Curse of the Wolf Family: From circus freaks to being branded ‘Satanic Beasts’, the ‘hairiest family in the world’ reveal how they have struggled to survive bullying, poisoning and persecution
Jesus ‘Chuy’ Aceves woke up one morning to discover another one of his family’s cats has been murdered.
Then on his way to work at a Mexican building site, he was howled at by strangers who jeered at him, calling him names like ‘satanic beast’, before whipping out their cameras to take pictures of him.
This is a normal day in the life of the ‘Wolf Man’ who became a world-famous circus performer whose entire face is covered in thick, black hair.
His entire family of 30 are all covered in the same dark fur as him – and cruelly shunned in their home town of Loreto, north-west Mexico, because of it.
But Chuy, who has starred in several documentaries, TV reports and attractions about his genetic disorder, has now told of how locals tell them to ‘go live in the woods’, slay their pets to get them to leave and ‘cross themselves’ when they walk past – as if they were demons.
The children of the ‘hairiest family in the world’ refuse to have more kids for fear they will suffer the same cruelty if they do. Even Chuy’s daughter Karla admits it would be ‘difficult to bring someone like me into the world’.
Their suffering has been witnessed by filmmaker Eva Aridjis who spent months filming them for a new, heart-wrenching documentary about their ‘cursed’ lives.
‘Chuy comes and goes from the touring life,’ said Eva, whose documentary ‘Chuy: The Wolf Man’ premieres in Mexico City on September 25.
