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.
Upon hearing about problems at home, 'he decided then and there to give it all up'. But since quitting showbusiness, the Wolf Man realised money is harder to come by as a manual labourer. At 12, Chuy was travelling from city to city working at fair grounds when a circus owner spotted the then-called Little Wolf. His two cousins had just been born and the circus owner 'wanted all three', so offered good money to 'purchase' all of them.
The Little Wolf agreed and the trio spent several years travelling around Mexico, where they were 'locked up' and presented to paying crowds as attractions. After almost three decades travelling the world, Chuy discovered his wife was cheating on him with a 'regular man' and his daughter Araceli missed him terribly.That was when he decided to give up the circus life and returned home to scratch a living by working in a rubbish dump.
He does not regret spending his life as circus performer but having left home to join the circus at 13, Chuy doesn't have the qualifications to do anything other than fruit picking, building site labouring or waste disposal.
'He can't get a decent job due to the huge discrimination he suffers,' said Eva, 'He's currently working in a dumpsite where he spends his evenings burning the town's garbage for a pittance.' It's not just Jesus 'Chuy' Aceves who suffers from 'werewolf syndrome', his entire family have hair-covered faces and bodies due to a genetic mutation which goes back generations.
Upon hearing about problems at home, 'he decided then and there to give it all up'. But since quitting showbusiness, the Wolf Man realised money is harder to come by as a manual labourer. At 12, Chuy was travelling from city to city working at fair grounds when a circus owner spotted the then-called Little Wolf.
His two cousins had just been born and the circus owner 'wanted all three', so offered good money to 'purchase' all of them. The Little Wolf agreed and the trio spent several years travelling around Mexico, where they were 'locked up' and presented to paying crowds as attractions.
After almost three decades travelling the world, Chuy discovered his wife was cheating on him with a 'regular man' and his daughter Araceli missed him terribly.That was when he decided to give up the circus life and returned home to scratch a living by working in a rubbish dump. He does not regret spending his life as circus performer but having left home to join the circus at 13, Chuy doesn't have the qualifications to do anything other than fruit picking, building site labouring or waste disposal.
'He can't get a decent job due to the huge discrimination he suffers,' said Eva, 'He's currently working in a dumpsite where he spends his evenings burning the town's garbage for a pittance.' It's not just Jesus 'Chuy' Aceves who suffers from 'werewolf syndrome', his entire family have hair-covered faces and bodies due to a genetic mutation which goes back generations.
The family suffers terrible abuse at the hands of the local population where old women 'cross themselves' and curse at them when they walk past. 'One of their neighbours, an old woman, has poisoned over twenty of their cats,' said Eva, who had been shocked by the abuse the family suffered.
'This woman constantly shouts abuse at the family and kills their pets whenever she gets the chance. They have to keep their cats inside the house now.' The whole family is affected by a genetic mutation called Congenital Hypertrichosis, informally known as 'Werewolf Syndrome', which causes an abnormal amount of hair growth across the body.
The phenomenon started with Chuy's great-grandmother, who was the first of the family to exhibit the traits of hypertrichosis, which had never been seen before in her family. The mutation is believed to be an atavism - an evolutionary throwback to genetic ancestors whose characteristics lie dormant in all humans but which come to the fore by chance in a new generation.
Now a dominant gene in the bloodline, five subsequent generations of Chuy's great-grandmother's offspring have been born with 'werewolf syndrome'. Babies born into the family arrive with hair already grown on their faces. In fact, of the 50 known individuals throughout human history affected by the syndrome, the werewolf family from Mexico's Zacatecas state make up 30 cases. Today the family lives in two neighbouring houses donated 40 years ago by a town mayor sympathetic to the plight of a group of social pariahs.
So serious is the discrimination against the family that no one will rent or sell them a local property in which to live. Eva said: 'I've never seen bullying or discrimination on the scale of what these people suffer.' While they put on a brave face, it's when they are interviewed alone that the cracks in their resolve start to show.
'I'm the opposite of invisible,' says Chuy at one point, 'But I just want to be left in peace.' Chuy is married to Victoria, a woman from the local community who now lives with the family. She told Eva that she is used to her husband's unusual features, and that 'it would be strange to be with a bald-faced man now'.
Chuy has produced two daughters, Araceli and Karla, who inherited their father's hairy characteristics and now regularly shave their faces to combat the bullying at school, taught by their aunts who share the same desire for normality.
The youngest generation of the family say that they do not want to have children given the discrimination they have experienced at school. At one point in the documentary Karla tells Eva, 'It's difficult to bring a new person like me into the world.' Rejected by society, the family have a difficult time finding work or holding down jobs.
'The kids leave school early and without proper educations due to the constant bullying', says Eva, 'That means that they can't find work later in life because they have no qualifications. 'There are no health or mental problems in the family,' says Eva, who shot her documentary during 2012 and 2013, 'It's purely a cosmetic problem and they suffer hugely as a result.' 'At the beginning you're very aware of the problem these people have, and you don't want to be caught staring. 'But after a few days with them you barely even notice. They're just a normal family trying to live their lives.'
Chuy's particularly hairy brother Danny refers to his condition as 'a gift from God' and says: 'It's okay to be different.' But upon encountering a real wolf on a trip to the zoo in the opening scene, Chuy saw the similarities between the caged animals and his own family. 'We're both covered in hair and we're both trapped - them in the zoo and me in this body,' he told the camera, 'At least the wolves treat me the same as they treat other humans.' 'Other recorded historical forms of hypertrichosis, such as bearded ladies, have been down to hormone imbalances,' said Eva. 'But in this family the syndrome is congenital, meaning its hardwired into their genetics. Subsequent generations all share the characteristics.'
'The family has kept a sense of pride in their uniqueness,' says Eva, who got to know the family intimately during her time filming them. 'They've had to stick together because no one else will accept them.' Despite their tough talk the family have suffered greatly at the hands of the local community, many of whom superstitiously see their unique features as a curse.
The women regularly shave their faces, the men prefer to let it grow out. And while the women and children stay within the confines of their shared home, nearly all the men of the family work in circuses and freak-shows.
One of a large family, Chuy and both his male cousins work under the 'Wolf Man' moniker in their travels across America, Asia and Europe. As a result they spend most of their lives touring and away from the family. 'It's very hard on the women,' says Eva, 'They can't work and they live in a society where cosmetic beauty is very important. They all have very serious problems with self-esteem.' Chuy has made numerous media appearances.
He features in the Ripley's Believe It Or Not and the Guinness Book of World Records as the World's Hairiest Man. He has toured the world with various circuses and freak shows, including the UK's Circus of Horrors. In 2005 he featured in Channel 5's Hidden Lives documentary series in an episode titled It's not easy being a wolf boy. 'I make films about marginalised communities,' says Eva, who has previously made documentary films about the homeless children of Mexico City and the worshippers of the Santa Muerte cult. '
Mexico is an amazing country for that,' said the filmmaker, who grew up in Mexico City before studying film at NYU, 'It's a place where the truth is stranger than fiction.' Eva hopes that her film will ultimately help the werewolf family attain a better life. 'More than a film about Chuy, this documentary is really about family,' she says, 'I really admire them and how strong they are. They're very resilient and have retained a sense of pride.'
'These are people who have no friendships, no careers, stable love-lives or lasting relationships because of how they look.' 'They have had to stick together because all they really have is each other, so it's really a film about family.' She has faith that her film will improve the family's situation. 'I'm not really in a position to offer them work or money, but if someone else sees the film and thinks they can help them then that makes it all worthwhile.'- MailOnLine
