Gilles de Rais was a Breton knight and the companion in arms of Joan of Arc, he is best known however as a prolific serial killer of children. From 1427 to 1435 de Rias had served as a commander in the French Royal Army, including battles against the English alongside Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years War. He retired from military life in 1435 where he squandered his wealth and dabbled in the occult.

He is believed to have committed his first child murder sometime between Spring 1432 and Spring 1433 and was followed by similar crimes. In 1440 de Rais had a dispute with a clergyman that had ended in violence and the church began an investigation, during which his crimes were brought to light. At his trial the parents of many missing children in the local area and some of de Rais own accomplices in crime were summoned to testify against him. He was hung for his crime in the French city of Nantes on 26th October 1440. de Rais had first turned to the occult around 1435 after he had almost bankrupted himself and lost almost all of his substantial estates, which he had sold or mortgaged in order to fund his own theatrical production.

A man named Francesco Prelati had promised de Rais that he could help him regain his fortune by sacrificing children to a demon, although we should be open minded to this story being 'created' at his trial in an attempt to find an explanation for his crimes. de Rais admitted charges of murder, sodomy and heresy on 21st October 1440 after graphic descriptions of the murders by his accomplices were deemed too distressing to even be placed in court records. The number of murders generally placed on de Rais range from 80 - 200, although some have suggested many more. The victims ranged from the ages of 6 up to 18 and were both male and female.

In his confession Gilles had maintained that the the attacks started between Spring 1432 and Spring 1433 in Champtoce. Shortly after he moved to Machecoul where he his confession states that he killed, or ordered the killing of, a great number of children after he had committed sodomy upon them. Forty bodies are believed to have been recovered in Machecoul.