14. The Fictional Bluebeard’s Real World Inspiration
To carry out his depravities, Gilles de Rais’ modus operandi was to lure children from peasant or lower class families to his castle with gifts, such as candies, toys, or clothes. He would initially put them at their ease, feed and pamper them before he eventually led them to a bedroom, where he and his accomplices would pounce upon and seize their victims. As he confessed in his subsequent trial, de Rais got a sadistic kick out of the sight of the stark terror in their eyes when he explained what was in store for them. And what was in store was none too good.
Suffice it to say that it involved torture and sodomy, and ended with the child’s murder, usually via decapitation. The victims and their clothing would then be burned in the fireplace, and their ashes dumped into a moat. After Gilles confessed to his crimes, he and he and his accomplices were condemned to death. His execution on October 26th, 1440, was commensurate with the horrific nature of his crimes: he was burned and hanged at the same time. His infamy inspired the fictional fairy tale of Bluebeard, about a wealthy serial wife killer.
