Werewolves

From TinWiki.org

A werewolf is a person who shapeshifts into a wolf or wolflike creature.

The word werewolf is from two Old English words. Wer (or were), meaning "man", and wulf, the precursor of wolf though it can also mean "beast". The Greek term lycanthropy formally denotes the "wolf - man" transformation while lycanthrope refers to the afflicted person. In psychology, lycanthropy (referred to as "clinical lycanthropy") is a mental illness diagnosis where the patient believes that he or she is a wild animal.

1 Characteristics
2 In Folklore
- 2.1 Greek mythology
- 2.2 Armenian lore
3 In History
4 Modern Reports
5 Shapeshifting
6 See also
7 External Websites
8 Related Discussion Threads on AboveTopSecret.com

[edit]

Characteristics

Like most traditional monsters, werewolves' characteristics have changed drastically due to the media and human error. Modern characteristics include: shape shifting every full moon, a weakness to silver, and a savage manner.

[edit]

In Folklore

[edit]

Greek mythology

Lycaon entertained Zeus and set before him a dish of human flesh; the god pushed away the dish in disgust and either killed the king and his sons by lightning or turned them into wolves. Some say that Lycaon slew and dished up his own son Nyctimus or Arcas, Zeus' son. Another version says that Lycaon sacrificed a child to Zeus on the altar on mount Lycaeus, and immediately after the sacrifice was turned into a wolf. This gave rise to the story that a man was turned into a wolf at each annual sacrifice to Zeus Lycaeus, but recovered his human form if he abstained from human flesh for ten years.

[edit]

Armenian lore

There are women who in consequence of deadly sins, are condemned to spend seven years in wolfen form. In a typical account, a condemned woman is visited by a wolfskin-toting spirit, who orders her to wear the skin, soon after which she acquires frightful cravings for human flesh. With her better nature overcome, the she-wolf devours each of her own children, then her relatives' children in order of relationship, and finally the children of strangers. She wanders only at night, with doors and locks springing open at her approach. When morning arrives, she reverts to human form and removes her wolfskin. The transformation is generally said to be involuntary, but there are alternate versions involving voluntary metamorphosis, where the women can transform at will.

[edit]

In History

[edit]

France

France had a multitude of reports of werewolf attacks -- and consequent court trials -- during the 16th century. In some of the cases (e.g. those of the Gandillon family in the Jura), the tailor of Chalons and Roulet in Angers, all occurring in the year 1598 there was clear evidence against the accused of murder and cannibalism, but none of association with wolves; in other cases, as that of Gilles Garnier in Dole in 1573, there was clear evidence against some wolf, but none against the accused. Yet while belief in lycanthropy reached a peak in popularity, it was decided in the case of Jean Grenier at Bordeaux in 1603 that lycanthropy was nothing more than a delusion. The loup-garou eventually ceased to be regarded as a dangerous heretic, and reverted to the pre-Christian notion of a "man-wolf-fiend".

Some werewolf lore in France is based on documented events. The Beast of Gévaudan was a creature that terrorized the general area of the former province of Gévaudan in south-central France (it is now called Lozère). From the years 1764 to 1767, an unknown (perhaps human) entity killed upwards of 80 men, women and children. The creature was described as a giant wolf by the sole survivor of the attacks, which ceased after several wolves were killed in the area. A film called Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) presented a highly fictionalized account of this story.

[edit]

England

Werewolves in European tradition were often innocent and God-fearing folk suffering from the witchcraft of others, or simply from an unhappy fate, and who as wolves behaved in a truly touching fashion, adoring and protecting their human benefactors. In Marie de France's poem Bisclaveret (c. 1200), the nobleman Bisclavret, for reasons not described in the lai, had to transform into a wolf every week. When his treacherous wife stole his clothing needed to restore his human form, he escaped the king's wolf hunt by imploring the king for mercy, and accompanied the king thereafter. His behaviour at court was so much gentler than when his wife and her new husband appeared at court, that his hateful attack on the couple was deemed justly motivated, and the truth was revealed.

[edit]

Prussia, Livonia and Lithuania

In 16th century, according to bishops Olaus Magnus and Majolus, the werewolves were far more destructive than "true and natural wolves", and their heterodoxy appears from the Catholic bishops' assertion that they formed "an accursed college" of those "desirous of innovations contrary to the divine law."

[edit]

Modern Reports

In the late 1990s, a string of man-eating wolf attacks were reported in Uttar Pradesh, India. Frightened people claimed, among other things, that the wolves were actually werewolves.

[edit]

Shapeshifting

In many stories, the werewolf has to take off his or her clothing before they can change. It's vital, in most werewolf, that the clothing must be nearby when they want to change back. If, for some reason, they aren't then the werewolf has to stay in wolf form.

In many parts of the world, it is thought that the werewolf must smear himself with a special ointment after he or she had taken off their clothes. What the ointment is made of varies, although most come from plants. After rubbing the ointment on, the werewolf puts on a wolf skin or a belt made of wolf or human skin. There were exact dimensions for making there intricately designed belts. For example, if human skin was used, it usually had to be that of a murderer and as wide as three fingers.

According to other lore, it's comparably easy to become a werewolf. Eating roast wolf, smelling certain powerful herbs, or drinking water out of a wolf's footprint are all viable ways to become a werewolf. Putting on a shirt made of wolf skin could temporarily turn one into a wolf for nine days. Rolling around in the dirt naked under a full moon was also a favorite technique.

To change back to human shape, a werewolf usually had to reverse whatever he had done to become a wolf. Some werewolves changed back into humans automatically at sunrise.

Non-werewolves could change werweolves back into human shape, too. When most werewolves are wounded, they turn back into human shape with the same wound pattern. Making the sign of a cross near a werewolf or calling him by his human name was supposed to work, if the name used was the one the werewolf was baptized with, and if it was repeated three times. One could also take three drops of blood or stab the werewolf's forehead three times with a knife. Most werewolves had to have someone change them back and that was not always possible.

Shape shifting was considered a very real and very serious problem, especially in the Middle Ages. Some Church authorities said the Devil was responsible for shifting people into animal shapes.

[edit]