Chuy, 'The Wolf Man' Tells His Heartbreaking Story

Jesús 'Chuy' Aceves popularly known as the Mexican 'Wolf Man' and a dozen members of his extended family suffer from the extremely rare condition of congenital hypertrichosis, meaning they were born with an abnormal amount of hair on their faces and bodies.

Due to their appearance, they suffer from discrimination in all areas of their lives. These men and women, boys and girls all struggle with the same issues: being made fun of at school and abandoned by their 'non-hairy' parents as children, followed by discrimination in the workplace and abandonment by their 'non-hairy' partners as adults.

The only consistent work they can find is in circuses and sideshows, exhibiting themselves as freaks just as Jo-Jo The Dog-Faced Boy, Lionel the Lion-Faced Man, Julia Pastrana and other individuals with the same condition did centuries before them.

Chuy tells his heartbreaking story in a new documentary called "Chuy, The Wolf Man", which was put together by Eva Aridjis who said it is the only such portrait in history.

"My name is Jesus. My family calls me Chuy. As a boy in my village of Loreto, Zakatekas… they called me "The Little Wolf". Now they call me "The Wolf Man". Sometimes people ask me why I look this way. "God made me this way," I reply. "Only God knows."

"What do I have in common with wolves? I went to see them in the Cahpultepec Zoo…and concluded the following: Both of our faces are covered in hair and we both lived trapped. Them in the zoo, and me in this body.

"At least wolves treat me the same as they treat other humans. That night on my way home on the metro people stared and shouted things at me. I try to ignore them but sometimes it’s hard. I want to be left in peace, but I don’t want to be left alone. I want them to notice me, but I want to pass unnoticed. I am the opposite of the invisible. I am the visible."

Filmmaker Eva Aridjis explained: "It was important to me as a filmmaker to give them a voice and let them tell their stories, and to document the challenges they face in their daily lives. Only fifty or so cases of congenital hypertrichosis have been recorded in history, and in Chuy's family, from his deceased ancestors down to his 6-month-old nephew Derian, there have been 30 cases thus far."