter Peregrina (13), killed in March 1849 near Vilar de Barrio. Partially buried, their bodies bore claw-like wounds and mutilated torsos.
• Josefa García (40) and José Pazos (21), killed in July 1850 along a mountain pass in Maceda. Their scattered remains, with clothing sold in Allariz, showed precise cuts.
• María Dolores (12), murdered in May 1851 near a stream in Esgos. Her disemboweled body, face unrecognizable, was found with organs strewn nearby.

The brutality was horrific. Victims’ throats were slashed, abdomens ripped open, and limbs hacked apart, resembling animalistic attacks.

In Rebordechao, a shepherd, Manuel de Sousa, reported seeing a cloaked figure near a crime scene, while villagers heard spectral howls at night. By 1850, disappearances linked to Romasanta’s routes—Rebordechao, Corgo, Maceda—sparked panic.

In Allariz, tavern keeper Juan de la Cruz noticed Romasanta selling women’s clothing, including a shawl later identified as Benita García’s, fueling suspicion.

In spring 1852, a merchant in Escalona, Tomás Rivera, filed a complaint about Romasanta’s soap, noting its unnatural sheen and fetid odor.

Authorities, already investigating disappearances, issued a wanted notice.

On 15 September 1852, magistrate Don Esteban Morales arrested Romasanta in Nombela, Toledo, recognizing him from a description: a small, blonde man with a feminine gait.

Interrogated in a local gaol, Romasanta confessed to thirteen murders but claimed a lycanthropic curse, cast by a relative (possibly his mother-in-law), forced him to transform into a wolf.

He described undressing, rolling on the ground, and feeling his body contort, driven by animal fury. He claimed to have hunted with two other werewolves, Antonio and Don Genaro from Valencia, regaining human form days later, weeping with remorse.

Searches near Rebordechao uncovered bones, clothing fragments, and a knife linked to Romasanta. In Ourense, merchant Ana López reported buying soap with a human-like stench.

Villagers formed armed patrols, fearing a lobishome (werewolf), while clergy in Allariz preached against demonic forces. Authorities, under pressure, transferred Romasanta to Allariz’s gaol on 20 September 1852, setting the stage for a trial that would grip Spain.

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Manuel Blanco Romasanta’s Werewolf Trial

The trial, Cause Nº 1778, “The Wolfman”, began in November 1852 in Allariz’s courthouse, lasting seven months and generating over 2,000 pages across five volumes titled Licantropía.

Presided by Judge Don Francisco de la Vega, with prosecutor Luciano Bastida Hernáez, it drew villagers, clergy, and journalists, turning Allariz into a hub of morbid fascination. The trial blended heinous crimes with Galician folklore and nascent psychological inquiry, making it a landmark case.

Romasanta’s capture on 15 September 1852 in Nombela was swift but brutal. Shackled and beaten during transport to Allariz, he arrived at the town’s gaol—a dank, stone cell beneath the Casa Consistorial—on 20 September.

Interrogations, led by magistrate Don José María Torres and priest Father Tomás de la Cruz, were relentless.

Romasanta endured sleep deprivation, harsh restraints, and verbal abuse, though records avoid mention of outright torture. He reiterated his confession, claiming a curse transformed him into a wolf for thirteen years, ending days before his arrest.

He described rolling on the ground, feeling bones shift, and losing human consciousness, awakening amid blood-soaked carnage.

The court summoned medical experts, including Dr. José María de la Fuente, a phrenologist, and Dr. Manuel López de la Torre, a physician. Phrenology, analyzing skull shapes for character traits, was deemed scientific.

They examined Romasanta’s head, finding no abnormalities, and concluded he was a perverse criminal with free will and cool calculation. Physical inspections for wolf-like traits—hair growth, teeth, or claws—found nothing.

The experts dismissed his lycanthropy as a deceptive ploy, though Dr. López noted possible monomania, an obsessive mental state, but ruled against insanity.

Evidence was overwhelming. Witnesses included:

• Tomás Rivera, Escalona merchant, testified about Romasanta’s soap’s fetid stench.
• Ana López, Ourense vendor, identified clothing sold by Romasanta as Josefa García’s.
• Pedro de León, farmer, found bones near Corgo, linked to Benita García’s murder.

Nine victims’ remains, showing butchery marks—precise cuts, missing organs—were presented, distinguishing them from four deaths attributed to wolves, for which Romasanta was acquitted. Prosecutor Bastida called him a spectral predator, exploiting Galicia’s lobo da xente myth to mask his atrocities.

On 6 April 1853, Romasanta was sentenced to death by garrote vil, a device crushing the neck, and ordered to pay 1,000 Reales per victim. The crowd cheered, chanting “Death to the lobishome!”

However, a French hypnotist, possibly Joseph-Pierre Durand de Gros, wrote to Queen Isabella II, claiming Romasanta suffered from clinical lycanthropy or monomania, treatable via hypnosis.

Intrigued, the queen issued a Royal Order on 13 May 1854, commuting the sentence to life imprisonment for medical study, a decision that stunned the public.

Romasanta was transferred to Celanova prison, a fortress in Ourense, on 20 June 1854. Confined in a solitary cell, he underwent hypnotic sessions and psychological tests, though no results were recorded.

Conditions were harsh: moldy bread, minimal water, and vermin-infested quarters. He remained isolated, shunned by inmates fearing his werewolf curse.

On 14 December 1863, Romasanta died of stomach cancer in Ceuta’s prison hospital, his body buried in an unmarked grave. The trial’s legacy, driven by royal intervention, marked a shift toward scientific inquiry into criminal minds.

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Manuel Blanco Romasanta vs Other Werewolves

Romasanta’s case shares themes with other lycanthropy trials but is unique for its 19th-century psychological focus:

Romasanta’s lycanthropic claims, confessions, and violent crimes align with cases like Gilles Garnier and Jean Grenier. Targeting vulnerable victims and exploiting folklore are common themes.

Romasanta’s trial, with psychological evaluation and royal commutation, contrasts with earlier demonic-focused cases. His Sacamantecas nickname and soap-making are unique, as is the 19th-century context.

Was Manuel Blanco Romasanta a Real Werewolf?

Romasanta’s crimes are well-documented in the Licantropía volumes, over 2,000 pages of trial records, and contemporary newspapers like La Iberia (1852–1853) and La Esperanza (1853).

A 1859 pamphlet, Reseña de la causa formada en el juzgado de Allariz, published in Madrid, details the case, confirming nine murders through physical evidence: butchered remains, clothing, and Romasanta’s knife.

Witness testimonies, including merchants Tomás Rivera and Ana López, and farmer Pedro de León’s bone discovery, solidify his guilt. His confession to thirteen murders, though only nine verified, is undisputed.

Romasanta’s lycanthropy claims, however, are debated. He insisted a curse, possibly from his mother-in-law, transformed him into a wolf, compelling him to kill.

Trial experts, using phrenology, dismissed this, labeling him a calculating predator. Modern scholars propose clinical lycanthropy, a psychiatric disorder where individuals believe they become animals, as seen in Jean Grenier’s case.

Psychiatrist Dr. Juan Gómez-Alonso suggests Romasanta’s delusions may stem from ergot poisoning, common in 19th-century Galicia due to spoiled rye containing LSD-25, inducing hallucinations. His ambiguous gender at birth has led to theories of intersexuality or hormonal imbalances, but no medical records confirm this.

Galician folklore, rich with lobo da xente tales, likely influenced Romasanta’s narrative. The Licantropía records note he referenced local myths, possibly to exploit cultural fears or rationalize his actions.

The trial’s psychological focus, rare for 1853, reflects an early shift from supernatural to scientific explanations, amplified by Queen Isabella II’s commutation for study. While Romasanta’s murders are real, his werewolf claims are likely a mix of delusion, folklore, and deception, making him a human monster rather than a supernatural one.

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Conclusion

Manuel Blanco Romasanta’s tale is a chilling blend of crime, myth, and science. His murders, exploiting vulnerable travelers, horrified 19th-century Spain, while his lycanthropic defense captivated a nation steeped in folklore.

The trial, with its psychological inquiry and royal intervention, marked a pivotal moment in criminology, challenging supernatural narratives.

As the Werewolf of Allariz, Romasanta embodies Galicia’s fears of the lobishome. Whether a cunning killer or a deluded man, his legacy endures in folklore and film, offering a haunting glimpse into the human psyche and the stories we weave to confront darkness.