Manuel_Romasanta

Le's see... About me, hm. Well, firstly my real name is not Manuel. I do not give out my real name on the internet. I come from a well-off family, and have tested twice as a genius. Personally, I believe the tests were incorrect with their placement of me. Roleplaying information is as follows.------------------------- Manuel Blanco Romasanta is Spain’s first documented serial killer. In 1853 Romasanta admitted to thirteen murders, claiming he was not responsible as he was suffering from a curse that turned him 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. Romasanta has become part of Spanish folklore as the Werewolf of Allariz or less commonly as the Tallow Man, so named for the rendering of his victims fat to make high quality soap.--- BACKGROUND--- Born in Regueiro, Orense province, on 18 November, 1809, Manuel Blanco Romasanta was originally named Manuela as it was intially though that he was female. He was raised as a girl until the age of six when a doctor discovered his true sex. Because he could read and write, very rare for the time, it is believed his family was relatively wealthy. As a grown man he worked as a tailor and, according to various accounts, was of small stature, being between 1.37m (4'6") and 1.49m (4'11") in height. Following the death of his wife in 1833, Romasanta became a travelling salesman, initially in Esgos, then eventually throughout Galicia and Portugal. Romasanta was also known to act as a guide for travellers crossing the mountains to Castile, Asturias and Cantabria which gave him further opportunities for trade. In 1844, Romasanta was charged with the murder of Vicente Fernández, the constable of León. Fernández had been found dead after attempting to collect a debt of 600 reales that Romasanta owed to a supplier in Ponferrada for the purchase of merchandise. For failing to appear, he was judged guilty by default and sentenced in absentia to 10 years imprisonment.--- Other Crimes--- Fleeing from the threat of imprisonment and with a false passport in the name of Antonio Gómez, a native of Nogueira in Portugal, Romasanta lived in the small village of Rebordechao, in the district of Vilar de Barrio for at least a year. Although he worked as a cordmaker and helped with the harvest, he also became friendly with the women of the village and worked variously as a cook and as a weaver making yarn on a spinning wheel, leading the men of the village to consider him effeminate. Over the following years, several women and children who had hired Romasanta as a guide disappeared. The disappearances were not immediately noticed as Romasanta delivered letters to their families advising that they had arrived at their destinations and were settling in. However, suspicion was aroused when it was noticed that he was selling their clothing locally and rumours spread that he was selling soap made from human fat. In 1852, a complaint was finally lodged in the city of Escalona alleging that Romasanta deceived women and children into travelling with him, that he then killed them and that he removed their fat which he then sold. He was arrested in September of 1852, in Nombela, in the province of Toledo, and brought to trial in Allariz, in the province of Ourense.--- Victims--- Manuela Garcia, age 47, and her daughter Petra, 15, killed in the Sierra de San Mamede while traveling to Santander.--- Benita Garcia Blanco, aged 34, and her son Francisco, 10, killed in Corgo de Boi while traveling to Rua cantabras.--- Antonia land, 37 years old, and her daughter Peregrina, killed while traveling to Ourense.--- Josefa Garcia and her son Jose Pazos, 21 years old.--- María Dolores, 12 years old.--- Psychologist's Report--- In October 1852, Allariz doctors presented the court with a report on Romasanta. Based heavily on Phrenology, the report accused Romasanta of inventing his affliction. While noting that Lycanthropy can be determined from a "visceral examination" and craneoscopia, the doctors found no causes or motives for his behaviour. "His inclination to vice is voluntary and not forced. The subject is not insane, dim-witted or monomaniacal, nor were these conditions achieved while incarcerated. On the contrary, he, Romasanta, instead turns out to be a pervert, an accomplished criminal capable of anything, cool and collected and without goodness but acts with free will, freedom and knowledge."--- Trial--- When Romasanta was brought to trial, Galicia was in the middle of one of the worst famines of several that had plagued Galicia throughout the nineteenth century. The famine led to mass migrations and a noticable increase in insanity. Romasanta admitted 13 murders explaining that he had been cursed and had committed them after transforming into a wolf. "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." — Manuel Blanco Romasanta. The court acquitted Romasanta of four of the murders he had confessed to after forensic evidence indicated that these victims had died in real wolf attacks. He was found guilty of the other nine, the remains of which exibited signs of butchering. On April 6, 1853 Romasanta was sentenced to death by garrotte with 1000 Real compensation to be paid for each victim. The court case had lasted seven months and the transcript covered more than two thousand pages which were bound in five volumes titled "Licantropia". The case was sent for ratification to the Territorial Court in A Coruña which, after considering the case for seven months, reduced the sentence to life imprisonment. The prosecution appealed against the reduction and a new hearing was set for March 1854, which upheld the original verdict from the court in Allariz: death by Garrotte. Romasanta was killed shortly after his imprisonment. Records indicate that it was due to being shot by a guard who wanted to see him transform, but the locals insisted that he was murdered by a family member of one of his victims. His true cause of death is unknown, as his “body” disappeared soon after the original examination.---------------------------------------- Personal information... Hm. Honestly, there's not much about me I'm not willing to tell. I have attachment/detachment/trust issues. I was abused as a child, which is, according to my psychologist, the main reason for my issues. I do not reveal this to receive pity, or anything else you may believe. I simply wish to explain why I am the man that you will meet.