Manuel Blanco Romasanta

Manuel Blanco Romasanta
Charcoal drawing from Romasanta's medical report
Born	(1809-11-18)18 November 1809 Regueiro, Ourense province Galicia Spain
Died	1863 (aged 53) Celanova, Ourense province Galicia Spain
Occupation	tailor, travelling salesman
Criminal charge	Murder 13 counts
Criminal penalty	death by garrotte
Criminal status	death sentence commuted
Conviction(s)	Guilty nine counts Not guilty four counts

Manuel Blanco Romasanta (18 November 1809 — 14 December 1863) 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 defence 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.

Born in Regueiro, Ourense province, on 18 November 1809, Manuel Blanco Romasanta was originally named Manuela as it was initially thought 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.

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.