The name comes from an event recorded by Cardinal LeCamus in 1672 at St Christophe en Oisans, see the book from Thomas Pfeiffer, Le Brûleur de loups, Lyon, 2004, and Sur les traces des brûleurs de loups, Paris, 2009. According to the Cardinal, members of his parish became fed up with wolves plaguing and harassing their livestock. One night, peasants cornered a pack into a small section of forest and burned them alive. The story still circulates in Grenoble popular folklore.