Human beings have always had 'issues' with wolves. We regard them with a mixture of fear, envy and fascination. They are predators who slaughter our livestock; hellhounds whose nightime howls send a shiver up the spine; hardy survivors honed by natural selection into superior physical beings.
Our fear of wolves is often tinged with the uncanny sensation that we are more like them than we are willing to admit, and the notion that which species- human or wolf- is superior is an open question.
Hence, the werewolf.
The idea of the werewolf- a human who shape-shifts from man to wolf and back again- is at least as old as classical Roman literature. Both Ovid and Virgil tell the story of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, who served human flesh to Zeus and was turned into a wolf as punishment:
He himself ran in terror, and reaching the silent fields howled aloud, frustrated of speech. Foaming at the mouth, and greedy as ever for killing, he turned against the sheep, still delighting in blood. His clothes became bristling hair, his arms became legs. He was a wolf, but kept some vestige of his former shape. There were the same grey hairs, the same violent face, the same glittering eyes, the same savage image. One house has fallen, but others deserve to also. Wherever the earth extends the avenging furies rule. You would think men were sworn to crime! Let them all pay the penalty they deserve, and quickly. That is my intent.’
The name Lycaon gives us the term lycanthrope, meaning the man-turned-wolf, or werewolf.
Nearly every region that has wolves has a werewolf legend. In France werewolves are called loup-garou:
It is always at night that the fit comes on. The lycanthropist dashes out of a window, springs into a well, and, after having struggled in the water for a few moments, rises from it, dripping, and invested with a goatskin which the devil has given him. In this condition, the louléerous run upon four legs, pass the night in ranging over the country, and in biting and devouring all the dogs they meet. At break of day they lay aside their goatskins and return home. Often they are ill in consequence of having eaten tough old hounds, and they vomit up their undigested paws. One great nuisance to them is the fact that they may be wounded or killed in their louléerou state. With the first effusion of blood their diabolic covering vanishes, and they are recognized, to the disgrace of their families.
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In Normandy, those who are doomed to be loups-garoux, clothe themselves every evening with a skin called their hère or hure, which is a loan from the devil. When they run in their transformed state, the evil one accompanies them and scourges them at the foot of every cross they pass. The only way in which a werewolf can be liberated from this cruel bondage, is by stabbing him three times in the forehead with a knife. However, some people less addicted to allopathic treatment, consider that three drops of blood drawn by a needle, will be sufficient to procure release.
The French would eventually bring these legends to the New World, where they became part of French-Canadian and American culture as well:
At the sight of the Devil, Alphonse gasped and rolled under some shrubs at the edge of the field. From his hiding place, he heard the Devil shout: "Come out of the canoe!" and snapped the whip at the occupants. Twenty creatures with the shaggy coats of wolves but the upright walk of men leapt from the canoe. Alphonse recognized them immediately. They were werewolves (called loup garou); men who had neglected their religious duties for so long that they had fallen under the spell of the Devil. As the loup garou began plowing and mending fences and doing all the daily chores on the farm, Dubroise came out of his front door to talk and drink with the Devil. Alphonse knew then that Dubroise had sold his lazy soul to the Devil in exchange for the werewolves' work on his farm. Alphonse lay trembling under the bushes, praying the Devil and his minions wouldn't find him. At last, the Devil and the loup garou jumped back into the flying canoe and flew away.
Serbian werewolves are called vulkodlaks. Vulkodlaks are said to gather each winter, strip off their wolf skins, and hang them in trees. Then they select one wolfskin and burn it, thus releasing one vulkodlak from the werewolf curse.
In Russia, werewolves are known as bodark or wawkalak:
Among the White Russians the wawkalak is a man who has incurred the wrath of the devil, and the evil one punishes him by transforming him into a wolf and sending him among his relations, who recognize him and feed him well. He is a most amiably disposed were-wolf, for he does no mischief, and testifies his affection for his kindred by licking their hands. He cannot, however, remain long in any place, but is driven from house to house, and from hamlet to hamlet, by an irresistible passion for change of scene. This is an ugly superstition, for it sets a premium on standing well with the evil one.
In Brazil werewolves are called lobisomem, in Finland, ihmissusi. The legends vary, but the creature remains the same: a human, usually male, transformed into a wolf or wolf hybrid. The transformation is said to be a form of punishment in itself, because it is so painful:
(This depiction, from An American Werewolf in London, is often called a classic.)
The transformation causes psychological as well as physical pain; the werewolf is a species traitor, ready to kill and consume human beings.
But there are other trade-offs. The heightened senses and raw physical fitness of the wild animal are now imported into a human body. This clip from Wolf, starring Jack Nicholson, illustrates the transformation:
The conflict between rational human thought and the sharp senses and instinct of wild animals dominates the werewolf legend. In some versions, a human decides to become a werewolf in order to acquire a wolf's powers. Some Medieval scholars believed that a person could rub a special salve on themselves, recite an incantation, and voluntarily become a werewolf. Others suggested rolling in the sand under a full moon, wearing the skin of a wolf, or drinking rainwater from the footprint of a werewolf. Each method implied entering a pact with the Devil.
This belief in voluntary werewolves led to werewolf trials in France:
Accusing one of being a werewolf in the middle ages became a very convenient way of disposing of the unwanted and undesirable. In 1570 a wolf had killed several children in the area of Lyon, France. A local hermit who lived in a cave - Gilles Granier - was found scavenging a dead body. He was accused of being a werewolf and through intimidation forced to confess to it. He was burned alive on 1573.
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Then, there's entire families of werewolves - like the Gandillion family in the sixteenth century. The sister - Pernette - is said to have attacked two children and killed one of them. In turn, she was killed by an angry mob. Her two brothers: Pierre and Georges were accused of being witches themselves and were incarcerated. They claimed to be able to transform themselves into wolves through the use of a magic salve. Pierre, George and another sister named Antoinette were subsequently executed.
Involuntary werewolves have traditionally been viewed with greater sympathy. They could be created by accidents of birth, curses, or simply surviving a werewolf bite. Lycaon was cursed by Zeus, and St. Patrick is said to have turned King Vereticus of Wales into a werewolf. Brazilians believed that a seventh son would become a werewolf, and some European legends held that a child born on December 25th would become a werewolf.
The 1925 film Wolf Blood- probably the earliest werewolf film- portrayed a logger whose life is saved by an infusion of wolf blood. The doctor who saved him worries that his patient will become a werewolf:
Bannister, the hapless logger, was one of several characters created as the werewolf legend was exploited by a profit-driven entertainment industry. Beginning in the late 19th century, novels, the stage and later, films would give audiences a whole new cast of werewolf characters. Think of the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, and X-Men's Wolverine. Re-imagined as sexy, tortured icons, werewolves have shed much of their Devilish taint and gone mainstream as matinee idols.
The entertainment industry changed the werewolf legend, as well. Prior to 1935 there was little mention of using silver bullets to kill werewolves. In some legends, a simple bouquet of wolfsbane could do the trick.
Other versions recommended simply calling the werewolf by its Christian name, throwing a chunk of iron over its head, or striking it on the forehead. Perhaps silver bullets won the day because they sounded exotic and would guarantee a dramatic shootout.
Far from the fanciful stories of the silver screen, clinical lycanthropy is a sad reality. Perhaps the only verifiable manifestation of the werewolf legend, clinical lycanthropy is a rare mental illness in which patients actually believe they have been- or will soon be- transformed into wolves. This page describes the condition and provides many links to medical papers on the subject (many, alas, hidden behind a pay-per-view wall):
- A patient reports in a moment of clarity or looking back the he sometimes feels as an animal or has felt like one.
- A patient behaves in a manner that resembles animal behaviour, for example crying, grumbling or creeping.
According to these criteria, either a delusional belief in current or past transformation, or behaviour that suggests a person thinks of themselves as transformed, is considered evidence of clinical lycanthropy. The authors go on to note that although the condition seems to be an expression of psychosis there is no specific diagnosis of mental or neurological illness associated with its behavioural consequences.
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One important factor may be differences or changes in parts of the brain known to be involved in representing body shape. A brain scanning study of two people with lycanthropy showed that these areas display unusual activation, suggesting that when people report their bodies are changing shape, they may be genuinely perceiving those feelings. Body shape distortions are not unknown in mental and neurological illness, so this may help explain at least part of the process. One further puzzle is why an affected person doesn't simply report that their body "feels like it's changing in odd ways", rather than presenting with a delusional belief that they are changing into a specific animal. There is much evidence that psychosis is more than just odd perceptual experiences so perhaps lycanthropy is the result of these unusual bodily experiences being understood by an already mixed-up mind.
Clinical lycanthropy is mercifully rare and it is hoped that further brain imaging will yield effective treatment.
For the most of us, however, as Halloween approaches, lycanthropy is simply an idea inspired by the changes of the moon: a human transformed into a wolf, with heightened senses, superior physical fitness, and no moral boundaries on their most basic, brutal urges. The fact that we can even imagine such a state of being- equal parts intriguing and repellant- says a lot about us.
Support your local werewolf. He's more like you than you think.
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