Lycanthropy in legend
Although the term lycanthropy properly speaking refers to metamorphosis into a wolf, it is in practice used of transformation into any animal. The Greeks also spoke of kynanthropy (Kynior, dog) ; in India and the Asiatic islands the tiger is the commonest form, in North Europe the bear, in Japan the fox, in Africa the leopard or hyena, sometimes also the lion, in South America the jaguar ; but though there is a tendency for the most important carnivorous animal of the area to take the first place in stories and beliefs as to transformation, the less important beasts of prey and even harmless animals like the deer also figure among the were-animals.
Lycanthropy is often confused with transmigration; but the essential feature of the were-animal is that it is the alternative form or the double of a living human being, while the soul-animal is the vehicle, temporary or permanent, of the spirit of a dead human being.
Even if the denotation of lycanthropy is limited to the animal-metamorphosis of living human beings, the beliefs classed together under this head are far from uniform, and the term is somewhat capriciously applied. The transformation may be voluntary or involuntary, temporary or permanent; the were-animal may be the man himself metamorphosed, it may be his double whose activity leaves the real man to all appearance unchanged, it may be his soul, which goes forth seeking whom it may devour and leaving its body in a state of trance; or it may be no more than the messenger of the human being, a real animal or a familiar spirit, whose intimate connection with its owner is shown by the fact that any injury to it is believed, by a phenomenon known as repercussion, to cause a corresponding injury to the human being.
The phenomenon of repercussion, the power of animal metamorphosis, or of sending out a familiar, real or spiritual, as a messenger, and the supernatural powers conferred by association with such a familiar, are also attributed to the magi, male and female, all the world over ; and witch superstitions are closely parallel to, if not identical with, lycanthropic beliefs, the occasional involuntary character of lycanthropy being almost the sole distinguishing feature. In another direction the phenomenon of repercussion is asserted to manifest itself in connection with the bush-soul of the West African and the nagual of Central America ; but though there is no line of demarcation to be drawn on logical grounds, the assumed power of the magician and the intimate association of the bush-soul or the nagual with a human being are not termed lycanthropy. Nevertheless it will be well to touch on both these beliefs here.
In North and Central America, and to some extent in West Africa, Australia and other parts of the world, every male acquires at puberty a tutelary spirit; in some tribes of Indians the youth kills the animal of which he dreams in his initiation fast; its claw, skin or feathers are put into a little bag and become his "medicine" and must be carefully retained, for a "medicine" once lost can never be replaced. In West Africa this relation is said to be entered into by means of the blood bond, and it is so close that the death of the animal causes the man to die and vice versa. Elsewhere the possession of a tutelary spirit in animal form is the privilege of the magician. In Alaska the candidate for magical powers has to leave the abodes of men ; the chief of the gods sends an otter to meet him, which he kills by saying "O" four times ; he then cuts out its tongue and thereby secures the powers which he seeks. The Malays believe that the office of pawang (priest) is only hereditary if the soul of the dead priest, in the form of a tiger, passes into the body of his son. While the familiar is often regarded as the alternative form of the magician, the nagual or bush-soul is commonly regarded as wholly distinct from the human being. Transitional beliefs, however, are found, especially in Africa, in which the power of transformation is attributed to the whole of the population of certain areas. The people of Banana are said to change themselves by magical means, composed of human embryos and other ingredients, but in their leopard form they may do no hurt to mankind under pain of retaining for ever the beast shape. In other cases the change is supposed to be made for the purposes of evil magic and human victims are not prohibited. We can, therefore, draw no line of demarcation, and this makes it probable that lycanthropy is connected with nagualism and the belief in familiar spirits, as Dr Tylor argues, or with totemism, as suggested by J. F. M'Lennan. A further link is supplied by the Zulu belief that the magician's familiar is really a transformed human being ; when he finds a dead body on which he can work his spells without fear of discovery, the wizard breathes a sort of life into it, which enables it to move and speak, it being thought that some dead wizard has taken possession of it. He then burns a hole in the head and through the aperture extracts the tongue. Further spells have the effect of changing the revivified body into the form of some animal, hyena, owl or wild cat, the latter being most in favour. This creature then becomes the wizard's servant and obeys him in all things ; its chief use is, however, to inflict sickness and death upon persons who are disliked by its master.
Full Version: Lycanthropy
Lycanthropy in Europe.
The wolf is the most common form of the were-animal, though in the north the bear disputes its pre-eminence. In ancient Greece the dog was also associated with the belief. Marcellus of Sida, who wrote under the Antonines, gives an account of a disease which befell people in February ; but a pathological state seems to be meant.
The wolf is the most common form of the were-animal, though in the north the bear disputes its pre-eminence. In ancient Greece the dog was also associated with the belief. Marcellus of Sida, who wrote under the Antonines, gives an account of a disease which befell people in February ; but a pathological state seems to be meant.
Lycanthropy in Africa.
In Abyssinia the power of transformation is attributed to the Boudas, and at the same time we have records of pathological lycanthropy . Blacksmiths are credited with magical powers in many parts of the world, and it is significant that the Boudas are workers of iron and clay ; in the Life of N. Pearce a European observer tells a story of a supposed transformation which took place in his presence and almost before his eyes ; but it does not appear how far hallucination rather than coincidence must be invoked to explain the experience.
In Abyssinia the power of transformation is attributed to the Boudas, and at the same time we have records of pathological lycanthropy . Blacksmiths are credited with magical powers in many parts of the world, and it is significant that the Boudas are workers of iron and clay ; in the Life of N. Pearce a European observer tells a story of a supposed transformation which took place in his presence and almost before his eyes ; but it does not appear how far hallucination rather than coincidence must be invoked to explain the experience.
The Were-tiger of the East Indies.
The Poso-Alfures of central Celebes believe that man has three souls, the inosa, the angga and the tanoana. The inosa is the vital principle ; it can be detected in the veins and arteries ; it is given to man by one of the great natural phenomena, more especially the wind. The angga is the intellectual part of man ; its seat is unknown ; after death it goes to the under-world, and, unlike the inosa, which is believed to be dissolved into its original elements, takes possession of an immaterial body. The tanoana is the divine in man and after death returns to its lord, Poewempala boeroe. It goes forth during sleep, and all that it sees it whispers into the sleeper's ear and then he dreams. According to another account, the tanoana is the substance by which man lives, thinks and acts ; the tanoana of man, plants and animals is of the same nature. A man's tanoana can be strengthened by those of others ; when the tanoana is long away or destroyed the man dies. The tanoana seems to be the soul of which lycanthropic feats are asserted.
Among the Toradjas of central Celebes it is believed that a man's "inside" can take the form of a cat, wild pig, ape, deer or other animal, and afterwards resume human form ; it is termed lamboyo. The exact relation of the lamboyo to the tanoana does not seem to be settled ; it will be seen below that the view seems to vary. According to some the power of transformation is a gift of the gods, but others hold that werewolfism is contagious and may be acquired by eating food left by a werwolf or even by leaning one's head against the same pillar. The Todjoers hold that any one who touches blood becomes a werewolf. In accordance with this view is the belief that werewolfism can be cured; the breast and stomach of the wereman must be rubbed and pinched, just as when any other witch object has to be extracted. The patient drinks medicine, and the contagion leaves the body in the form of snakes and worms. There are certain marks by which a wereman can be recognized. His eyes are unsteady and sometimes green with dark shadows underneath. He does not sleep soundly and fireflies come out of his mouth. His lips remain red in spite of betel chewing, and he has a long tongue. The Todjoers add that his hair stands on end.
Some of the forms of the lamboyo are distinguishable from ordinary animals by the fact that they run about among the houses ; the were-buffalo has only one horn, and the were-pig transforms itself into an ants' nest, such as hangs from trees. Some say that the wereman does not really take the form of an animal himself, but, like the sorcerer, only sends out a messenger. The lamboyo attacks by preference solitary individuals, for he does not like to be observed. The victim feels sleepy and loses consciousness ; the lamboyo then assumes human form (his body being, however, still at home) and cuts up his victim, scattering the fragments all about. He then takes the liver and eats it, puts the body together again, licks it with his long tongue and joins it together. When the victim comes to himself again he has no idea that anything unusual has happened to him. He goes home. but soon begins to feel unwell. In a few days he dies, but before his death he is able sometimes to name the werman to whom he has fallen a victim.
From this account it might be inferred that the lamboyo was identical with the tanoana: the absence of the lamboyo seems to entail a condition of unconsciousness, and it can assume human form. In other cases, however, the lamboyo seems to be analogous to the familiar of the sorcerer. The Toradjas tell a story of how a man once' came to a house and asked the woman to give him a rendezvous ; it was night and she was asleep ; the question was put three times before the answer was given "in the tobacco plantation." The husband was awake, and next day followed his wife, who was irresistibly drawn thither. The wereman came to meet her in human form, although his body was engaged in building a new house, and caused the woman to faint by stamping three times on the ground. Thereupon the husband attacked the wereman with a piece of wood, and the latter, to escape, transformed himself into a leaf; this the husband put into a piece of bamboo and fastened the ends so that he could not escape, he then went back to the village and put the bamboo in the fire.
In another case a woman died, and, as her death was believed to be due to the malevolence of a werewolf, her husband watched by her body. For, like Indian witches, the werewolf, for some reason, wishes to revive his victim and comes in human form to carry off the coffin. As soon as the woman was brought to life the husband attacked the werewolf, who transformed himself into a piece of wood and was burnt. The woman remained alive, but her murderer died the same night.
According to a third form of the belief, the body of the wereman is itself transformed. One evening a man left the hut in which a party were preparing to pass the night ; one of his companions heard a deer and fired into the darkness. Soon after the man came back and said he had been shot. Although no marks were to be seen he died a few days later.
In Central Java we meet with another kind of were-tiger. The power of transformation is regarded as due to inheritance, to the use of spells, to fasting and will-power, to the use of charms, etc. Save when it is hungry or has just cause for revenge it is not hostile to man ; in fact, it is said to take its animal form only at night and to guard the plantations from wild pigs. exactly as the balams (magicians) of Yucatan were said to guard the corn fields in animal form. Variants of this belief assert that the wereman does not recognize his friends unless they call him by name, or that he goes out as a mendicant and transforms himself to take vengeance on those who refuse him alms. Somewhat similar is the belief of the Khonds ; for them the tiger is friendly ; he reserves his wrath for their enemies, and a man is said to take the form of a tiger in order to wreak a just vengeance.
The Poso-Alfures of central Celebes believe that man has three souls, the inosa, the angga and the tanoana. The inosa is the vital principle ; it can be detected in the veins and arteries ; it is given to man by one of the great natural phenomena, more especially the wind. The angga is the intellectual part of man ; its seat is unknown ; after death it goes to the under-world, and, unlike the inosa, which is believed to be dissolved into its original elements, takes possession of an immaterial body. The tanoana is the divine in man and after death returns to its lord, Poewempala boeroe. It goes forth during sleep, and all that it sees it whispers into the sleeper's ear and then he dreams. According to another account, the tanoana is the substance by which man lives, thinks and acts ; the tanoana of man, plants and animals is of the same nature. A man's tanoana can be strengthened by those of others ; when the tanoana is long away or destroyed the man dies. The tanoana seems to be the soul of which lycanthropic feats are asserted.
Among the Toradjas of central Celebes it is believed that a man's "inside" can take the form of a cat, wild pig, ape, deer or other animal, and afterwards resume human form ; it is termed lamboyo. The exact relation of the lamboyo to the tanoana does not seem to be settled ; it will be seen below that the view seems to vary. According to some the power of transformation is a gift of the gods, but others hold that werewolfism is contagious and may be acquired by eating food left by a werwolf or even by leaning one's head against the same pillar. The Todjoers hold that any one who touches blood becomes a werewolf. In accordance with this view is the belief that werewolfism can be cured; the breast and stomach of the wereman must be rubbed and pinched, just as when any other witch object has to be extracted. The patient drinks medicine, and the contagion leaves the body in the form of snakes and worms. There are certain marks by which a wereman can be recognized. His eyes are unsteady and sometimes green with dark shadows underneath. He does not sleep soundly and fireflies come out of his mouth. His lips remain red in spite of betel chewing, and he has a long tongue. The Todjoers add that his hair stands on end.
Some of the forms of the lamboyo are distinguishable from ordinary animals by the fact that they run about among the houses ; the were-buffalo has only one horn, and the were-pig transforms itself into an ants' nest, such as hangs from trees. Some say that the wereman does not really take the form of an animal himself, but, like the sorcerer, only sends out a messenger. The lamboyo attacks by preference solitary individuals, for he does not like to be observed. The victim feels sleepy and loses consciousness ; the lamboyo then assumes human form (his body being, however, still at home) and cuts up his victim, scattering the fragments all about. He then takes the liver and eats it, puts the body together again, licks it with his long tongue and joins it together. When the victim comes to himself again he has no idea that anything unusual has happened to him. He goes home. but soon begins to feel unwell. In a few days he dies, but before his death he is able sometimes to name the werman to whom he has fallen a victim.
From this account it might be inferred that the lamboyo was identical with the tanoana: the absence of the lamboyo seems to entail a condition of unconsciousness, and it can assume human form. In other cases, however, the lamboyo seems to be analogous to the familiar of the sorcerer. The Toradjas tell a story of how a man once' came to a house and asked the woman to give him a rendezvous ; it was night and she was asleep ; the question was put three times before the answer was given "in the tobacco plantation." The husband was awake, and next day followed his wife, who was irresistibly drawn thither. The wereman came to meet her in human form, although his body was engaged in building a new house, and caused the woman to faint by stamping three times on the ground. Thereupon the husband attacked the wereman with a piece of wood, and the latter, to escape, transformed himself into a leaf; this the husband put into a piece of bamboo and fastened the ends so that he could not escape, he then went back to the village and put the bamboo in the fire.
In another case a woman died, and, as her death was believed to be due to the malevolence of a werewolf, her husband watched by her body. For, like Indian witches, the werewolf, for some reason, wishes to revive his victim and comes in human form to carry off the coffin. As soon as the woman was brought to life the husband attacked the werewolf, who transformed himself into a piece of wood and was burnt. The woman remained alive, but her murderer died the same night.
According to a third form of the belief, the body of the wereman is itself transformed. One evening a man left the hut in which a party were preparing to pass the night ; one of his companions heard a deer and fired into the darkness. Soon after the man came back and said he had been shot. Although no marks were to be seen he died a few days later.
In Central Java we meet with another kind of were-tiger. The power of transformation is regarded as due to inheritance, to the use of spells, to fasting and will-power, to the use of charms, etc. Save when it is hungry or has just cause for revenge it is not hostile to man ; in fact, it is said to take its animal form only at night and to guard the plantations from wild pigs. exactly as the balams (magicians) of Yucatan were said to guard the corn fields in animal form. Variants of this belief assert that the wereman does not recognize his friends unless they call him by name, or that he goes out as a mendicant and transforms himself to take vengeance on those who refuse him alms. Somewhat similar is the belief of the Khonds ; for them the tiger is friendly ; he reserves his wrath for their enemies, and a man is said to take the form of a tiger in order to wreak a just vengeance.
Lycanthropy in South America.
According to K. F. P. v. Martius, the kanaima is a human being who employs poison to carry out his function of blood avenger ; other authorities represent the kanaima as a jaguar, which is either an avenger of blood or the familiar of a cannibalistic sorcerer. The Europeans of Brazil hold that the seventh child of the same sex in unbroken succession becomes a were-man or woman, and takes the form of a horse, goat, jaguar or pig.
According to K. F. P. v. Martius, the kanaima is a human being who employs poison to carry out his function of blood avenger ; other authorities represent the kanaima as a jaguar, which is either an avenger of blood or the familiar of a cannibalistic sorcerer. The Europeans of Brazil hold that the seventh child of the same sex in unbroken succession becomes a were-man or woman, and takes the form of a horse, goat, jaguar or pig.
A little abreviated lore about were-folk
This is a listing of varous werewolves in different cultures, included are vampires in this list as many vampires were believed to change shape as well.
Alp (German)
A vampyre-incubus or predatory blood-drinking ghost in German lore. An
accomplished shapeshifter the Alp can appear as a bird, cat, pig or dog
and wears a "cap of concealment" (Tarnkappe) which bestows invisibility
and magic powers when worn. From the same Teutonic root as Alf or Elf,
meaning the "Shining White One".
Agriogourouno (Macedonian)
"Wild boar" in Macedonian, a shapeshifting phenomena thought to afflict
Turks who have lead very wicked lives or never have eaten Pork.
Aptrgongumenn (Norse)
Walking dead
Baobhan Sith (Scottish)
Faery-vampyres, appear as young women dressed in green.
Bleiz-Garv (French)
Cruel wolf (Bretton French)
Broucalaque (see Burculacas )
Bruxsa (Portugese)
A female vampyre witch who can turn herself into a great night-bird.
Burculacas (Greek)
Term used for a vampyre lycanthrope
Cat-witches (European)
In parts of France the witches are always said to assume the form of
large black cats and gather in the old forest of Bonlieu.
Chesme (Turkish)
Vampyre cat spirit associated with springs and lakes
Chovihani (Romani)
Witch that assumes cat form after dusk.
Dachnavar (Armenian)
Spirit thank drinks blood from travellers toes.
Deag-dul (Irish)
Red Blood Sucker, one female is said to dwell in Waterford, if found a
cairn should be built over the grave to stop them wandering.
Doppelsauger (Wendish)
Double sucker, can only return to it's previous dwelling place along the
path it's coffin was carried out. To prevent this the sill of the door
is lifed over the coffin as it leaves the house, and put back in place
after the funeral.
Dhampir (Serbian)
Son of a vampyre and a living woman, said to have shaman like powers and
a boneless rubbery body.
Frog (European)
A familiar of witches, and a form assumed by vampyres in Wallachian
folklore, particularly red-headed men.
Gairou (Haute Maine)
Werewolf
Garwaf (Norman)
Werewolf in old Normandy
Garwall, Guaroul and Garol (Bretton french)
Werewolf
Gerulphus (Low Latin)
In writings of the middle ages, werewolf
Ghierwolf (Dutch)
Werewolf in some districts of the Neatherlands.
Gorgol (Welsh)
Mediaeval tern, meaning man wolf
Kallikantzaros (Greek)
Aegean, Mainland Greece, Crete and Messenia, "Beautiful Centaurs", semi-
animal demonic creatures, horned black beings with hooves, fangs, talons
and tails.
Kara-kondjiolos (circssian Turkish)
Vampire witches that ride up rooted trees.
Kresnik (Slovanian)
Traditional vampyre slaying shaman, can take the form of boars, horses,
white dogs or bulls.
Krvoijac (Bulgarian)
Vampyre
Kudlak (Slovanian)
Vampyre can take the form of a black boar, horses, hounds or bulls.
Enemy of Kresnik.
Kunanthropos (Greek)
7th century, means "Dog-man"
Leannan -Sidhe (Irish)
Faery mistress, lures young men, can assume form of a white deer.
Liogat (Albanian)
Defined in 1854 as "Dead turks in winding sheets", mortal enemy, wolves
who tear off the Liogats legs causing them to retire vanquished to the
tomb never to wander again.
Lobishomem ( Portugese)
Or Lobis-Homem, one under an enchantment who occasionally becomes a
wolf. Has a short tail covered in yellow fur. According to the folk
tales the person has a crescent tattoo or mark, they go at night to a
deserted cross roads , spin around windershins five times. They then
fall to the earth and rise up again in wolf form.
Lobombre (Spanish)
Man-wolf in Pyrenees and Cantabrian mountains, humans that have drunk
from lycanthropous streams or come into contact with magical flowers.
Loup Garou (French)
Especially Brittany, sometimes thought to be the illigitimate son of a
priest. Common in 16th and 17th Century France, Jean Grenier case in
1603.
Lupin (French)
Werewolf that hangs around ingraveyards in Normandy howling at the moon.
Also said to gnaw the bones and converse in their own language.
Lupo-mannaro (Italian)
Naples men born on Christmas night are said to be werewolves, and posses
tails. In Sicily any one who sleeps bathed in the light of a full moon
may also become a werewolf, and certain springs are also said to cause
transformations in the Alps.
Meza-Tevs (Latvian)
Forest Father, priest - cheif of werewolf cult, said to drive away the
demons of infertility.
Meneur des Loups (Breton)
Very similar to Meza-Tevs, shapeshifts into a great wolf able to speak.
Can play the bagpipes to charm wolves into following him on moonlit
nights.
Miezvilki (Baltic)
Barley wolves that chase away demons who would steal the fertility of
the land.
Moroii (Roumanian)
Undead, steal beauty and youth as well as blood. Able to shapeshift, but
may also have clawed feet or be lizard like in appearance.
Mullo (Romani)
Spirit double or fetch.
Murony (Wallachian)
Shapeshifting vampyre.
Nachtzehrer (German/Baltic)
Vampyre that assumes the pig shape to raid graveyards.
Nosferatu (Roumanian)
Indulges in orgies with it's victims, children from the union are ugly
and covered with hair. Appears to brides and grooms and makes them
unable to perform.
Prikolotsch (Wallachian)
Also Priculics or Priccolitsch, a werewolf vampire, a wolf coat.
Roggenwulf (Germany)
Rye wolf that steals away unwarey children.
Ruvaush ( Romani-gypsy)
Victim of Romani vampyre witch who is doomed to become a werewolf.
Periodically transform into Wolf-kings larger than the normal wolf.
Streghoi (Wallachian)
Night flying vampire witch.
Stregoni Benefici (Italian)
Vampyre slaying sorcerer.
Strix/ Striga (Roman latin)
Witch that assumes form of a screech owl.
Varcolac (Roumanian)
Also Velkudlaka, Vulcolaca, Vukodlak and Varcolac, all meaning Wolf-
Coat. Invoked when women spin at midnight in the moon beams, sweep dust
towards the setting sun or burn a stick they used to stir food.
Varcolacs fall into a trance whilst the fetch travels, the body should
not be moved in case the spirit can not find it's way home.
Can also appear as dark flying dragons and beasts with lots of
mouths.
Vjestica (Slavonic)
Succubus witch,has firey wings, partner of lycanthropic Voukodlak, can
assume hyena form.
Varou (Guernsey)
Werewolf linked with the Wild Hunt, heralds violent storms, follows
certain set routes and hidden tunnels between megalithic remains.
Versipellis (Latin)
Skin turner, Pliny mentions the werewolves of Arcadia as being
versippeles, a chosen member of the clan had to swim a lake naked and
assume wolf form for nine years.
Werewulf (Saxon)
Also Gothic Vairavulf, Swedish Warulf, Danish Varulv, Frisian Waerwulf,
Middle Dutch Weerwulf, and Old High German, Werawolf.
Zmeu (Moldavian)
Fairy vampyre with no back.
This is a listing of varous werewolves in different cultures, included are vampires in this list as many vampires were believed to change shape as well.
Alp (German)
A vampyre-incubus or predatory blood-drinking ghost in German lore. An
accomplished shapeshifter the Alp can appear as a bird, cat, pig or dog
and wears a "cap of concealment" (Tarnkappe) which bestows invisibility
and magic powers when worn. From the same Teutonic root as Alf or Elf,
meaning the "Shining White One".
Agriogourouno (Macedonian)
"Wild boar" in Macedonian, a shapeshifting phenomena thought to afflict
Turks who have lead very wicked lives or never have eaten Pork.
Aptrgongumenn (Norse)
Walking dead
Baobhan Sith (Scottish)
Faery-vampyres, appear as young women dressed in green.
Bleiz-Garv (French)
Cruel wolf (Bretton French)
Broucalaque (see Burculacas )
Bruxsa (Portugese)
A female vampyre witch who can turn herself into a great night-bird.
Burculacas (Greek)
Term used for a vampyre lycanthrope
Cat-witches (European)
In parts of France the witches are always said to assume the form of
large black cats and gather in the old forest of Bonlieu.
Chesme (Turkish)
Vampyre cat spirit associated with springs and lakes
Chovihani (Romani)
Witch that assumes cat form after dusk.
Dachnavar (Armenian)
Spirit thank drinks blood from travellers toes.
Deag-dul (Irish)
Red Blood Sucker, one female is said to dwell in Waterford, if found a
cairn should be built over the grave to stop them wandering.
Doppelsauger (Wendish)
Double sucker, can only return to it's previous dwelling place along the
path it's coffin was carried out. To prevent this the sill of the door
is lifed over the coffin as it leaves the house, and put back in place
after the funeral.
Dhampir (Serbian)
Son of a vampyre and a living woman, said to have shaman like powers and
a boneless rubbery body.
Frog (European)
A familiar of witches, and a form assumed by vampyres in Wallachian
folklore, particularly red-headed men.
Gairou (Haute Maine)
Werewolf
Garwaf (Norman)
Werewolf in old Normandy
Garwall, Guaroul and Garol (Bretton french)
Werewolf
Gerulphus (Low Latin)
In writings of the middle ages, werewolf
Ghierwolf (Dutch)
Werewolf in some districts of the Neatherlands.
Gorgol (Welsh)
Mediaeval tern, meaning man wolf
Kallikantzaros (Greek)
Aegean, Mainland Greece, Crete and Messenia, "Beautiful Centaurs", semi-
animal demonic creatures, horned black beings with hooves, fangs, talons
and tails.
Kara-kondjiolos (circssian Turkish)
Vampire witches that ride up rooted trees.
Kresnik (Slovanian)
Traditional vampyre slaying shaman, can take the form of boars, horses,
white dogs or bulls.
Krvoijac (Bulgarian)
Vampyre
Kudlak (Slovanian)
Vampyre can take the form of a black boar, horses, hounds or bulls.
Enemy of Kresnik.
Kunanthropos (Greek)
7th century, means "Dog-man"
Leannan -Sidhe (Irish)
Faery mistress, lures young men, can assume form of a white deer.
Liogat (Albanian)
Defined in 1854 as "Dead turks in winding sheets", mortal enemy, wolves
who tear off the Liogats legs causing them to retire vanquished to the
tomb never to wander again.
Lobishomem ( Portugese)
Or Lobis-Homem, one under an enchantment who occasionally becomes a
wolf. Has a short tail covered in yellow fur. According to the folk
tales the person has a crescent tattoo or mark, they go at night to a
deserted cross roads , spin around windershins five times. They then
fall to the earth and rise up again in wolf form.
Lobombre (Spanish)
Man-wolf in Pyrenees and Cantabrian mountains, humans that have drunk
from lycanthropous streams or come into contact with magical flowers.
Loup Garou (French)
Especially Brittany, sometimes thought to be the illigitimate son of a
priest. Common in 16th and 17th Century France, Jean Grenier case in
1603.
Lupin (French)
Werewolf that hangs around ingraveyards in Normandy howling at the moon.
Also said to gnaw the bones and converse in their own language.
Lupo-mannaro (Italian)
Naples men born on Christmas night are said to be werewolves, and posses
tails. In Sicily any one who sleeps bathed in the light of a full moon
may also become a werewolf, and certain springs are also said to cause
transformations in the Alps.
Meza-Tevs (Latvian)
Forest Father, priest - cheif of werewolf cult, said to drive away the
demons of infertility.
Meneur des Loups (Breton)
Very similar to Meza-Tevs, shapeshifts into a great wolf able to speak.
Can play the bagpipes to charm wolves into following him on moonlit
nights.
Miezvilki (Baltic)
Barley wolves that chase away demons who would steal the fertility of
the land.
Moroii (Roumanian)
Undead, steal beauty and youth as well as blood. Able to shapeshift, but
may also have clawed feet or be lizard like in appearance.
Mullo (Romani)
Spirit double or fetch.
Murony (Wallachian)
Shapeshifting vampyre.
Nachtzehrer (German/Baltic)
Vampyre that assumes the pig shape to raid graveyards.
Nosferatu (Roumanian)
Indulges in orgies with it's victims, children from the union are ugly
and covered with hair. Appears to brides and grooms and makes them
unable to perform.
Prikolotsch (Wallachian)
Also Priculics or Priccolitsch, a werewolf vampire, a wolf coat.
Roggenwulf (Germany)
Rye wolf that steals away unwarey children.
Ruvaush ( Romani-gypsy)
Victim of Romani vampyre witch who is doomed to become a werewolf.
Periodically transform into Wolf-kings larger than the normal wolf.
Streghoi (Wallachian)
Night flying vampire witch.
Stregoni Benefici (Italian)
Vampyre slaying sorcerer.
Strix/ Striga (Roman latin)
Witch that assumes form of a screech owl.
Varcolac (Roumanian)
Also Velkudlaka, Vulcolaca, Vukodlak and Varcolac, all meaning Wolf-
Coat. Invoked when women spin at midnight in the moon beams, sweep dust
towards the setting sun or burn a stick they used to stir food.
Varcolacs fall into a trance whilst the fetch travels, the body should
not be moved in case the spirit can not find it's way home.
Can also appear as dark flying dragons and beasts with lots of
mouths.
Vjestica (Slavonic)
Succubus witch,has firey wings, partner of lycanthropic Voukodlak, can
assume hyena form.
Varou (Guernsey)
Werewolf linked with the Wild Hunt, heralds violent storms, follows
certain set routes and hidden tunnels between megalithic remains.
Versipellis (Latin)
Skin turner, Pliny mentions the werewolves of Arcadia as being
versippeles, a chosen member of the clan had to swim a lake naked and
assume wolf form for nine years.
Werewulf (Saxon)
Also Gothic Vairavulf, Swedish Warulf, Danish Varulv, Frisian Waerwulf,
Middle Dutch Weerwulf, and Old High German, Werawolf.
Zmeu (Moldavian)
Fairy vampyre with no back.
"Ranchers raise pathetic, worthless cattle and sheep, animals who cannot live off the land without human supervision, and the same ranchers kill wolves, magnificent, individualistic animals fully capable of caring for themselves without assistance. Individualism gives way to sheep behavior. Sound familiar?
I root for a wolf to someday grab a ranchers kid. Yes I do! And you know something? The wolf would probably take the kid and raise him, in the manner of Romulus and Remus; and probably do a better job than the rancher.
Remember, wolves mate for life, and they care for their sick and infirm; they don't run them off or kill them, or abandon them. Give me a wolf over some fuckin' jerkoff rancher any day of the week" - George Carlin
(Nothing to offer here for lore.. but I thought it was funny.. har har :lol: )
I root for a wolf to someday grab a ranchers kid. Yes I do! And you know something? The wolf would probably take the kid and raise him, in the manner of Romulus and Remus; and probably do a better job than the rancher.
Remember, wolves mate for life, and they care for their sick and infirm; they don't run them off or kill them, or abandon them. Give me a wolf over some fuckin' jerkoff rancher any day of the week" - George Carlin
(Nothing to offer here for lore.. but I thought it was funny.. har har :lol: )
What is a Lycanthrope?
Lycanthrope means "werewolf". It is the proper name for a human able to turn into a wolf. I have found conflicting information about where the name comes from... I have heard both that it comes from the story of King Lycaon, a cruel tyrant of Arcadia, punished by Zeus by turning him into a wolf, and have also heard it comes from "Lycos", wolf, and "anthrope", human.
Lycanthropy is also the accepted term for a real psychological disease, in which the person actually believes they are a wolf (not just a werewolf, actually a wolf). This disease is thought to be often brought on by drugs and malnutrition.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of the other names for the Lycanthrope
Another accepted name of the lycanthrope, is, of course, werewolf. In French, lycanthropes are called loup-garou (plural, loups-garous) pronounced loo-garoo (loo-garooz). Often, people are shortening it to "garou" although this is not a very proper term, but people understand what it means. In Portugal, lycanthropes are called lobis-homem, in the Breton dialect, they are called bisclaravet. In almost any language, there is a name for the lycanthrope. They have been known about since ancient Roman times. Since all this can be confusing, they will be called by their scientific name on this page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who are the Lycanthropes?
The basic legends concerning lycanthropes is they are humans able to turn into wolves. This is a change from full human form to full lupine (wolf) form. It is only in recent years, with the advent of cheap horror flicks, that the "wolf-man" form has become popular. This idea was designed to keep costs for the film down, and is not true lycanthropy.
Although lycanthropes are in full lupine or full human form, many of the characteristics of each carry over to the other form. A lycanthrope in human form, for example, may be exceptionally strong, have a strange, wild, haunting look to their eyes, longer than usual canines, unusual grace and speed. A lycanthrope in lupine form keeps an intelligent mind, may have a deep, human look to their eyes, and have the ability to understand, if not talk, human speech.
Lycanthropes, also, are slightly different than their counterparts in either form. In human form, their eyes may look very different, they may be quiet, and soft-spoken, compared to other humans, with an alertness and shyness which can betray their lupine nature. They are exceptionally strong, fast and quiet in their movements. In wolf form, they are much larger than a normal wolf, with longer, sharper canines. Senses in either form are acute.
Most lycanthropes shift to "grey wolf" in lupine form, the species Canis lupis. This species has many names... grey wolf, timber wolf and arctic wolf, to name a few... they are all the same species and can come in many colors. Shades of brown and grey, black or white are common. Some lycanthropes may shift to other wolf species, for example, red wolves, Canis rufus or such grey wolf subspecies as the Mexican wolf.
Lycanthrope means "werewolf". It is the proper name for a human able to turn into a wolf. I have found conflicting information about where the name comes from... I have heard both that it comes from the story of King Lycaon, a cruel tyrant of Arcadia, punished by Zeus by turning him into a wolf, and have also heard it comes from "Lycos", wolf, and "anthrope", human.
Lycanthropy is also the accepted term for a real psychological disease, in which the person actually believes they are a wolf (not just a werewolf, actually a wolf). This disease is thought to be often brought on by drugs and malnutrition.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of the other names for the Lycanthrope
Another accepted name of the lycanthrope, is, of course, werewolf. In French, lycanthropes are called loup-garou (plural, loups-garous) pronounced loo-garoo (loo-garooz). Often, people are shortening it to "garou" although this is not a very proper term, but people understand what it means. In Portugal, lycanthropes are called lobis-homem, in the Breton dialect, they are called bisclaravet. In almost any language, there is a name for the lycanthrope. They have been known about since ancient Roman times. Since all this can be confusing, they will be called by their scientific name on this page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who are the Lycanthropes?
The basic legends concerning lycanthropes is they are humans able to turn into wolves. This is a change from full human form to full lupine (wolf) form. It is only in recent years, with the advent of cheap horror flicks, that the "wolf-man" form has become popular. This idea was designed to keep costs for the film down, and is not true lycanthropy.
Although lycanthropes are in full lupine or full human form, many of the characteristics of each carry over to the other form. A lycanthrope in human form, for example, may be exceptionally strong, have a strange, wild, haunting look to their eyes, longer than usual canines, unusual grace and speed. A lycanthrope in lupine form keeps an intelligent mind, may have a deep, human look to their eyes, and have the ability to understand, if not talk, human speech.
Lycanthropes, also, are slightly different than their counterparts in either form. In human form, their eyes may look very different, they may be quiet, and soft-spoken, compared to other humans, with an alertness and shyness which can betray their lupine nature. They are exceptionally strong, fast and quiet in their movements. In wolf form, they are much larger than a normal wolf, with longer, sharper canines. Senses in either form are acute.
Most lycanthropes shift to "grey wolf" in lupine form, the species Canis lupis. This species has many names... grey wolf, timber wolf and arctic wolf, to name a few... they are all the same species and can come in many colors. Shades of brown and grey, black or white are common. Some lycanthropes may shift to other wolf species, for example, red wolves, Canis rufus or such grey wolf subspecies as the Mexican wolf.
Good lord man, you've compiled a fucking library.
You planning on writing a book on wereolves?
Wasnt this actually the origin of the myth?
I remember some Mesopotamian lore about killer wolves (what culture DIDNT have some), but I also hearing something in some book about that legend being the first true werewolves.
You planning on writing a book on wereolves?
QUOTE
Kallikantzaros (Greek)
Aegean, Mainland Greece, Crete and Messenia, "Beautiful Centaurs", semi-
animal demonic creatures, horned black beings with hooves, fangs, talons
and tails.
Aegean, Mainland Greece, Crete and Messenia, "Beautiful Centaurs", semi-
animal demonic creatures, horned black beings with hooves, fangs, talons
and tails.
Wasnt this actually the origin of the myth?
I remember some Mesopotamian lore about killer wolves (what culture DIDNT have some), but I also hearing something in some book about that legend being the first true werewolves.
Nah, just a scholar. And it is not necessarily the original source of lycanthropic legends.. many cultures existed before then.. so I guess it depends on what source you read from.
Very very informative. I am impressed
Good read
QUOTE (Lazarus @ Jan 16 2004, 02:44 PM)
Nah, just a scholar. And it is not necessarily the original source of lycanthropic legends.. many cultures existed before then.. so I guess it depends on what source you read from.
Yes, but I meant the origin of the classical werewolf.
The one we know and love today.
This is amazing Lazarus! How long did it take you to get all this information?Do you mind if I print it out for study?
QUOTE
Nah, just a scholar.
Good to see another scholar on here ^_^ what other things do you research?
:o Wow.
MAN, that is mindboggling in it's accuracy. That is amazing, I know this seems a little off-topic, but I've been trying to get stuff together to gather interest in a game of Werewolf: the Apocolypse, I think I'll have my players read this for the real deal on lycanthropes. Well, as real as an unproved thing goes that is.
That is truly amazing...you most have been very, very dedicated to the task...
Wow! You have a lot of information here. It was very interesting.
I have a very old book called the Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology, published in 1959. There is a large section on Lycanthropy, most of which you have already covered. But they did list certain cases that occurred during the 1500's and partial transcripts from their trails. It seems most of these poor people were condemned for being poor and illiterate.
I have a very old book called the Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology, published in 1959. There is a large section on Lycanthropy, most of which you have already covered. But they did list certain cases that occurred during the 1500's and partial transcripts from their trails. It seems most of these poor people were condemned for being poor and illiterate.
I am posting this question and answear here from the questions thread, as it adds to this thread, and as a means to bring this thread forward for more to read who can't find the hidden third page in this section "we have to be able to do something about that 30 days thing its hideing so many good threads from easy view"
Divine Sin:
Can werewolves have puppies?
Rhuen:
can werewolves have puppies? was the question and the answear is it depends on the version, those that are enchanted such as the magic ointments and belts, no they are human, however the werewolves of India and much of the far east are permenently wolves or shapeshifters between human and wolf and inherit this power from their parents so in a sense yes, and the type that stays a wolf after only once changeing from human to wolf have wolf cubs "these are said to have incredible intellegence and human life spans.
Divine Sin:
Can werewolves have puppies?
Rhuen:
can werewolves have puppies? was the question and the answear is it depends on the version, those that are enchanted such as the magic ointments and belts, no they are human, however the werewolves of India and much of the far east are permenently wolves or shapeshifters between human and wolf and inherit this power from their parents so in a sense yes, and the type that stays a wolf after only once changeing from human to wolf have wolf cubs "these are said to have incredible intellegence and human life spans.
Here is some research I have done on the subject, I had felt that there is a immense lack of lycan association or even mention in the vampyre community and I remember a number of years ago being at a vampyre site that had a section of it's forum dedicated soley to Lycanthropy and the two kins mixed. Plus it a was a fun little time researching.
--------------
Lycanthropy
Psychological Aspect:
1.)A patient reports in a moment of clarity or looking back the he sometimes feels as an animal or has felt like one.
2.)A patient behaves in a manner that resembles animal behaviour, for example crying, grumbling or creeping.
My Article: Under the terms of clinical Lycanthropy it is essentially a person going through a state of behavior that causes them to act like or think they are animals, a brain scan was conducted on a few people and it was shown that parts of the brain produced unusual activity and the subjects in question reported their bodies were changing shape and that there belief of these incidents were very genuine in their mind. It's also been noted that body shape distortions are not unknown in mental and neurological illness but it is however a mystery as to why people do not report their body feels like it's changing in odd ways but rather they profess that they are indeed changing into a specific animal. Typically lycanthropy has been thought of a human changing to wolf but it appears that only a minority of lycanthropy cases are in relevance to canine (more prominent in Northern Asia & Europe,) and that there are cases of people proclaiming to be changing into horses, cats (England,) birds, hyenas (Africa,) tigers (southern Asia & Japan) and more. and it has also been noted that in early 2004 there is a list of over thirty published cases of lycanthropy.
There should be no real surprise that such a syndrome is present in modern society because many cultures all over the world in their early states of development there was rituals & myths that had strong notions of spiritual connections, reincarnation, transformation, and other relations with animals and perhaps it is in our world of psychoanalysis that we dismiss the possibilities of our connection with nature and our primal instincts. There have also been cases of 'feral children' that depict children actually being brought up by animals and many have been reliably documented in modern times, there is also a psychiatrist by the name of Lucien Malson whom collected over fifty cases of lycanthropy in his book "Wolf Children and the Problem of Human Nature" which was published in 1964 and notions beliefs about lycanthropy may branch from some unusual maternal relationship between humans and animals.
Historical Myths: Lycaon (Greek mythology) was son of Priam and Laothoe. After the Trojan War , Lycaon was sold into slavery by Achilles. He died trying to escape. He had two sons: Pandarus, Iapyx. Iliad XXI, 35. He, or his fifty impious sons, 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.
- 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. The oldest city, the oldest cult (that of Zeus Lycaeus), and the first civilization of Arcadia are attributed to Lycaon.
-Traditionally the belief in lycanthropy was first mentioned by Plato. Piny the Elder mentions it in his "Natural History", asserting that a certain member of a family in each generation becomes a wolf for nine years.
- Story Of Thiess: One of the strangest incidences involving werewolves was that of "Benandanti" in northern Italy. In this case the werewolves were men who left their bodies and assumed the shape of wolves. After becoming wolves they descended to the underworld to battle witches.
This case was tried in 1692 in Jurgenburg, Livonia, situated in an area east of the Baltic Sea, steeped in werewolf folklore. It involved an 80-year-old man named Thiess.
Thiess confessed to being a werewolf, saying his nose had been broken by a man named Skeistan, a witch who was dead at the time he had struck Thiess. According to Thiess' testimony Skeistan and other witches was preventing the crops of the area from growing. Their purpose for doing this was so they could carry the grain into hell. To help the crop to continue to grow Thiess with a band of other werewolves descended into hell to fight the witches to recover the grain.
The warring of the werewolves and the witches occurred on three nights of the year: Saint Lucia, Pentecost and Saint John (the seasonal changes). If the werewolves were slow in their descent the witches would bar the gates of hell, and the crops, livestock, and even the fish catch would suffer. As weapons the werewolves carried iron bars while the witches used broom handles. Skeistan broke Theiss' nose with a broom handle wrapped in a horse's tail.
The judges were astounded by such testimony, for they had naturally supposed the werewolves were agents of the Devil. But now they were hearing the werewolves were fighting the Devil. When asked what became of the souls of the werewolves, Thiess said they went to heaven. He insisted werewolves were the "hounds of Gods" who helped mankind by preventing the Devil from carrying off the abundance of the earth. If it were not for them all would suffer. He said there were werewolves in Germany and Russia also fighting witches in their own hells.
Thiess was determined in his confession, denying he had ever signed a pact with the Devil. He refused to see the parish priest who was sent for to chastise him, saying that he was a better man than any priest. He claimed he was neither the first nor the last man to become a werewolf in order to fight witches.
Finally the judges, probably out of desperation, sentenced Thiess to ten lashes for acts of idolatry and superstitious beliefs.
Other/General: Lycanthropy from Greek lykoi, "wolf" anthropos, "man"
- Therianthropy: is a spiritual concept in which the individual believes they have the spirit or soul, whole or in part, of a non-human animal.
Modern: At the Center of Biomedical Research in Guadalajara, Mexico geneticist Dr. Luis Figuera is studying a Mexican family with a rare genetic mutation that causes fur like hair to grow all over their bodies. This werewolf disorder has mysterious resurfaced for the first time since the middle ages. The gene that causes the mutation lay dormant for centuries. It can be passed through either parent in the "X" chromosome. This is known as the "Werewolf Disorder".
In the Aceves family...32 members...all have this disease. They live in a mountain town named Zacatecas in Mexico. The hair covers much of their body...even in females. Some members of the family have more hair than others. One of them performs as a wolfman in a traveling circus. They are discriminated against by the local people.
- One theory, presented by P. E. I (Issac) Boneits in "Real Magic" (1971), explains that sympathetic wounding actually is a cellular psychokinesis brought on by an extreme telepathic rapport between the human and the animal. In such case the human identifies with the animal so much that he actually takes over the animal's body. So any wounding the person receives while controlling the werewolf will carry over through cellular psychokinesis to the human body.
- During medieval times European and Baltic countries were entrenched with werewolf beliefs. Later in the 15th. and 16th.
--------------
Lycanthropy
Psychological Aspect:
1.)A patient reports in a moment of clarity or looking back the he sometimes feels as an animal or has felt like one.
2.)A patient behaves in a manner that resembles animal behaviour, for example crying, grumbling or creeping.
My Article: Under the terms of clinical Lycanthropy it is essentially a person going through a state of behavior that causes them to act like or think they are animals, a brain scan was conducted on a few people and it was shown that parts of the brain produced unusual activity and the subjects in question reported their bodies were changing shape and that there belief of these incidents were very genuine in their mind. It's also been noted that body shape distortions are not unknown in mental and neurological illness but it is however a mystery as to why people do not report their body feels like it's changing in odd ways but rather they profess that they are indeed changing into a specific animal. Typically lycanthropy has been thought of a human changing to wolf but it appears that only a minority of lycanthropy cases are in relevance to canine (more prominent in Northern Asia & Europe,) and that there are cases of people proclaiming to be changing into horses, cats (England,) birds, hyenas (Africa,) tigers (southern Asia & Japan) and more. and it has also been noted that in early 2004 there is a list of over thirty published cases of lycanthropy.
There should be no real surprise that such a syndrome is present in modern society because many cultures all over the world in their early states of development there was rituals & myths that had strong notions of spiritual connections, reincarnation, transformation, and other relations with animals and perhaps it is in our world of psychoanalysis that we dismiss the possibilities of our connection with nature and our primal instincts. There have also been cases of 'feral children' that depict children actually being brought up by animals and many have been reliably documented in modern times, there is also a psychiatrist by the name of Lucien Malson whom collected over fifty cases of lycanthropy in his book "Wolf Children and the Problem of Human Nature" which was published in 1964 and notions beliefs about lycanthropy may branch from some unusual maternal relationship between humans and animals.
Historical Myths: Lycaon (Greek mythology) was son of Priam and Laothoe. After the Trojan War , Lycaon was sold into slavery by Achilles. He died trying to escape. He had two sons: Pandarus, Iapyx. Iliad XXI, 35. He, or his fifty impious sons, 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.
- 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. The oldest city, the oldest cult (that of Zeus Lycaeus), and the first civilization of Arcadia are attributed to Lycaon.
-Traditionally the belief in lycanthropy was first mentioned by Plato. Piny the Elder mentions it in his "Natural History", asserting that a certain member of a family in each generation becomes a wolf for nine years.
- Story Of Thiess: One of the strangest incidences involving werewolves was that of "Benandanti" in northern Italy. In this case the werewolves were men who left their bodies and assumed the shape of wolves. After becoming wolves they descended to the underworld to battle witches.
This case was tried in 1692 in Jurgenburg, Livonia, situated in an area east of the Baltic Sea, steeped in werewolf folklore. It involved an 80-year-old man named Thiess.
Thiess confessed to being a werewolf, saying his nose had been broken by a man named Skeistan, a witch who was dead at the time he had struck Thiess. According to Thiess' testimony Skeistan and other witches was preventing the crops of the area from growing. Their purpose for doing this was so they could carry the grain into hell. To help the crop to continue to grow Thiess with a band of other werewolves descended into hell to fight the witches to recover the grain.
The warring of the werewolves and the witches occurred on three nights of the year: Saint Lucia, Pentecost and Saint John (the seasonal changes). If the werewolves were slow in their descent the witches would bar the gates of hell, and the crops, livestock, and even the fish catch would suffer. As weapons the werewolves carried iron bars while the witches used broom handles. Skeistan broke Theiss' nose with a broom handle wrapped in a horse's tail.
The judges were astounded by such testimony, for they had naturally supposed the werewolves were agents of the Devil. But now they were hearing the werewolves were fighting the Devil. When asked what became of the souls of the werewolves, Thiess said they went to heaven. He insisted werewolves were the "hounds of Gods" who helped mankind by preventing the Devil from carrying off the abundance of the earth. If it were not for them all would suffer. He said there were werewolves in Germany and Russia also fighting witches in their own hells.
Thiess was determined in his confession, denying he had ever signed a pact with the Devil. He refused to see the parish priest who was sent for to chastise him, saying that he was a better man than any priest. He claimed he was neither the first nor the last man to become a werewolf in order to fight witches.
Finally the judges, probably out of desperation, sentenced Thiess to ten lashes for acts of idolatry and superstitious beliefs.
Other/General: Lycanthropy from Greek lykoi, "wolf" anthropos, "man"
- Therianthropy: is a spiritual concept in which the individual believes they have the spirit or soul, whole or in part, of a non-human animal.
Modern: At the Center of Biomedical Research in Guadalajara, Mexico geneticist Dr. Luis Figuera is studying a Mexican family with a rare genetic mutation that causes fur like hair to grow all over their bodies. This werewolf disorder has mysterious resurfaced for the first time since the middle ages. The gene that causes the mutation lay dormant for centuries. It can be passed through either parent in the "X" chromosome. This is known as the "Werewolf Disorder".
In the Aceves family...32 members...all have this disease. They live in a mountain town named Zacatecas in Mexico. The hair covers much of their body...even in females. Some members of the family have more hair than others. One of them performs as a wolfman in a traveling circus. They are discriminated against by the local people.
- One theory, presented by P. E. I (Issac) Boneits in "Real Magic" (1971), explains that sympathetic wounding actually is a cellular psychokinesis brought on by an extreme telepathic rapport between the human and the animal. In such case the human identifies with the animal so much that he actually takes over the animal's body. So any wounding the person receives while controlling the werewolf will carry over through cellular psychokinesis to the human body.
- During medieval times European and Baltic countries were entrenched with werewolf beliefs. Later in the 15th. and 16th.
This article has been taken from else where, but it is quite a informative and enlightening one.
----
Therianthropy
Definiition: is a spiritual concept in which the individual believes they have the spirit or soul, in whole or in part, of a non-human animal.
-----
Article: Spiritual therianthropy is not the same as lycanthropy, aka clinical lycanthropy, a mental disorder in which an individual believes they are physically of another species. While therianthropes believe they can take on the mindset of their other side, often with uncanny accuracy, in what is referred to as a "mental shift", the individual retains control and is no danger to him/herself or others. In addition, no seriously regarded therianthrope claims to be able to physically transform. In fact, many therianthropes deny that such a thing could ever be possible, mostly on scientific grounds. Unlike those who have clinical lycanthropy, therianthropes are perfectly able to function in society, with individuals who have productive careers in the US military, in the computer industry, as white-collar office workers, as artists, and even a small handful of scientists (mostly biologists, unsurprisingly).
Therianthropy does not have any central dogma or tenents, nor any recognized authority. However, there is a strong, though ill-defined notion that a therianthrope is one who feels they are the animal inside, rather than an external connection such as a totem or spirit guide, and those who claim external connections as therianthropy are sometimes shunned as fakers. Additionally, those who have been around for a long time are generally listened to, though less out of any perceived spiritual authority than simple acknolwedgement of experience.
While there is no offline social organization, there exists an online community composed of individuals who feel they are an animal inside, and who have many diverse outlooks on the concept, ranging from Christians to Pagans to a few atheist erianthropes (who hold that the explanation is psychological in nature). As could be expected, disagreements are frequent, and the many online forums and chatrooms of the community each have their own "atmosphere" ranging from total acceptance to scornful cynicism. There have been intermittent real-world gatherings, referred to as "howls", but their purpose is primarily social.
Therianthropy should not be confused with the furry fandom, though some intermixing of the groups does occur. As a rule, therianthropes are more focused on the spiritual connection to the animal within, while furries are focused on art and role-playing f anthropomorphic animals, though many therians are interested in such as well, and some furries are spiritual
----
Therianthropy
Definiition: is a spiritual concept in which the individual believes they have the spirit or soul, in whole or in part, of a non-human animal.
-----
Article: Spiritual therianthropy is not the same as lycanthropy, aka clinical lycanthropy, a mental disorder in which an individual believes they are physically of another species. While therianthropes believe they can take on the mindset of their other side, often with uncanny accuracy, in what is referred to as a "mental shift", the individual retains control and is no danger to him/herself or others. In addition, no seriously regarded therianthrope claims to be able to physically transform. In fact, many therianthropes deny that such a thing could ever be possible, mostly on scientific grounds. Unlike those who have clinical lycanthropy, therianthropes are perfectly able to function in society, with individuals who have productive careers in the US military, in the computer industry, as white-collar office workers, as artists, and even a small handful of scientists (mostly biologists, unsurprisingly).
Therianthropy does not have any central dogma or tenents, nor any recognized authority. However, there is a strong, though ill-defined notion that a therianthrope is one who feels they are the animal inside, rather than an external connection such as a totem or spirit guide, and those who claim external connections as therianthropy are sometimes shunned as fakers. Additionally, those who have been around for a long time are generally listened to, though less out of any perceived spiritual authority than simple acknolwedgement of experience.
While there is no offline social organization, there exists an online community composed of individuals who feel they are an animal inside, and who have many diverse outlooks on the concept, ranging from Christians to Pagans to a few atheist erianthropes (who hold that the explanation is psychological in nature). As could be expected, disagreements are frequent, and the many online forums and chatrooms of the community each have their own "atmosphere" ranging from total acceptance to scornful cynicism. There have been intermittent real-world gatherings, referred to as "howls", but their purpose is primarily social.
Therianthropy should not be confused with the furry fandom, though some intermixing of the groups does occur. As a rule, therianthropes are more focused on the spiritual connection to the animal within, while furries are focused on art and role-playing f anthropomorphic animals, though many therians are interested in such as well, and some furries are spiritual
I love this cripe
There is a traditional belief in werewolfs in some parts of my country (Portugal). The uncle of a girl I know was baptised with the name "Bento", which means "blessed", to prevent him become a werewolf; because he was a 7th son, he was suposed to be a werewolf when he grew up! (The 7th daughter would be a witch). There is a tradition that werewolfs can take many forms. They feel the urge to go outside on a full moon night and then go to where two roads cross and roll on the ground and take the form of the last animal that left a track there.
I am asking as I don't have the power to do so, that this thread be merged with the thread of the same name in other-kin. :devilbook:
I have a PM box, you know... ;) But sure.
Very informative, I hope no one minds that I use this as a reference when people ask me for information on Were creatures and everything relating ot that.
Great job Laz and Pure
Great job Laz and Pure
Damn, very nice, question? i can print this out and use it as a reference, cause this oppertunity is too good to pass on.
QUOTE (Lazarus @ Jan 15 2004, 08:40 PM)
Bruxsa (Portugese)
A female vampyre witch who can turn herself into a great night-bird.
A female vampyre witch who can turn herself into a great night-bird.
(I missed this one the first time I posted.)
The word is "bruxa", the "x" being read like your "sh", and it means witch. I'm portugese and I never saw that word mean vampire in any way. Portuguese witches are like all the witches in Europe, they fly in brooms, go to Hell and back on the Devil's boat and make magic.
There are another sort of werepeople in portuguese folklore, the ones we call the "enchanted moor girls". They are the daughters of the arab magicians who lived in Portugal in the early Middle Ages. Their fathers left them behind when they escaped, after the arab defeat, because they buried their treasures here and thought they could ultimately win and recover everything. The girls are very beautifull, with very long black hair they comb all the time and they live on the places were the treasures are buried, under the form of huge serpents. A woman from my father's village, in the South of Portugal, said she saw one of them near a place where there are pre-historic monuments. The girl was combing her hair and turned into a serpent when she saw the woman.
There were also the mermaids, of course, but those don't change. Nevertheless, there is a strange story that is recorded in a medieval manuscript about a portuguese nobleman who found a "sea woman" on a pound, during a hunt, and took her home, had her baptized and married her. The family still exists and their name is "Marinho", which means "from the sea", and all the official records of the Middle Ages say they do descend from a "sea woman" - whatever that could mean.
There were also the mermaids, of course, but those don't change. Nevertheless, there is a strange story that is recorded in a medieval manuscript about a portuguese nobleman who found a "sea woman" on a pound, during a hunt, and took her home, had her baptized and married her. The family still exists and their name is "Marinho", which means "from the sea", and all the official records of the Middle Ages say they do descend from a "sea woman" - whatever that could mean.
A collection of legends
The Morbach Monster
Anonymous
Have you ever heard of the Morbach Monster?
I first learned of the legend while I was stationed at Hahn Airforce Base, Germany. Morbach was a munitions site just outside of the villiage of Wittlich.
Supposedly Wittlich is the last town where a werewolf was killed. There is a shrine just outside of town where a candle always burns. Legend has it that if the candle ever goes out the werewolf will return.
One night a group of security policemen were on the way to their post at Morbach, when they noticed that the candle was out at the shrine, and all joked about the monster.
Later that night alarms were received from a fence-line sensor. When the security policemen investigated the call one of them saw a huge "dog-like" animal stand up on its back legs, look at him, and jump over the 7 1/2 foot chain-link fence. A military working dog was brought to the area where the creature was last seen, and the dog went nuts, not wanting anything to do with tracking the creature.
This occured around 1988.
The Werewolf
F. Asmus and O. Knoop
By using a so-called wolf strap, any person could transform himself into a werewolf. Whoever fastened such a strap around himself would turn into a wolf. If someone called out the name of a person who had turned himself into a wolf, that person would regain his human form.
In earlier times there were a great many such straps, but today, along with the wolves, they seem to have been banned to Russia.
A wolf strap was a gift from the devil. A person who possessed such a strap could not get rid of it, however much he wanted to. Anyone who accepted a wolf strap also had entered into brotherhood with the devil, surrendering body and soul to him.
If real wolves were feared in earlier times, werewolves were feared all the more. A real wolf could be shot dead or lured into a so-called wolf pit, where it would perish from hunger. However, a werewolf could not be brought down with a rifle bullet, nor would it ever fall into a wolf pit.
The reader will perhaps ask, "What is the use of running around as a werewolf?"
This was not done for no good reason. When the pantries and meat containers were empty, one would only have to fasten on the wolf strap, run off as a wolf, seek out a fat sheep that was wandering off toward the edge of the woods, creep towards it, seize it, and drag it into the woods. In the evening one could bring it home without anyone noticing. Or the werewolf would know when a peasant was going through the woods with a lot of money. He would ambush him, rob him, then run off across the field with the booty.
In earlier times, after the horses had been unhitched from a wagon or a plow, they would be driven out to a community pasture where they would be watched until morning by two herdsmen. Even colts were put out for the night. People took turns watching after them.
Now once it happened that one of the two herdsmen had a wolf strap. After both herdsmen had kept watch for several hours they got sleepy and laid their heads down. The first one, however, who had heard that his companion possessed a wolf strap, only pretended to be asleep, and the other one thought that he was indeed sleeping. He quickly fastened the strap around himself and ran off as a wolf. The other one got up and saw how his companion ran up to a colt, attacked it, and devoured it.
After this had happened, the wolf man came back and lay down to sleep. Toward morning they both awoke. The werewolf man was rolling around on the ground and groaning loudly. The other one asked him what was wrong.
He said that he had a horrible stomach ache.
To this the first one said, "The devil himself would have a stomach ache if he had eaten an entire colt at one time."
The werewolf asked him to say nothing about what had happened. He kept silent about it for a long time, but later he did tell me about it, and now I too feel free to tell about it, because both men have been dead for a long time.
A Woman Transforms Herself into a Werewolf
F. Asmus and O. Knoop
In a village there lived a woman whose first name was Trine. Her husband had been dead for a long time. The woman lived in impoverished circumstances, but nonetheless, she was always able to offer fresh meat to those who visited her.
One time a male relative came to visit her, and she offered him good fresh meat.
The man said to her, "Tell me, Trine, where did you get this nice mutton?"
Trine answered, "I'll show you. Just climb up onto the roof with the ladder that is leaning against the back of the house."
The man did what Trine asked him to do. In the distance he saw a herd of sheep. Suddenly a wolf came out of the brush, ran into the midst of the sheep, and was about to run away with one of them. The shepherd saw this in time, and with his dog took off after the wolf in order to rescue the sheep. The wolf defended itself.
The man on the roof, knowing what kind of wolf it was, called out, "Trine, watch out!"
Suddenly Trine was standing there in her true form. Then the shepherd began striking out at her with renewed vigor, and Trine was scarcely able to drag herself back home.
The Werewolf of Alt-Marrin
F. Asmus and O. Knoop
About sixty years ago in Alt-Marrin there lived a man by the name of Gust K. He too possessed a wolf strap, with which he brought about much damage and misery. Finally the strap was taken from him, and it was to be burned. Three times the baking oven was heated up, and three times the strap was thrown into the glowing fire, but each time it jumped back out of the flames.
Nor would water damage the strap. It always returned.
However, the pastor from Fritzow finally burned it up. When Gust K. died, the pastor at Alt-Marrin could not finish the Lord's Prayer, and they called on the pastor from Fritzow. The latter said, "Away, away with it!"
When they tried to lower him into the earth, the grave opening was too small, so the pallbearers had to trample him down with their feet. For a long time afterward there was always a hole in his grave mound, but it will have closed up by now, for grass has been growing over the story of Gust K. for a long time now.
Werewolves
Karl Bartsch
Werewolf legends are well known. According to them, many people possessed the power to transform themselves into wolves by putting on a wolf belt. They would then roam about at night attacking their enemies or their enemies' cattle.
In Fahrenholz in the year 1682 a number of people were accused of being able to transform themselves into wolves and were put on trial.
Only thirty years ago [in the 1840's] numerous examples of this kind of magic were related in all children's rooms, although there have been no wolves in Mecklenburg for more than one hundred years. This proves how widespread these legends formerly must have been.
1:A man possessed a wolf belt, that is, he had the ability to transform himself into a wolf (werewolf). Once the huntsmen organized a fox hunt and had placed a dead horse in the woods as bait for the foxes. The werewolf went there and was eating from the horse. The huntsmen surprised him and shot at him. He fled, and when they went to the house of the man they suspected of being a werewolf, they found him in bed with a bullet wound.
2: A young woman whose husband was often unexplainably absent came to the suspicion that he was a werewolf.
One day both were working in the field. The man again left his wife. Suddenly a wolf came forth from the bushes, ran toward her, grabbed her red woolen skirt with its teeth and shook her back and forth. With screams and blows from her hay fork she drove him away.
Soon afterward her husband emerged from the same bushes into which the wolf had disappeared. She told him of her frightening experience. He laughed, thereby revealing the red woolen threads from her skirt that were stuck between his teeth.
She reported him to the judge, and he was burned to death.
3.
A woodcutter was working in the forest with his brother. The latter went away, and soon thereafter a wolf came out of the nearby bushes. The woodcutter wounded him on his right front leg with his ax, and the wolf retreated howling.
That evening when the woodcutter returned home he found his brother in bed with his right arm hidden beneath the covers. Only after repeated threats would he reveal his arm, and on it was the same wound that the woodcutter had given to the wolf.
He reported his brother, who was burned to death.
The Werewolf of Klein-Krams
Karl Bartsch
In the vicinity of Klein-Krams near Ludwigslust in former times there were extensive forests that were so rich with game that the dukes often came to this region to hold their great hunts. During these hunts they almost always saw a wolf who -- even though he came within shooting distance -- could never be killed by a huntsman. Indeed, they even had to watch as he took a piece of game before their very eyes and -- something that was most remarkable to them -- ran with it into the village.
Now once it happened that a hussar from Ludwigslust was traveling through the village and just happened to enter the house of a man named Feeg. When he entered the house a flock of children stormed out of the house with a loud cry and hurried out into the yard. When he asked them about their wild behavior, they told him that except for a small boy, no one from the Feeg family was at home, and that he -- as was his custom when no one was at home -- had transformed himself into a werewolf, and that they were running away from him, because otherwise he would bite them.
Soon afterward the feared wolf appeared, but by now he had laid aside his wolf form. The hussar turned to the Feeg child and tried to learn more about the wolf game, but the child would say nothing. However, the stranger would not give up, and he finally succeeded in making the child talk.
The child told him that his grandmother had a strap, and that if he put it on he would instantly become a wolf. The hussar kindly asked the boy to make an appearance as a werewolf. At first the boy refused, but finally he agreed to do it, if the strange man would first climb into the loft, so that he would be safe from him. The hussar agreed to this, and to be sure pulled up the ladder with which he had climbed into the loft.
As soon as this had happened the boy ran into the main room, and soon came out again as a young wolf and chased away all those who standing in the entryway. After the wolf had run back into the main room and come back out as a boy, the hussar climbed down and had the Feeg child show him the magic belt, but he could not discover anything unusual about it.
Afterward the hussar went to a forester in the vicinity of Klein-Krams and told him what he had experienced in the Feeg house. Upon hearing this story, the forester, who had always been present at the great hunts near Klein-Krams, immediately thought about the werewolf who could not be wounded. He now thought that he would be able to kill the werewolf.
At the next hunt he said to his friends, as he rammed a bullet of inherited silver into the barrel of his rifle, "Today the werewolf will not escape from me!" His companions looked at him in amazement, but he said nothing further.
The hunt soon began, and it did not take long before the wolf showed himself once again. Many of the huntsmen shot at him, but he remained unwounded. Finally he approached the forester, who brought him to the ground. Everyone could see that the wolf was wounded, but soon he jumped up again and ran into the village. The huntsmen followed him, but the werewolf outran them and disappeared into the Feeg farmyard.
In their search, the huntsmen came into the house, where they found the wolf in the grandmother's bed. They recognized it from the tail that was sticking out from under the covers.
The werewolf was no one other than Feeg's grandmother. In her pain she had forgotten to take off the strap, and thus she herself revealed the secret.
The Werewolf of Vietlübbe
Karl Bartsch
A rich farmer by the name of Schlüntz lived a long time ago in Vietlübbe. One day he had gone to Lübz and was returning home in the evening. Upon entering a grove of fir trees, his horse refused to proceed. The farmer suddenly saw a wolf jump from the bushes and begin snapping at the horse. The horse ran off in a gallop, not stopping until it had run out of breath. The wolf caught up and jumped at it.
The farmer knew that a neighbor of his had the reputation of being a sorcerer, and just as the wolf was about to grab his horse by the neck, he called out: "Irnst Jacobs, is that you? Let me say something to you. Irnst Jacobs, listen to me, Irnst Jacobs!" And as he spoke the name the third time, his neighbor stood there before him, begging him to high heaven not to reveal him.
The farmer let him go. It had been the neighbor who had taken on the form of a werewolf
A Witch as Werewolf
Karl Bartsch
Once a witch was crossing a field in the form of a werewolf in order to bewitch a farmer's cows. Her husband came upon her, and when he saw the wolf, he was afraid that it might be his wife, so he called out, "Marie, Marie, what are you doing here?"
This frightened the woman, who turned herself back into her human form. But even as the man approached her, long red hair was still hanging from her neck and breast, and her eyes were still glowing like wolf's eyes
The Werewolf
Carl and Theodor Colshorn
Three workmen were mowing a meadow. Noon came, but no one had brought them their meal yet, so they agreed to mow one more round and then to lie down beneath a bush until the food arrived. And that is what they did. Two of them fell asleep immediately, because one never sleeps better than when one is tired, and there is no softer bed than one made from flowers and grass.
The third workman, however, tied a wolf strap around his waist and crept up to a herd of horses that was grazing there. The best foal was just right for him. He grabbed it and killed it. The remaining horses and the herder ran off. The other harvesters saw what had happened, but they wisely pretended to be asleep, for they were frightened and horrified.
After the werewolf had satisfied his hunger, he took off the strap, came back, and lay down to rest. Their food soon arrived: a large pot full of porridge and for each man six boiled eggs plus some bread and salt. As the two harvesters were helping themselves with their wooden spoons, the werewolf said, "Earlier I was terribly hungry, but for some reason I don't feel like eating now." The two others said nothing.
The one harvester complained the entire afternoon about cramps and a stomach ache, and often went to the brook to quench his burning thirst. The two others said nothing. That evening, as they were on their way home, he said once again that he had never felt so stuffed, to which one of the harvesters replied that it could happen to anyone.
When they arrived at the town gate, and he was still complaining, the other workman said, "A person who eats an entire foal should not be surprised to feel stuffed and have stomach cramps. To that he replied, "If you had said that earlier, you would not now be walking home on your own legs." He then threw his scythe away, tied the strap around his waist, turned into a wolf, and was never again seen in that place.
Yet another woman story
A woman had taken on the form of a werewolf and had attacked the herd of a shepherd, whom she hated, causing great damage. However, the shepherd wounded the wolf in the hip with an ax blow, and it crawled into the brush. The shepherd followed, thinking that he could finish it off, but there he found a woman using a piece of cloth torn from her dress to stop the blood gushing from a wound.
Werewolf Rock
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
In the meadow facing Seehausen near the Magdeburg village of Eggenstedt, not far from Sommerschenburg and Schöningen, there is a large rock, called "Wolf Rock" or "Werewolf Rock."
A long, long time ago a stranger sojourned near the Brandsleber Forest, which belonged to the Hackel and the Harz districts. No one knew who he was, nor where he came from. Known everywhere by the name "the Old Man," he would often show up without notice in the villages and offer his services, which he performed to the satisfaction of the country people. He was most often engaged to herd sheep.
It happened that a cute spotted lamb was born in a herd belonging to a shepherd named Melle from Neindorf. The stranger asked the shepherd repeatedly and fervently to give it to him, but the shepherd refused.
On shearing day Melle engaged the Old Man to help out. When he returned he found everything in order; all the work had been done, but neither the Old Man nor the spotted lamb were there. For a long time no one heard anything about the Old Man.
Finally one day he unexpectedly appeared before Melle, who was grazing his sheep in the Katten Valley. He called out sneeringly: "Good day, Melle, your spotted lamb sends his greetings!"
Angered, the shepherd grabbed his crook in order to avenge himself. Then suddenly the stranger changed shape and sprang at him as a werewolf. The shepherd took fright, but his dogs attacked the wolf with fury. The wolf fled. Pursued, it ran through forest and valley until it reached the vicinity of Eggenstedt. Here the dogs surrounded him. The shepherd called out: "Now you will die!" Then the Old Man, again in human form, begged to be spared, offering to do anything. But the shepherd furiously attacked him with his stick, when suddenly a sprouting thorn bush stood before him. But the vengeful shepherd did not spare him, hacking away at the branches instead. The stranger once again turned himself into a human and begged for his life. But hard-hearted Melle remained unmoved. Then the stranger attempted to make his escape as a werewolf, but a blow from Melle brought him dead to the earth. A rocky cliff marks the spot where he fell and was buried, and will be named after him for all eternity.
The Werewolves Advance
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
In Livland there is the following legend: When Christmas Day is over a boy who limps with one leg goes around calling together all those who have yielded to the Evil One -- and there is a large number of them -- bidding them to follow him. If any one of these resists or hesitates, then a large tall man is also there who hits at them with a whip braided from iron wire and little chains, driving them along with force. It is said that he whips at the people so cruelly that a long time later marks and scars can still be seen on their bodies, and they are in great pain.
As soon as they begin to follow him, it appears as though they lose their former shape and turn into wolves. Several thousand of them come together. Their leader, with the iron whip in his hand, leads the way. When they have been led into a field, they cruelly attack the cattle, ripping every animal to pieces that they can catch, thus doing great damage. However, they are not able to harm humans.
When they come to a body of water, their leader strikes at it with his switch or whip, and it divides, allowing them to cross over with dry feet. After twelve days have passed, they abandon their werewolf form and become humans once again.
The Werewolf of Jarnitz
A. Haas
In the vicinity of Jarnitz there lived a werewolf who had the ability to transform himself into all kinds of different shapes. This werewolf spent the nights stealing sheep from their enclosures, for in those days the sheep were kept at night in enclosures in the open fields. For several nights in a row the shepherd, armed with a loaded gun, had kept watch for the night robber. He had already hit the werewolf several times, as he had clearly seen, but the bullets seemed to have done him no harm, and he had escaped with his booty every time. Then the shepherd loaded his gun with bullets made of inherited silver, which never fail. Thus this time he would be successful.
Following his custom, the werewolf appeared again that night. But as he was approaching the enclosure, he immediately sensed that this time the shepherd might do him in. Therefore he quickly turned himself into a human, walked up to the shepherd, and said to him in a familiar tone, "You don't have to shoot me dead!" That so unsettled the shepherd that he lowered his gun, which he had been aiming at the intruder.
The werewolf never again dared to steel sheep from the Jarnitz enclosures.
Werewolf
Adalbert Kuhn
There were formerly werewolves. One could transform oneself into a werewolf by putting on a belt. A servant understood how to do this, and while the others were asleep at noontime he ate an entire foal. One of the men just pretended to be asleep and observed everything. From Glane near Iburg.
If you throw a piece of iron or steel over a hare that is a transformed human, or over a werewolf, then the human will immediately appear before you completely naked. They call that "making blank" the witch, the wolf, and so forth. The werewolf's pelt bursts crosswise at its forehead, and the naked human emerges from this opening
The Böxenwolf
A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz
In the entire region between the Deister River and the Weser River they tell about the böxenwolf who at nighttime preys upon travelers, making them carry him part of the way. Such a böxenwolf is actually a human who transforms himself and gains superhuman strength by putting on a strap.
Late one evening two peasants were returning home from a mill not far from Rinteln. Each was carrying a sack of flour. A böxenwolf confronted one of them. He immediately called out for help to his companion, who threw down his sack and attacked the böxenwolf so furiously with his stick, that the böxenwolf turned and fled.
The next day they went to another peasant. They had long suspected him, because was rich, but no one knew the source of his wealth. He was lying in bed, deathly ill. He had the surgeon come and bind his wounds. Thus they discovered who had been the böxenwolf.
The Werewolf Belt
A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz
Formerly there were people who could turn themselves into wolves by putting on a certain belt. A man in the vicinity of Steina had such a belt, and once he went away without locking it up, as was his custom. His young son came upon it and buckled the thing about himself. Instantly he became a werewolf. He had the appearance of a stack of pea straw and lumbered away heavily like a bear.
When the people in the room saw what had happened they ran quickly and brought back the father. He arrived barely in time and undid the strap before the boy could do any damage. Afterward the boy said that as soon as he put the belt on, he become so terribly hungry that he would have torn anything apart that might have gotten in his way.
The Werewolf Wife
A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz
In Caseburg on the island of Usedom a man and his wife were cutting hay in a meadow. After a while the woman told the man that she was uneasy and could not stay there any longer, and she went away. Earlier she had told him that if a wild animal were to come upon him he should throw his hat toward it and run away, and then no harm would come to him. The man had promised her that he would do this.
After the woman had been away for a while, a wolf swam across the Swina and approached the harvesters. The man threw his hat at it, which the beast immediately ripped into small pieces. Meanwhile one of the workers crept up to the wolf with a pitchfork and stabbed it to death from behind. Instantly it was transformed. They were all astounded to see that it was the farmer's wife that the worker had killed.
The Werewolf
Karl Lyncker
The Hessian farmer knows and fears the ravenous werewolf even today [1854]. This is a human whose shape has been transformed by putting on a belt. The werewolf attacks everything that gets in his way, and is especially dangerous for the herds. However, there is a way to destroy the belt's magic power: If one throws a knife -- a piece of shiny steel -- over the werewolf, he will instantly be transformed into his true human form and stand there completely naked.
In the vicinity of Wolfhagen there was a well-to-do woman of good parentage who almost every night would leave her house and roam the fields as a werewolf. Once a shepherd bravely approached the werewolf, as it crept into an alder thicket, its appetite sated. The shepherd, who had long pursued the werewolf, hoped to capture it. He threw his pocketknife over its head and neck, and immediately the woman was standing naked there before him. She implored him to have mercy with her and to not tell the story to anyone. The shepherd was highly surprised to see the well known woman before him, and he promised to keep the event a secret. Nonetheless, within a few days everyone knew about it.
The Werewolf: Another Legend
Karl Lyncker
A married couple in Hessen lived in poverty. To the husband's amazement, the wife nevertheless was able to serve meat for every meal. For a long time she kept it a secret where she got the meat, but finally she promised to reveal it to him, under the condition that he not call out her name as it was happening. Together they went to a field where a herd of sheep was grazing. The woman walked toward the sheep, and as she approached them, she threw a ring over herself and instantly turned into a werewolf. She fell upon the sheep, seized one of them, and fled. The man stood there as though petrified. However, when he saw the shepherd and the dogs running after the werewolf, thus endangering his wife, he forgot his promise and called out: "Margaret!" With that the wolf disappeared, and the woman was left standing naked in the field.
The Peasant and the Werewolf
Karl Lyncker
One night a werewolf came upon a peasant who was driving his wagon overland. In order to break its magic, the level-headed man unhesitatingly tied his fire steel to his whip and threw it over the wolf's head, keeping the whip in his hand. However, the wolf seized the steel, and the peasant had to flee in order to save his life.
The Werewolf of Hüsby
Karl Müllenhoff
In Hüsby near Schleswig there lived an old, stingy woman. She offered her farm hands but little to eat, although there was fresh meat every Sunday. The household wondered about this, because the old woman never bought any meat.
A young farm hand wanted to discover the woman's trick, so one day he hid himself in the hayloft instead of going to church with the rest of the household. Suddenly he noticed how the woman pulled out a wolf strap and put it around herself. She immediately became a wolf, ran out into the field, and soon came back with a sheep.
"If she can get meat that easily," thought the boy, "then she can be more generous with us. As the woman put meat into the pot, she sighed and said, as was her custom, "Oh, dear God, if only I were with you!"
The boy, pretending to be God, answered, "You'll not come to me for all eternity."
"Why not, dear God?"
"Because you put too little into the pot for your people."
"Then I'll do better."
"Yes, that's my advice to you."
From now on she put a much larger piece of meat into the pot. But the boy could not remain silent, and in the village he talked about what had happened. When on a Sunday morning the woman again turned herself into a wolf, the people were on guard. However, no bullet could harm her until they finally loaded a flintlock with a silver bullet. From that time to the end of her life the woman had an open wound that no doctor could heal. She never again showed herself as a werewolf.
The Wolf Stone
Alexander Schöppner
In a valley in the Fichtel Mountains a shepherd tended his flock in a green meadow. Several times it happened that after driving his herd home he discovered that one of the animals was missing. All searching was in vain. They were lost and they remained lost.
Watching more carefully, he saw a large wolf creep out of the forest thicket and seize a lamb. Angrily he chased after him, but the enemy was too fleet. Before he could do anything about it, the wolf had disappeared with the lamb. The next time he took an expert marksman with him. The wolf approached, but the marksman's bullets bounced off him. Then it occurred to the hunter to load his weapon with the dried pith from an elder bush. The next day he got off a shot, and the robber ran howling into the woods.
The next morning the shepherd met an old neighbor woman with whom he was not on the best of terms. Noticing that she was limping, he asked her: "Neighbor, what is wrong with your leg? It does not want to go along with you."
"What business is it of yours?" she answered, hurrying away.
The shepherd took note of this. This woman had long been suspected of practicing evil magic. People claimed to have seen her on the Heuberg in Swabia, the Köterberg, and also on the Hui near Halberstadt.
He reported her. She was arrested, interrogated, and flogged with rod of alder wood, with which others suspected of magic, but who had denied the charges, had been punished. She was then locked up in chains. But suddenly the woman disappeared from the prison, and no one knew where she had gone.
Some time later the poor, unsuspecting shepherd saw the hated wolf break out of the forest once again. However, this time it had not come to attack his herd, but the shepherd himself. There was a furious struggle. The shepherd gathered all of his strength together against the teeth and claws of the ferocious beast. It would have been his death if a hunter had not come by in the knick of time. In vain he fired a shot at the wolf, and then struck it down with his knife. The instant that blood began to flow from the wolf's side, the old woman from the village appeared in the field before them, writhing and twisting terribly. They finished killing her and buried her twenty feet beneath the earth.
At the place where they buried the woman they erected a large stone cross, which they named the "Wolf Stone" in memory of these events. It was never peaceful and orderly in the vicinity of the stone. The Malicious Messenger (der Tückebote) or the Burning Man (der brennende Mann), in the language of the people, still goes about his dangerous business here.
The Werewolves in Greifswald
J. D. H. Temme
Two hundred years ago for a time there was a frightfully large number of werewolves in the city of Greifswald. They were especially prevelant in Rokover Street. From there they attacked anyone who appeared outside of their houses after eight o'clock in the evening. At that time there were a lot of venturesome students in Greifswald. They banded together and one night set forth against the monsters. At first they were powerless against them, until finally the students brought together all of the silver buttons that they had inherited, and with these they killed the werewolves
The Werewolf near Zarnow
J. D. H. Temme
In the vicinity of Zarnow a few years ago a terrible wolf was on the loose and was causing great harm to humans and cattle. Once he even ripped a child to pieces. Then all the peasants of the region banded together and pursued him, finally surrounding him in some brush. They were about to kill him when suddenly a large strange man with a club appeared before them. Then they knew that they had a werewolf before them. This happened in the year 1831.
Werewolves in Pomerania
J. D. H. Temme
The belief in werewolves is common throughout all of Pomerania. One can transform oneself into a werewolf by girding oneself with a strap that has been cut from the back of a man who has been hanged. Werewolves are especially fond of attacking horses. In the village of Bork not far from Stargard for a long time a man made his entire living by walking around the horse pasture in the village every night and whispering mysterious words by which he protected the horses against werewolves and other wolves, and this in spite of the fact that wolves had long not been seen in that region.
The Werewolf in Hindenburg
J. D. H. Temme
One still believes in werewolves in the Altmark. Even today in the village of Hindenburg they tell about a man who could turn himself into a wolf, and there are people still alive who knew him during their childhood.
He had a strip of leather made from wolf skin which still had its hair. Whenever he tied it around his body, he turned into a wolf. Then he had such extraordinary strength that he could pull an entire load of hay by himself or grab a whole ox in his mouth and carry it away.
In this state he had the nature of a wolf. He strangled cattle and even ate humans. He once pursued one of his neighbors, who narrowly escaped from him. But however furious he became, he did spare his wife. She knew a magic charm that brought him under control, a charm that he himself had taught her. Then she would take off the leather strip, and he would become a reasonable human once again.
The Morbach Monster
Anonymous
Have you ever heard of the Morbach Monster?
I first learned of the legend while I was stationed at Hahn Airforce Base, Germany. Morbach was a munitions site just outside of the villiage of Wittlich.
Supposedly Wittlich is the last town where a werewolf was killed. There is a shrine just outside of town where a candle always burns. Legend has it that if the candle ever goes out the werewolf will return.
One night a group of security policemen were on the way to their post at Morbach, when they noticed that the candle was out at the shrine, and all joked about the monster.
Later that night alarms were received from a fence-line sensor. When the security policemen investigated the call one of them saw a huge "dog-like" animal stand up on its back legs, look at him, and jump over the 7 1/2 foot chain-link fence. A military working dog was brought to the area where the creature was last seen, and the dog went nuts, not wanting anything to do with tracking the creature.
This occured around 1988.
The Werewolf
F. Asmus and O. Knoop
By using a so-called wolf strap, any person could transform himself into a werewolf. Whoever fastened such a strap around himself would turn into a wolf. If someone called out the name of a person who had turned himself into a wolf, that person would regain his human form.
In earlier times there were a great many such straps, but today, along with the wolves, they seem to have been banned to Russia.
A wolf strap was a gift from the devil. A person who possessed such a strap could not get rid of it, however much he wanted to. Anyone who accepted a wolf strap also had entered into brotherhood with the devil, surrendering body and soul to him.
If real wolves were feared in earlier times, werewolves were feared all the more. A real wolf could be shot dead or lured into a so-called wolf pit, where it would perish from hunger. However, a werewolf could not be brought down with a rifle bullet, nor would it ever fall into a wolf pit.
The reader will perhaps ask, "What is the use of running around as a werewolf?"
This was not done for no good reason. When the pantries and meat containers were empty, one would only have to fasten on the wolf strap, run off as a wolf, seek out a fat sheep that was wandering off toward the edge of the woods, creep towards it, seize it, and drag it into the woods. In the evening one could bring it home without anyone noticing. Or the werewolf would know when a peasant was going through the woods with a lot of money. He would ambush him, rob him, then run off across the field with the booty.
In earlier times, after the horses had been unhitched from a wagon or a plow, they would be driven out to a community pasture where they would be watched until morning by two herdsmen. Even colts were put out for the night. People took turns watching after them.
Now once it happened that one of the two herdsmen had a wolf strap. After both herdsmen had kept watch for several hours they got sleepy and laid their heads down. The first one, however, who had heard that his companion possessed a wolf strap, only pretended to be asleep, and the other one thought that he was indeed sleeping. He quickly fastened the strap around himself and ran off as a wolf. The other one got up and saw how his companion ran up to a colt, attacked it, and devoured it.
After this had happened, the wolf man came back and lay down to sleep. Toward morning they both awoke. The werewolf man was rolling around on the ground and groaning loudly. The other one asked him what was wrong.
He said that he had a horrible stomach ache.
To this the first one said, "The devil himself would have a stomach ache if he had eaten an entire colt at one time."
The werewolf asked him to say nothing about what had happened. He kept silent about it for a long time, but later he did tell me about it, and now I too feel free to tell about it, because both men have been dead for a long time.
A Woman Transforms Herself into a Werewolf
F. Asmus and O. Knoop
In a village there lived a woman whose first name was Trine. Her husband had been dead for a long time. The woman lived in impoverished circumstances, but nonetheless, she was always able to offer fresh meat to those who visited her.
One time a male relative came to visit her, and she offered him good fresh meat.
The man said to her, "Tell me, Trine, where did you get this nice mutton?"
Trine answered, "I'll show you. Just climb up onto the roof with the ladder that is leaning against the back of the house."
The man did what Trine asked him to do. In the distance he saw a herd of sheep. Suddenly a wolf came out of the brush, ran into the midst of the sheep, and was about to run away with one of them. The shepherd saw this in time, and with his dog took off after the wolf in order to rescue the sheep. The wolf defended itself.
The man on the roof, knowing what kind of wolf it was, called out, "Trine, watch out!"
Suddenly Trine was standing there in her true form. Then the shepherd began striking out at her with renewed vigor, and Trine was scarcely able to drag herself back home.
The Werewolf of Alt-Marrin
F. Asmus and O. Knoop
About sixty years ago in Alt-Marrin there lived a man by the name of Gust K. He too possessed a wolf strap, with which he brought about much damage and misery. Finally the strap was taken from him, and it was to be burned. Three times the baking oven was heated up, and three times the strap was thrown into the glowing fire, but each time it jumped back out of the flames.
Nor would water damage the strap. It always returned.
However, the pastor from Fritzow finally burned it up. When Gust K. died, the pastor at Alt-Marrin could not finish the Lord's Prayer, and they called on the pastor from Fritzow. The latter said, "Away, away with it!"
When they tried to lower him into the earth, the grave opening was too small, so the pallbearers had to trample him down with their feet. For a long time afterward there was always a hole in his grave mound, but it will have closed up by now, for grass has been growing over the story of Gust K. for a long time now.
Werewolves
Karl Bartsch
Werewolf legends are well known. According to them, many people possessed the power to transform themselves into wolves by putting on a wolf belt. They would then roam about at night attacking their enemies or their enemies' cattle.
In Fahrenholz in the year 1682 a number of people were accused of being able to transform themselves into wolves and were put on trial.
Only thirty years ago [in the 1840's] numerous examples of this kind of magic were related in all children's rooms, although there have been no wolves in Mecklenburg for more than one hundred years. This proves how widespread these legends formerly must have been.
1:A man possessed a wolf belt, that is, he had the ability to transform himself into a wolf (werewolf). Once the huntsmen organized a fox hunt and had placed a dead horse in the woods as bait for the foxes. The werewolf went there and was eating from the horse. The huntsmen surprised him and shot at him. He fled, and when they went to the house of the man they suspected of being a werewolf, they found him in bed with a bullet wound.
2: A young woman whose husband was often unexplainably absent came to the suspicion that he was a werewolf.
One day both were working in the field. The man again left his wife. Suddenly a wolf came forth from the bushes, ran toward her, grabbed her red woolen skirt with its teeth and shook her back and forth. With screams and blows from her hay fork she drove him away.
Soon afterward her husband emerged from the same bushes into which the wolf had disappeared. She told him of her frightening experience. He laughed, thereby revealing the red woolen threads from her skirt that were stuck between his teeth.
She reported him to the judge, and he was burned to death.
3.
A woodcutter was working in the forest with his brother. The latter went away, and soon thereafter a wolf came out of the nearby bushes. The woodcutter wounded him on his right front leg with his ax, and the wolf retreated howling.
That evening when the woodcutter returned home he found his brother in bed with his right arm hidden beneath the covers. Only after repeated threats would he reveal his arm, and on it was the same wound that the woodcutter had given to the wolf.
He reported his brother, who was burned to death.
The Werewolf of Klein-Krams
Karl Bartsch
In the vicinity of Klein-Krams near Ludwigslust in former times there were extensive forests that were so rich with game that the dukes often came to this region to hold their great hunts. During these hunts they almost always saw a wolf who -- even though he came within shooting distance -- could never be killed by a huntsman. Indeed, they even had to watch as he took a piece of game before their very eyes and -- something that was most remarkable to them -- ran with it into the village.
Now once it happened that a hussar from Ludwigslust was traveling through the village and just happened to enter the house of a man named Feeg. When he entered the house a flock of children stormed out of the house with a loud cry and hurried out into the yard. When he asked them about their wild behavior, they told him that except for a small boy, no one from the Feeg family was at home, and that he -- as was his custom when no one was at home -- had transformed himself into a werewolf, and that they were running away from him, because otherwise he would bite them.
Soon afterward the feared wolf appeared, but by now he had laid aside his wolf form. The hussar turned to the Feeg child and tried to learn more about the wolf game, but the child would say nothing. However, the stranger would not give up, and he finally succeeded in making the child talk.
The child told him that his grandmother had a strap, and that if he put it on he would instantly become a wolf. The hussar kindly asked the boy to make an appearance as a werewolf. At first the boy refused, but finally he agreed to do it, if the strange man would first climb into the loft, so that he would be safe from him. The hussar agreed to this, and to be sure pulled up the ladder with which he had climbed into the loft.
As soon as this had happened the boy ran into the main room, and soon came out again as a young wolf and chased away all those who standing in the entryway. After the wolf had run back into the main room and come back out as a boy, the hussar climbed down and had the Feeg child show him the magic belt, but he could not discover anything unusual about it.
Afterward the hussar went to a forester in the vicinity of Klein-Krams and told him what he had experienced in the Feeg house. Upon hearing this story, the forester, who had always been present at the great hunts near Klein-Krams, immediately thought about the werewolf who could not be wounded. He now thought that he would be able to kill the werewolf.
At the next hunt he said to his friends, as he rammed a bullet of inherited silver into the barrel of his rifle, "Today the werewolf will not escape from me!" His companions looked at him in amazement, but he said nothing further.
The hunt soon began, and it did not take long before the wolf showed himself once again. Many of the huntsmen shot at him, but he remained unwounded. Finally he approached the forester, who brought him to the ground. Everyone could see that the wolf was wounded, but soon he jumped up again and ran into the village. The huntsmen followed him, but the werewolf outran them and disappeared into the Feeg farmyard.
In their search, the huntsmen came into the house, where they found the wolf in the grandmother's bed. They recognized it from the tail that was sticking out from under the covers.
The werewolf was no one other than Feeg's grandmother. In her pain she had forgotten to take off the strap, and thus she herself revealed the secret.
The Werewolf of Vietlübbe
Karl Bartsch
A rich farmer by the name of Schlüntz lived a long time ago in Vietlübbe. One day he had gone to Lübz and was returning home in the evening. Upon entering a grove of fir trees, his horse refused to proceed. The farmer suddenly saw a wolf jump from the bushes and begin snapping at the horse. The horse ran off in a gallop, not stopping until it had run out of breath. The wolf caught up and jumped at it.
The farmer knew that a neighbor of his had the reputation of being a sorcerer, and just as the wolf was about to grab his horse by the neck, he called out: "Irnst Jacobs, is that you? Let me say something to you. Irnst Jacobs, listen to me, Irnst Jacobs!" And as he spoke the name the third time, his neighbor stood there before him, begging him to high heaven not to reveal him.
The farmer let him go. It had been the neighbor who had taken on the form of a werewolf
A Witch as Werewolf
Karl Bartsch
Once a witch was crossing a field in the form of a werewolf in order to bewitch a farmer's cows. Her husband came upon her, and when he saw the wolf, he was afraid that it might be his wife, so he called out, "Marie, Marie, what are you doing here?"
This frightened the woman, who turned herself back into her human form. But even as the man approached her, long red hair was still hanging from her neck and breast, and her eyes were still glowing like wolf's eyes
The Werewolf
Carl and Theodor Colshorn
Three workmen were mowing a meadow. Noon came, but no one had brought them their meal yet, so they agreed to mow one more round and then to lie down beneath a bush until the food arrived. And that is what they did. Two of them fell asleep immediately, because one never sleeps better than when one is tired, and there is no softer bed than one made from flowers and grass.
The third workman, however, tied a wolf strap around his waist and crept up to a herd of horses that was grazing there. The best foal was just right for him. He grabbed it and killed it. The remaining horses and the herder ran off. The other harvesters saw what had happened, but they wisely pretended to be asleep, for they were frightened and horrified.
After the werewolf had satisfied his hunger, he took off the strap, came back, and lay down to rest. Their food soon arrived: a large pot full of porridge and for each man six boiled eggs plus some bread and salt. As the two harvesters were helping themselves with their wooden spoons, the werewolf said, "Earlier I was terribly hungry, but for some reason I don't feel like eating now." The two others said nothing.
The one harvester complained the entire afternoon about cramps and a stomach ache, and often went to the brook to quench his burning thirst. The two others said nothing. That evening, as they were on their way home, he said once again that he had never felt so stuffed, to which one of the harvesters replied that it could happen to anyone.
When they arrived at the town gate, and he was still complaining, the other workman said, "A person who eats an entire foal should not be surprised to feel stuffed and have stomach cramps. To that he replied, "If you had said that earlier, you would not now be walking home on your own legs." He then threw his scythe away, tied the strap around his waist, turned into a wolf, and was never again seen in that place.
Yet another woman story
A woman had taken on the form of a werewolf and had attacked the herd of a shepherd, whom she hated, causing great damage. However, the shepherd wounded the wolf in the hip with an ax blow, and it crawled into the brush. The shepherd followed, thinking that he could finish it off, but there he found a woman using a piece of cloth torn from her dress to stop the blood gushing from a wound.
Werewolf Rock
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
In the meadow facing Seehausen near the Magdeburg village of Eggenstedt, not far from Sommerschenburg and Schöningen, there is a large rock, called "Wolf Rock" or "Werewolf Rock."
A long, long time ago a stranger sojourned near the Brandsleber Forest, which belonged to the Hackel and the Harz districts. No one knew who he was, nor where he came from. Known everywhere by the name "the Old Man," he would often show up without notice in the villages and offer his services, which he performed to the satisfaction of the country people. He was most often engaged to herd sheep.
It happened that a cute spotted lamb was born in a herd belonging to a shepherd named Melle from Neindorf. The stranger asked the shepherd repeatedly and fervently to give it to him, but the shepherd refused.
On shearing day Melle engaged the Old Man to help out. When he returned he found everything in order; all the work had been done, but neither the Old Man nor the spotted lamb were there. For a long time no one heard anything about the Old Man.
Finally one day he unexpectedly appeared before Melle, who was grazing his sheep in the Katten Valley. He called out sneeringly: "Good day, Melle, your spotted lamb sends his greetings!"
Angered, the shepherd grabbed his crook in order to avenge himself. Then suddenly the stranger changed shape and sprang at him as a werewolf. The shepherd took fright, but his dogs attacked the wolf with fury. The wolf fled. Pursued, it ran through forest and valley until it reached the vicinity of Eggenstedt. Here the dogs surrounded him. The shepherd called out: "Now you will die!" Then the Old Man, again in human form, begged to be spared, offering to do anything. But the shepherd furiously attacked him with his stick, when suddenly a sprouting thorn bush stood before him. But the vengeful shepherd did not spare him, hacking away at the branches instead. The stranger once again turned himself into a human and begged for his life. But hard-hearted Melle remained unmoved. Then the stranger attempted to make his escape as a werewolf, but a blow from Melle brought him dead to the earth. A rocky cliff marks the spot where he fell and was buried, and will be named after him for all eternity.
The Werewolves Advance
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
In Livland there is the following legend: When Christmas Day is over a boy who limps with one leg goes around calling together all those who have yielded to the Evil One -- and there is a large number of them -- bidding them to follow him. If any one of these resists or hesitates, then a large tall man is also there who hits at them with a whip braided from iron wire and little chains, driving them along with force. It is said that he whips at the people so cruelly that a long time later marks and scars can still be seen on their bodies, and they are in great pain.
As soon as they begin to follow him, it appears as though they lose their former shape and turn into wolves. Several thousand of them come together. Their leader, with the iron whip in his hand, leads the way. When they have been led into a field, they cruelly attack the cattle, ripping every animal to pieces that they can catch, thus doing great damage. However, they are not able to harm humans.
When they come to a body of water, their leader strikes at it with his switch or whip, and it divides, allowing them to cross over with dry feet. After twelve days have passed, they abandon their werewolf form and become humans once again.
The Werewolf of Jarnitz
A. Haas
In the vicinity of Jarnitz there lived a werewolf who had the ability to transform himself into all kinds of different shapes. This werewolf spent the nights stealing sheep from their enclosures, for in those days the sheep were kept at night in enclosures in the open fields. For several nights in a row the shepherd, armed with a loaded gun, had kept watch for the night robber. He had already hit the werewolf several times, as he had clearly seen, but the bullets seemed to have done him no harm, and he had escaped with his booty every time. Then the shepherd loaded his gun with bullets made of inherited silver, which never fail. Thus this time he would be successful.
Following his custom, the werewolf appeared again that night. But as he was approaching the enclosure, he immediately sensed that this time the shepherd might do him in. Therefore he quickly turned himself into a human, walked up to the shepherd, and said to him in a familiar tone, "You don't have to shoot me dead!" That so unsettled the shepherd that he lowered his gun, which he had been aiming at the intruder.
The werewolf never again dared to steel sheep from the Jarnitz enclosures.
Werewolf
Adalbert Kuhn
There were formerly werewolves. One could transform oneself into a werewolf by putting on a belt. A servant understood how to do this, and while the others were asleep at noontime he ate an entire foal. One of the men just pretended to be asleep and observed everything. From Glane near Iburg.
If you throw a piece of iron or steel over a hare that is a transformed human, or over a werewolf, then the human will immediately appear before you completely naked. They call that "making blank" the witch, the wolf, and so forth. The werewolf's pelt bursts crosswise at its forehead, and the naked human emerges from this opening
The Böxenwolf
A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz
In the entire region between the Deister River and the Weser River they tell about the böxenwolf who at nighttime preys upon travelers, making them carry him part of the way. Such a böxenwolf is actually a human who transforms himself and gains superhuman strength by putting on a strap.
Late one evening two peasants were returning home from a mill not far from Rinteln. Each was carrying a sack of flour. A böxenwolf confronted one of them. He immediately called out for help to his companion, who threw down his sack and attacked the böxenwolf so furiously with his stick, that the böxenwolf turned and fled.
The next day they went to another peasant. They had long suspected him, because was rich, but no one knew the source of his wealth. He was lying in bed, deathly ill. He had the surgeon come and bind his wounds. Thus they discovered who had been the böxenwolf.
The Werewolf Belt
A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz
Formerly there were people who could turn themselves into wolves by putting on a certain belt. A man in the vicinity of Steina had such a belt, and once he went away without locking it up, as was his custom. His young son came upon it and buckled the thing about himself. Instantly he became a werewolf. He had the appearance of a stack of pea straw and lumbered away heavily like a bear.
When the people in the room saw what had happened they ran quickly and brought back the father. He arrived barely in time and undid the strap before the boy could do any damage. Afterward the boy said that as soon as he put the belt on, he become so terribly hungry that he would have torn anything apart that might have gotten in his way.
The Werewolf Wife
A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz
In Caseburg on the island of Usedom a man and his wife were cutting hay in a meadow. After a while the woman told the man that she was uneasy and could not stay there any longer, and she went away. Earlier she had told him that if a wild animal were to come upon him he should throw his hat toward it and run away, and then no harm would come to him. The man had promised her that he would do this.
After the woman had been away for a while, a wolf swam across the Swina and approached the harvesters. The man threw his hat at it, which the beast immediately ripped into small pieces. Meanwhile one of the workers crept up to the wolf with a pitchfork and stabbed it to death from behind. Instantly it was transformed. They were all astounded to see that it was the farmer's wife that the worker had killed.
The Werewolf
Karl Lyncker
The Hessian farmer knows and fears the ravenous werewolf even today [1854]. This is a human whose shape has been transformed by putting on a belt. The werewolf attacks everything that gets in his way, and is especially dangerous for the herds. However, there is a way to destroy the belt's magic power: If one throws a knife -- a piece of shiny steel -- over the werewolf, he will instantly be transformed into his true human form and stand there completely naked.
In the vicinity of Wolfhagen there was a well-to-do woman of good parentage who almost every night would leave her house and roam the fields as a werewolf. Once a shepherd bravely approached the werewolf, as it crept into an alder thicket, its appetite sated. The shepherd, who had long pursued the werewolf, hoped to capture it. He threw his pocketknife over its head and neck, and immediately the woman was standing naked there before him. She implored him to have mercy with her and to not tell the story to anyone. The shepherd was highly surprised to see the well known woman before him, and he promised to keep the event a secret. Nonetheless, within a few days everyone knew about it.
The Werewolf: Another Legend
Karl Lyncker
A married couple in Hessen lived in poverty. To the husband's amazement, the wife nevertheless was able to serve meat for every meal. For a long time she kept it a secret where she got the meat, but finally she promised to reveal it to him, under the condition that he not call out her name as it was happening. Together they went to a field where a herd of sheep was grazing. The woman walked toward the sheep, and as she approached them, she threw a ring over herself and instantly turned into a werewolf. She fell upon the sheep, seized one of them, and fled. The man stood there as though petrified. However, when he saw the shepherd and the dogs running after the werewolf, thus endangering his wife, he forgot his promise and called out: "Margaret!" With that the wolf disappeared, and the woman was left standing naked in the field.
The Peasant and the Werewolf
Karl Lyncker
One night a werewolf came upon a peasant who was driving his wagon overland. In order to break its magic, the level-headed man unhesitatingly tied his fire steel to his whip and threw it over the wolf's head, keeping the whip in his hand. However, the wolf seized the steel, and the peasant had to flee in order to save his life.
The Werewolf of Hüsby
Karl Müllenhoff
In Hüsby near Schleswig there lived an old, stingy woman. She offered her farm hands but little to eat, although there was fresh meat every Sunday. The household wondered about this, because the old woman never bought any meat.
A young farm hand wanted to discover the woman's trick, so one day he hid himself in the hayloft instead of going to church with the rest of the household. Suddenly he noticed how the woman pulled out a wolf strap and put it around herself. She immediately became a wolf, ran out into the field, and soon came back with a sheep.
"If she can get meat that easily," thought the boy, "then she can be more generous with us. As the woman put meat into the pot, she sighed and said, as was her custom, "Oh, dear God, if only I were with you!"
The boy, pretending to be God, answered, "You'll not come to me for all eternity."
"Why not, dear God?"
"Because you put too little into the pot for your people."
"Then I'll do better."
"Yes, that's my advice to you."
From now on she put a much larger piece of meat into the pot. But the boy could not remain silent, and in the village he talked about what had happened. When on a Sunday morning the woman again turned herself into a wolf, the people were on guard. However, no bullet could harm her until they finally loaded a flintlock with a silver bullet. From that time to the end of her life the woman had an open wound that no doctor could heal. She never again showed herself as a werewolf.
The Wolf Stone
Alexander Schöppner
In a valley in the Fichtel Mountains a shepherd tended his flock in a green meadow. Several times it happened that after driving his herd home he discovered that one of the animals was missing. All searching was in vain. They were lost and they remained lost.
Watching more carefully, he saw a large wolf creep out of the forest thicket and seize a lamb. Angrily he chased after him, but the enemy was too fleet. Before he could do anything about it, the wolf had disappeared with the lamb. The next time he took an expert marksman with him. The wolf approached, but the marksman's bullets bounced off him. Then it occurred to the hunter to load his weapon with the dried pith from an elder bush. The next day he got off a shot, and the robber ran howling into the woods.
The next morning the shepherd met an old neighbor woman with whom he was not on the best of terms. Noticing that she was limping, he asked her: "Neighbor, what is wrong with your leg? It does not want to go along with you."
"What business is it of yours?" she answered, hurrying away.
The shepherd took note of this. This woman had long been suspected of practicing evil magic. People claimed to have seen her on the Heuberg in Swabia, the Köterberg, and also on the Hui near Halberstadt.
He reported her. She was arrested, interrogated, and flogged with rod of alder wood, with which others suspected of magic, but who had denied the charges, had been punished. She was then locked up in chains. But suddenly the woman disappeared from the prison, and no one knew where she had gone.
Some time later the poor, unsuspecting shepherd saw the hated wolf break out of the forest once again. However, this time it had not come to attack his herd, but the shepherd himself. There was a furious struggle. The shepherd gathered all of his strength together against the teeth and claws of the ferocious beast. It would have been his death if a hunter had not come by in the knick of time. In vain he fired a shot at the wolf, and then struck it down with his knife. The instant that blood began to flow from the wolf's side, the old woman from the village appeared in the field before them, writhing and twisting terribly. They finished killing her and buried her twenty feet beneath the earth.
At the place where they buried the woman they erected a large stone cross, which they named the "Wolf Stone" in memory of these events. It was never peaceful and orderly in the vicinity of the stone. The Malicious Messenger (der Tückebote) or the Burning Man (der brennende Mann), in the language of the people, still goes about his dangerous business here.
The Werewolves in Greifswald
J. D. H. Temme
Two hundred years ago for a time there was a frightfully large number of werewolves in the city of Greifswald. They were especially prevelant in Rokover Street. From there they attacked anyone who appeared outside of their houses after eight o'clock in the evening. At that time there were a lot of venturesome students in Greifswald. They banded together and one night set forth against the monsters. At first they were powerless against them, until finally the students brought together all of the silver buttons that they had inherited, and with these they killed the werewolves
The Werewolf near Zarnow
J. D. H. Temme
In the vicinity of Zarnow a few years ago a terrible wolf was on the loose and was causing great harm to humans and cattle. Once he even ripped a child to pieces. Then all the peasants of the region banded together and pursued him, finally surrounding him in some brush. They were about to kill him when suddenly a large strange man with a club appeared before them. Then they knew that they had a werewolf before them. This happened in the year 1831.
Werewolves in Pomerania
J. D. H. Temme
The belief in werewolves is common throughout all of Pomerania. One can transform oneself into a werewolf by girding oneself with a strap that has been cut from the back of a man who has been hanged. Werewolves are especially fond of attacking horses. In the village of Bork not far from Stargard for a long time a man made his entire living by walking around the horse pasture in the village every night and whispering mysterious words by which he protected the horses against werewolves and other wolves, and this in spite of the fact that wolves had long not been seen in that region.
The Werewolf in Hindenburg
J. D. H. Temme
One still believes in werewolves in the Altmark. Even today in the village of Hindenburg they tell about a man who could turn himself into a wolf, and there are people still alive who knew him during their childhood.
He had a strip of leather made from wolf skin which still had its hair. Whenever he tied it around his body, he turned into a wolf. Then he had such extraordinary strength that he could pull an entire load of hay by himself or grab a whole ox in his mouth and carry it away.
In this state he had the nature of a wolf. He strangled cattle and even ate humans. He once pursued one of his neighbors, who narrowly escaped from him. But however furious he became, he did spare his wife. She knew a magic charm that brought him under control, a charm that he himself had taught her. Then she would take off the leather strip, and he would become a reasonable human once again.
Since this thread alos covers other werebeats I have made this short list of werebeast comics links "more to come in future"
Werebeast online comics.
Black Tapestries: a comic about a world with humanoid “humanly weak” creatures called Kaitiff that are third rate citizens to the humans and this story revolves around Lorelie who becomes cursed to become an immortal Kaitiff fox by another immortal Kaitiff fox but instead ends up a werefox because of her “Art Stream” a demon life force stream.
http://blacktapestries.keenspace.com/
Kaerwyn: this story takes place 170 some years after the Black Tapestries comic involving the main character of that story ending up in another dimension with other characters “involves science fiction “Battle Star Gallactaca elements with magic and Dragons end up in the mix too”
http://comic.kaerwyn.com/
Crimson Fury: the step sister of the main character in Black Tapestries was cursed to the form of a small wolf by Issac “the guy that also cursed Lorelie” and this comic follows her adventure as it splits off of Black Tapestries “a spin off”
http://crimsonfury.keenspace.com/
Wandering Trials: this story tends to have very long periods between pages. It is about a man who was cursed to be a humanoid Pegasus, but can possibly change back. And his adventure is shared by a sorceress “hidden power type” and a werewolf.
http://wanderingtrials.keenspace.com/
Werechild: a ten year olf tomboy girl for an as yet revealed reason just one night became a werewolf. And as fate would have it her stepsister is a werecaracol cat.
http://werechild.keenspace.com
Werebeast online comics.
Black Tapestries: a comic about a world with humanoid “humanly weak” creatures called Kaitiff that are third rate citizens to the humans and this story revolves around Lorelie who becomes cursed to become an immortal Kaitiff fox by another immortal Kaitiff fox but instead ends up a werefox because of her “Art Stream” a demon life force stream.
http://blacktapestries.keenspace.com/
Kaerwyn: this story takes place 170 some years after the Black Tapestries comic involving the main character of that story ending up in another dimension with other characters “involves science fiction “Battle Star Gallactaca elements with magic and Dragons end up in the mix too”
http://comic.kaerwyn.com/
Crimson Fury: the step sister of the main character in Black Tapestries was cursed to the form of a small wolf by Issac “the guy that also cursed Lorelie” and this comic follows her adventure as it splits off of Black Tapestries “a spin off”
http://crimsonfury.keenspace.com/
Wandering Trials: this story tends to have very long periods between pages. It is about a man who was cursed to be a humanoid Pegasus, but can possibly change back. And his adventure is shared by a sorceress “hidden power type” and a werewolf.
http://wanderingtrials.keenspace.com/
Werechild: a ten year olf tomboy girl for an as yet revealed reason just one night became a werewolf. And as fate would have it her stepsister is a werecaracol cat.
http://werechild.keenspace.com
another web comic
Wereworld: a very adults only story about werebeasts, but mostly about this Cyborg who against his will was part of an alien army. And in order to save his life from the cybernetic implants his body is rejecting has fled to a magical world “wereworld”
which is filled with all sorts of werebeasts.
http://wereworld.keenspace.com
Wereworld: a very adults only story about werebeasts, but mostly about this Cyborg who against his will was part of an alien army. And in order to save his life from the cybernetic implants his body is rejecting has fled to a magical world “wereworld”
which is filled with all sorts of werebeasts.
http://wereworld.keenspace.com
a video game
they just change the name from theirenthropes to
Zoanthropes:
they all assume larger than human humonoid fighting beast forms regardless of the animals they become.
the last two games have all but two of the same characters.
heres the list of characters for each of the four games and what they are.
Bloody Roar 1:
Yugo: wereWolf
Fox: wereFox
Alice: wereRabbit
Long: WereTiger
Mitsuko: wereBoar
Gado: wereLion
Greg: wereGorilla
Uriko: super catwoman "a little girl here but changes in future games"
Bakuryu: wereMole
Bloody Roar 2: most of the permanent cast apears here
Bakuryu 2: WereMole "clone of first one"
Alice: wereRabbit
Shina: wereLeopard
Busuzima: wereChameleon
Uriko: Halfbeast "cat girl"
Yugo: wereWolf
Long: wereTiger
Shenlong: wereTiger "clone of Long"
Stun: wereHerculesBeetle
Jenny: wereBat "very vampire like"
Bloody Roar 3:
Alice: wereRabbit
Kenji: wereMole "same guy as Bakuryu 2"
Busuzima: wereChameleon
Gado: wereLion
Kohryu: IronMole "a robot weremole: clone of the first Bakuryu"
Long: wereTiger
Shenlong: wereTiger
Stun: wereHerculesBeetle
Uranus: chimera goddess "a mammal demon thing"
Uriko: Half beast "cat girl"
Xion: Unborn "ugly demon thing"
Yugo: wereWolf
Jenny: wereBat
Bloody Roar 4 "Primal"
same exact cast as Bloody roar three plus two new characters
Cronos: WerePenguin "also" a werePhoenix "hyper mode"
Ganesha: wereElephant
they just change the name from theirenthropes to
Zoanthropes:
they all assume larger than human humonoid fighting beast forms regardless of the animals they become.
the last two games have all but two of the same characters.
heres the list of characters for each of the four games and what they are.
Bloody Roar 1:
Yugo: wereWolf
Fox: wereFox
Alice: wereRabbit
Long: WereTiger
Mitsuko: wereBoar
Gado: wereLion
Greg: wereGorilla
Uriko: super catwoman "a little girl here but changes in future games"
Bakuryu: wereMole
Bloody Roar 2: most of the permanent cast apears here
Bakuryu 2: WereMole "clone of first one"
Alice: wereRabbit
Shina: wereLeopard
Busuzima: wereChameleon
Uriko: Halfbeast "cat girl"
Yugo: wereWolf
Long: wereTiger
Shenlong: wereTiger "clone of Long"
Stun: wereHerculesBeetle
Jenny: wereBat "very vampire like"
Bloody Roar 3:
Alice: wereRabbit
Kenji: wereMole "same guy as Bakuryu 2"
Busuzima: wereChameleon
Gado: wereLion
Kohryu: IronMole "a robot weremole: clone of the first Bakuryu"
Long: wereTiger
Shenlong: wereTiger
Stun: wereHerculesBeetle
Uranus: chimera goddess "a mammal demon thing"
Uriko: Half beast "cat girl"
Xion: Unborn "ugly demon thing"
Yugo: wereWolf
Jenny: wereBat
Bloody Roar 4 "Primal"
same exact cast as Bloody roar three plus two new characters
Cronos: WerePenguin "also" a werePhoenix "hyper mode"
Ganesha: wereElephant
most people hope to become something amazing. admitley most of us will not achieve this. but for the relgions who worship the wolf, owl, bear, tiger, rat, and fish would it not be the dream to become these during time of agression by other tribes/communitites.
every human dreams of bettering it self. living forever, being stronger,faster, can fly etc, smater etc. it is rare that we can excell at this.
I agree that i do dream of this. but the fact is that it is currently scientifically impossible with out radical gene therapy. BUT i speak from a very abstract point of view.
as sherlock holmes once(actually many) said "...when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
if you find a werewolf,werelepord,weretiger, etc then it is true!!!!
thoughts are apprecieated. K.
every human dreams of bettering it self. living forever, being stronger,faster, can fly etc, smater etc. it is rare that we can excell at this.
I agree that i do dream of this. but the fact is that it is currently scientifically impossible with out radical gene therapy. BUT i speak from a very abstract point of view.
as sherlock holmes once(actually many) said "...when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
if you find a werewolf,werelepord,weretiger, etc then it is true!!!!
thoughts are apprecieated. K.
hey im kinda new here and as you can tell by the name im into werewolves i was wondering if you can tell me some stuff about them anything at all like if you know a werewolf or if you know there history anything thanks! :blowup:
QUOTE (wereling_girl @ Apr 9 2005, 10:45 PM)
hey im kinda new here and as you can tell by the name im into werewolves i was wondering if you can tell me some stuff about them anything at all like if you know a werewolf or if you know there history anything thanks! :blowup:
Other than what is already common knowledge, I cannot be of any help here. Will you be writing soon?
welcome to the Darkness!
Werewolf
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Origins and variations of the word
The name is thought most likely to derive from the Proto-Indo-European roots *wi-ro-, "man" (c.f. Latin Vir, German: we(h)r, we(h)ren (Abwehr, Feuerwehr, Bundeswehr: group of men engaged in defense) Old Prussian: wirs: meaning men and Old English wer (or were) and *wlkwo-, "wolf." The compound thus yields man-wolf. An alternative etymology looks to Old English weri (to wear) plus "wolf," thus bearing wearer of the wolf skin.
Other sources believe it is derived from warg-wolf, where "warg" (or later "werg" and "wero") is cognate with norse "varg" meaning murderer or predator and as "vargulf" means the kind of wolf that slaughters many of a flock or herd but eats only a bit. This was a serious problem for herders as they had to somehow destroy the individual wolf that had run mad before it destroyed their entire flock or herd. "Warg" by itself was used in Old English for that specific kind of wolf (see J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit) and it was used as well for what would now be called a serial killer.
The Greek term Lycanthropy (a compound of which the first part derives from the same Proto-Indo-European root for "wolf," *wlkwo-, as the English word) is also commonly used for the "wolf - man" transformation. The term for the metamorphosis of people into animals in general, rather than wolves specifically, is therianthropy (therianthrope means animal-man). The term turnskin or turncoat (Neo-Latin: versipellis, Russian : oboroten, O. Norse: hamrammr) is sometimes also used.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Origins and variations of the word
The name is thought most likely to derive from the Proto-Indo-European roots *wi-ro-, "man" (c.f. Latin Vir, German: we(h)r, we(h)ren (Abwehr, Feuerwehr, Bundeswehr: group of men engaged in defense) Old Prussian: wirs: meaning men and Old English wer (or were) and *wlkwo-, "wolf." The compound thus yields man-wolf. An alternative etymology looks to Old English weri (to wear) plus "wolf," thus bearing wearer of the wolf skin.
Other sources believe it is derived from warg-wolf, where "warg" (or later "werg" and "wero") is cognate with norse "varg" meaning murderer or predator and as "vargulf" means the kind of wolf that slaughters many of a flock or herd but eats only a bit. This was a serious problem for herders as they had to somehow destroy the individual wolf that had run mad before it destroyed their entire flock or herd. "Warg" by itself was used in Old English for that specific kind of wolf (see J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit) and it was used as well for what would now be called a serial killer.
The Greek term Lycanthropy (a compound of which the first part derives from the same Proto-Indo-European root for "wolf," *wlkwo-, as the English word) is also commonly used for the "wolf - man" transformation. The term for the metamorphosis of people into animals in general, rather than wolves specifically, is therianthropy (therianthrope means animal-man). The term turnskin or turncoat (Neo-Latin: versipellis, Russian : oboroten, O. Norse: hamrammr) is sometimes also used.
History of the werewolf
Many European countries and cultures have stories of werewolves, including Greece (lycanthropos), Bulgaria (varkolak, vulkodlak), Serbian (vukodlak) Russia (volkodlak), Poland (wilkołak), Romania (vârcolac), England (werwolf), Germany (Werwolf), France (loup-garou), Galicia, Portugal and Brazil (lobisón, lupisomem), Lithuania (vilkolakis and vilkatlakis) and Estonia (libahunt). In northern Europe, there are also tales about people changing into bears. In Norse mythology, the legends of berserkers may be a source of the werewolf myths. Berserks were vicious fighters, dressed in wolf or bear hides; they were immune to pain and killed viciously in battle, like a wild animal. In Latvian mythology, the Vilkacis was a person changed into a wolf-like monster, though the Vilkacis was occasionally beneficial. A closely related set of myths are the skin-walkers. These myths probably have a common base in Proto-Indo-European society, where the class of young, unwed warriors were apparently associated with wolves.
Shape-shifters similar to werewolves are common in myths from all over the world, though most of them involve animal forms other than wolves. See lycanthropy for more information.
In Greek mythology the story of Lycaon supplies one of the earliest examples of a werewolf legend. According to one form of it Lycaon was transformed into a wolf as a result of eating human flesh; one of those who were present at periodical sacrifice on Mount Lycaon was said to suffer a similar fate. The Roman Pliny the Elder, quoting Euanthes, says (Historia Naturalis viii. 22) that a man of the Antaeus family was selected by lot and brought to a lake in Arcadia, where he hung his clothing on an ash tree and swam across. This resulted in his being transformed into a wolf, and he wandered in this shape nine years. Then, if he had attacked no human being, he was at liberty to swim back and resume his former shape. Probably the two stories are identical, though we hear nothing of participation in the Lycaean sacrifice by the descendant of Antaeus. Herodotus (iv. 105) tells us that the Neuri, a tribe he places to the north-east of Scythia (thus essentially "Hyperboreans", were annually transformed for a few days, and Virgil is familiar with transformation of human beings into wolves (see Eclogues viii. 98). In the novel Satyricon, written about year 60 by Gaius Petronius, one of the characters recites a story about a man who turns into a wolf.
There are women, so the Armenian belief runs, who in consequence of deadly sins are condemned to pass seven years in the form of a wolf. A spirit comes to such a woman and brings her a wolf's skin. He orders her to put it on, and no sooner has she done this than the most frightful wolfish cravings make their appearance and soon get the upper hand. Her better nature conquered, she makes a meal of her own children, one by one, then of her relatives' children according to the degree of relationship, and finally the children of strangers begin to fall a prey to her. She wanders forth only at night, and doors and locks spring open at her approach. When morning draws near she returns to human form and removes her wolf skin. In these cases the transformation was involuntary or virtually so. But side by side with this belief in involuntary metamorphosis, we find the belief that human beings can change themselves into animals at will and then resume their own form.
France in particular seems to have been infested with werewolves during the 16th century, and the consequent trials were very numerous. 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; in all the cases, with hardly an exception, there was that extraordinary readiness in the accused to confess and even to give circumstantial details of the metamorphosis, which is one of the most inexplicable concomitants of medieval witchcraft. Yet while this lycanthropy fever, both of suspectors and of suspected, was at its height, it was decided in the case of Jean Grenier at Bordeaux in 1603 that lycanthropy was nothing more than an insane delusion.
From this time the loup-garou gradually ceased to be regarded as a dangerous heretic, and fell back into his pre-Christian position of being simply a "man-wolf-fiend." In Province of Prussia, Livonia and Lithuania, according to the bishops Olaus Magnus and Majolus, the werwolves were in the 16th century 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." In England, however, where at the beginning of the 17th century the punishment of witchcraft was still zealously prosecuted by James I of England, the wolf had been so long extinct that that pious monarch was himself able (Demonologie, lib. iii.) to regard "warwoolfes" as victims of delusion induced by "a naturall superabundance of melancholic." Only small creatures such as the cat, the hare and the weasel remained for the malignant sorcerer to transform himself into, but he was firmly believed to avail himself of these agencies.
The werewolves of the Christian dispensation were not, however, all considered to be heretics or viciously disposed towards mankind. "According to Baronius, in the year 617, a number of wolves presented themselves at a monastery, and tore in pieces several friars who entertained heretical opinions. The wolves sent by God tore the sacrilegious thieves of the army of Francesco Maria, duke of Urbino, who had come to sack the treasure of the holy house of Loreto, A wolf guarded and defended from the wild beasts the head of St. Edmund the martyr, king of England. St. Odo, abbot of Cluny, assailed in a pilgrimage by foxes, was delivered and escorted by a wolf" (A. de Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, 1872, vol. ii. p. 145). Many of the werewolves were most innocent and God-fearing persons, who suffered through the witchcraft of others, or simply from an unhappy fate, and who as wolves behaved in a truly touching fashion, fawning upon and protecting their benefactors. Of this sort were the "Bisclaveret" in Marie de France's poem (c. 1200), the hero of "William and the Werewolf" (translated from French into English about 1350), and the numerous princes and princesses, knights and ladies, who appear temporarily in beast form in the German fairy tales, or Märchen. See "Snow White and Rose Red," where the tame bear is really a bewitched prince. The lubins or lupins of France were usually female and shy in contrast to the aggressive loup-garous.
Indeed, the power of transforming others into wild beasts was attributed not only to malignant sorcerers, but also to Christian saints. Omnes angeli, boni et mali, ex virtute naturali habent potestatem transmutandi corpora nostra ("All angels, good and bad have the power of transmutating our bodies") was the dictum of St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Patrick transformed Vereticus, a king in Wales, into a wolf; and St. Natalis cursed an illustrious Irish family with the result that each member of it was doomed to be a wolf for seven years. In other tales the divine agency is still more direct, while in Russia, again, men are supposed to become werewolves through incurring the wrath of the devil.
Many European countries and cultures have stories of werewolves, including Greece (lycanthropos), Bulgaria (varkolak, vulkodlak), Serbian (vukodlak) Russia (volkodlak), Poland (wilkołak), Romania (vârcolac), England (werwolf), Germany (Werwolf), France (loup-garou), Galicia, Portugal and Brazil (lobisón, lupisomem), Lithuania (vilkolakis and vilkatlakis) and Estonia (libahunt). In northern Europe, there are also tales about people changing into bears. In Norse mythology, the legends of berserkers may be a source of the werewolf myths. Berserks were vicious fighters, dressed in wolf or bear hides; they were immune to pain and killed viciously in battle, like a wild animal. In Latvian mythology, the Vilkacis was a person changed into a wolf-like monster, though the Vilkacis was occasionally beneficial. A closely related set of myths are the skin-walkers. These myths probably have a common base in Proto-Indo-European society, where the class of young, unwed warriors were apparently associated with wolves.
Shape-shifters similar to werewolves are common in myths from all over the world, though most of them involve animal forms other than wolves. See lycanthropy for more information.
In Greek mythology the story of Lycaon supplies one of the earliest examples of a werewolf legend. According to one form of it Lycaon was transformed into a wolf as a result of eating human flesh; one of those who were present at periodical sacrifice on Mount Lycaon was said to suffer a similar fate. The Roman Pliny the Elder, quoting Euanthes, says (Historia Naturalis viii. 22) that a man of the Antaeus family was selected by lot and brought to a lake in Arcadia, where he hung his clothing on an ash tree and swam across. This resulted in his being transformed into a wolf, and he wandered in this shape nine years. Then, if he had attacked no human being, he was at liberty to swim back and resume his former shape. Probably the two stories are identical, though we hear nothing of participation in the Lycaean sacrifice by the descendant of Antaeus. Herodotus (iv. 105) tells us that the Neuri, a tribe he places to the north-east of Scythia (thus essentially "Hyperboreans", were annually transformed for a few days, and Virgil is familiar with transformation of human beings into wolves (see Eclogues viii. 98). In the novel Satyricon, written about year 60 by Gaius Petronius, one of the characters recites a story about a man who turns into a wolf.
There are women, so the Armenian belief runs, who in consequence of deadly sins are condemned to pass seven years in the form of a wolf. A spirit comes to such a woman and brings her a wolf's skin. He orders her to put it on, and no sooner has she done this than the most frightful wolfish cravings make their appearance and soon get the upper hand. Her better nature conquered, she makes a meal of her own children, one by one, then of her relatives' children according to the degree of relationship, and finally the children of strangers begin to fall a prey to her. She wanders forth only at night, and doors and locks spring open at her approach. When morning draws near she returns to human form and removes her wolf skin. In these cases the transformation was involuntary or virtually so. But side by side with this belief in involuntary metamorphosis, we find the belief that human beings can change themselves into animals at will and then resume their own form.
France in particular seems to have been infested with werewolves during the 16th century, and the consequent trials were very numerous. 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; in all the cases, with hardly an exception, there was that extraordinary readiness in the accused to confess and even to give circumstantial details of the metamorphosis, which is one of the most inexplicable concomitants of medieval witchcraft. Yet while this lycanthropy fever, both of suspectors and of suspected, was at its height, it was decided in the case of Jean Grenier at Bordeaux in 1603 that lycanthropy was nothing more than an insane delusion.
From this time the loup-garou gradually ceased to be regarded as a dangerous heretic, and fell back into his pre-Christian position of being simply a "man-wolf-fiend." In Province of Prussia, Livonia and Lithuania, according to the bishops Olaus Magnus and Majolus, the werwolves were in the 16th century 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." In England, however, where at the beginning of the 17th century the punishment of witchcraft was still zealously prosecuted by James I of England, the wolf had been so long extinct that that pious monarch was himself able (Demonologie, lib. iii.) to regard "warwoolfes" as victims of delusion induced by "a naturall superabundance of melancholic." Only small creatures such as the cat, the hare and the weasel remained for the malignant sorcerer to transform himself into, but he was firmly believed to avail himself of these agencies.
The werewolves of the Christian dispensation were not, however, all considered to be heretics or viciously disposed towards mankind. "According to Baronius, in the year 617, a number of wolves presented themselves at a monastery, and tore in pieces several friars who entertained heretical opinions. The wolves sent by God tore the sacrilegious thieves of the army of Francesco Maria, duke of Urbino, who had come to sack the treasure of the holy house of Loreto, A wolf guarded and defended from the wild beasts the head of St. Edmund the martyr, king of England. St. Odo, abbot of Cluny, assailed in a pilgrimage by foxes, was delivered and escorted by a wolf" (A. de Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, 1872, vol. ii. p. 145). Many of the werewolves were most innocent and God-fearing persons, who suffered through the witchcraft of others, or simply from an unhappy fate, and who as wolves behaved in a truly touching fashion, fawning upon and protecting their benefactors. Of this sort were the "Bisclaveret" in Marie de France's poem (c. 1200), the hero of "William and the Werewolf" (translated from French into English about 1350), and the numerous princes and princesses, knights and ladies, who appear temporarily in beast form in the German fairy tales, or Märchen. See "Snow White and Rose Red," where the tame bear is really a bewitched prince. The lubins or lupins of France were usually female and shy in contrast to the aggressive loup-garous.
Indeed, the power of transforming others into wild beasts was attributed not only to malignant sorcerers, but also to Christian saints. Omnes angeli, boni et mali, ex virtute naturali habent potestatem transmutandi corpora nostra ("All angels, good and bad have the power of transmutating our bodies") was the dictum of St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Patrick transformed Vereticus, a king in Wales, into a wolf; and St. Natalis cursed an illustrious Irish family with the result that each member of it was doomed to be a wolf for seven years. In other tales the divine agency is still more direct, while in Russia, again, men are supposed to become werewolves through incurring the wrath of the devil.
Becoming a werewolf
Historical legends describe a wide variety of methods for becoming a werewolf. One of the simplest was the removal of clothing and putting on a belt made of wolf skin, probably a substitute for the assumption of an entire animal skin which also is frequently described. In other cases the body is rubbed with a magic salve. To drink water out of the footprint of the animal in question or to drink from certain enchanted streams were also considered effectual modes of accomplishing metamorphosis. Olaus Magnus says that the Livonian werwolves were initiated by draining a cup of specially prepared beer and repeating a set formula. Ralston in his Songs of the Russian People gives the form of incantation still familiar in Russia. It is also said that when a woman gives birth to six female children, the seventh will be a male and a werewolf. In Galician, Portuguese and Brazilian folklore, it is the seventh of the sons. This belief was so extended in Northern Argentina, that seventh sons were abandoned, ceded in adoption or killed. A law from 1920 decreed that the President of Argentina is the godfather of the every seventh son. Thus, the State gives him a gold medal in his baptism and a scholarship until his 21th year. This ended the abandonments, but it is still traditional that the President godfathers seventh sons.
Various methods also existed for removing the beast-shape. The simplest was the act of the enchanter (operating either on himself or on a victim), and another was the removal of the animal belt or skin. To kneel in one spot for a hundred years, to be reproached with being a werewolf, to be saluted with the sign of the cross, or addressed thrice by baptismal name, to be struck three blows on the forehead with a knife, or to have at least three drops of blood drawn have also been mentioned as possible cures.
In other cases the transformation was supposed to be accomplished by Satanic agency voluntarily submitted to, and that for the most loathsome ends, in particular for the gratification of a craving for human flesh. "The werwolves," writes Richard Verstegan (Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, 1628), "are certayne sorcerers, who having annoynted their bodies with an oyntment which they make by the instinct of the devil, and putting on a certayne inchaunted girdle, doe not onely unto the view of others seeme as wolves, but to their owne thinking have both the shape and nature of wolves, so long as they weare the said girdle. And they do dispose themselves as very wolves, in wourrying and killing, and most of humane creatures." Such were the views about lycanthropy current throughout the continent of Europe when Verstegan wrote. The ointments and salves in question may have contained hallucinogenic agents.
Historical legends describe a wide variety of methods for becoming a werewolf. One of the simplest was the removal of clothing and putting on a belt made of wolf skin, probably a substitute for the assumption of an entire animal skin which also is frequently described. In other cases the body is rubbed with a magic salve. To drink water out of the footprint of the animal in question or to drink from certain enchanted streams were also considered effectual modes of accomplishing metamorphosis. Olaus Magnus says that the Livonian werwolves were initiated by draining a cup of specially prepared beer and repeating a set formula. Ralston in his Songs of the Russian People gives the form of incantation still familiar in Russia. It is also said that when a woman gives birth to six female children, the seventh will be a male and a werewolf. In Galician, Portuguese and Brazilian folklore, it is the seventh of the sons. This belief was so extended in Northern Argentina, that seventh sons were abandoned, ceded in adoption or killed. A law from 1920 decreed that the President of Argentina is the godfather of the every seventh son. Thus, the State gives him a gold medal in his baptism and a scholarship until his 21th year. This ended the abandonments, but it is still traditional that the President godfathers seventh sons.
Various methods also existed for removing the beast-shape. The simplest was the act of the enchanter (operating either on himself or on a victim), and another was the removal of the animal belt or skin. To kneel in one spot for a hundred years, to be reproached with being a werewolf, to be saluted with the sign of the cross, or addressed thrice by baptismal name, to be struck three blows on the forehead with a knife, or to have at least three drops of blood drawn have also been mentioned as possible cures.
In other cases the transformation was supposed to be accomplished by Satanic agency voluntarily submitted to, and that for the most loathsome ends, in particular for the gratification of a craving for human flesh. "The werwolves," writes Richard Verstegan (Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, 1628), "are certayne sorcerers, who having annoynted their bodies with an oyntment which they make by the instinct of the devil, and putting on a certayne inchaunted girdle, doe not onely unto the view of others seeme as wolves, but to their owne thinking have both the shape and nature of wolves, so long as they weare the said girdle. And they do dispose themselves as very wolves, in wourrying and killing, and most of humane creatures." Such were the views about lycanthropy current throughout the continent of Europe when Verstegan wrote. The ointments and salves in question may have contained hallucinogenic agents.
Theories of origin
A recent theory has been proposed to explain werewolf episodes in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ergot, which causes a form of foodborne illness, is a fungus that grows in place of rye grains in wet growing seasons after very cold winters. Ergot poisoning usually affects whole towns or at least poor areas of towns and results in hallucinations, mass hysteria and paranoia, as well as convulsions and sometimes death. (LSD is derived from ergot.) Ergot poisoning has been proposed as both a cause of an individual believing that he or she is a werewolf and of a whole town believing that they had seen a werewolf.
Like most attempts to use modern science explain away religious beliefs and folklore, this theory is controversial. For example, it does not explain why outbreaks of witchcraft hysteria and legends of animal transformations exist around the world, including in places where there is no ergot. Hysteria and superstition have existed across the world for all of recorded history, and, generally speaking, fungus poisoning is not to blame.
Similarly, some modern researchers have tried to use conditions such as rabies, hypertrichosis (excessive hair growth over the entire body) or porphyria as an explanation for werewolf beliefs, although the symptoms of those ailments don't match up well with the folklore or the evidence of the episodes of hysteria either.
There is also a rare mental disorder called clinical lycanthropy, in which an affected person has a delusional belief that he or she is transforming into another animal, although not always a wolf or werewolf.
Others believe werewolf legends arose as a part of shamanism and totem animals in primitive and nature-based cultures. The term therianthropy has been adopted to describe a spiritual concept in which the individual believes he or she has the spirit or soul, in whole or in part, of a non-human animal.
A recent theory has been proposed to explain werewolf episodes in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ergot, which causes a form of foodborne illness, is a fungus that grows in place of rye grains in wet growing seasons after very cold winters. Ergot poisoning usually affects whole towns or at least poor areas of towns and results in hallucinations, mass hysteria and paranoia, as well as convulsions and sometimes death. (LSD is derived from ergot.) Ergot poisoning has been proposed as both a cause of an individual believing that he or she is a werewolf and of a whole town believing that they had seen a werewolf.
Like most attempts to use modern science explain away religious beliefs and folklore, this theory is controversial. For example, it does not explain why outbreaks of witchcraft hysteria and legends of animal transformations exist around the world, including in places where there is no ergot. Hysteria and superstition have existed across the world for all of recorded history, and, generally speaking, fungus poisoning is not to blame.
Similarly, some modern researchers have tried to use conditions such as rabies, hypertrichosis (excessive hair growth over the entire body) or porphyria as an explanation for werewolf beliefs, although the symptoms of those ailments don't match up well with the folklore or the evidence of the episodes of hysteria either.
There is also a rare mental disorder called clinical lycanthropy, in which an affected person has a delusional belief that he or she is transforming into another animal, although not always a wolf or werewolf.
Others believe werewolf legends arose as a part of shamanism and totem animals in primitive and nature-based cultures. The term therianthropy has been adopted to describe a spiritual concept in which the individual believes he or she has the spirit or soul, in whole or in part, of a non-human animal.
All of the following is from: Wikipedia.com
Spiritual and supernatural implications of lycanthropy
Lycanthropy is often confused with transmigration; but the essential feature of the were-animal is that it is the alternative form or the double of a living human being, while the soul-animal is the vehicle, temporary or permanent, of the spirit of a dead human being. The vampire is sometimes regarded as an example of lycanthropy; but it is in human form, sometimes only a head, sometimes a whole body, sometimes that of a living person, at others of a dead man who issues nightly from the grave to prey upon the living.
Even if the denotation of lycanthropy be limited to the animal-metamorphosis of living human beings, the beliefs classed together under this head are far from uniform, and the term is somewhat capriciously applied. The transformation may be voluntary or involuntary, temporary or permanent; the were-animal may be the man himself metamorphosed, it may be his double whose activity leaves the real man to all appearance unchanged, it may be his soul, which goes forth seeking whom it may devour and leaving its body in a state of trance; or it may be no more than the messenger of the human being, a real animal or a familiar spirit, whose intimate connection with its owner is shown by the fact that any injury to it is believed, by a phenomenon known as repercussion, to cause a corresponding injury to the human being.
The phenomenon of repercussion, the power of animal metamorphosis, or of sending out a familiar, real or spiritual, as a messenger, and the supernormal powers conferred by association with such a familiar, are also attributed to the magician, male and female, all the world over; and witch superstitions are closely parallel to, if not identical with, lycanthropic beliefs, the occasional involuntary character of lycanthropy being almost the sole distinguishing feature. In another direction the phenomenon of repercussion is asserted to manifest itself in connection with the bush-soul of the West African and the nagual of Central America; but though there is no line of demarcation to be drawn on logical grounds, the assumed power of the magician and the intimate association of the bush-soul or the nagual with a human being are not termed lycanthropy. Nevertheless it will be well to touch on both these beliefs here.
In North and Central America, and to some extent in West Africa, Australia and other parts of the world, every male acquires at puberty a tutelary spirit (see Demonology); in some tribes of Indians the youth kills the animal of which he dreams in his initiation fast; its claw, skin or feathers are put into a little bag and become his "medicine" and must be carefully retained, for a "medicine" once lost can never be replaced. In West Africa this relation is said to be entered into by means of the blood bond, and it is so close that the death of the animal causes the man to die and vice versa. Elsewhere the possession of a tutelary spirit in animal form is the privilege of the magician. In Alaska the candidate for magical powers has to leave the abodes of men; the chief of the gods sends an otter to meet him, which he kills by saying "O" four times; he then cuts out its tongue and thereby secures the powers which he seeks. The Malays believe that the office of pawang (priest) is only hereditary if the soul of the dead priest, in the form of a tiger, passes into the body of his son. While the familiar is often regarded as the alternative form of the magician, the nagual or bush-soul is commonly regarded as wholly distinct from the human being. Transitional beliefs, however, are found, especially in Africa, in which the power of transformation is attributed to the whole of the population of certain areas. The people of Banana are said to change themselves by magical means, composed of human embryos and other ingredients, but in their leopard form they may do no hurt to mankind under pain of retaining forever the beast shape. In other cases the change is supposed to be made for the purposes of evil magic and human victims are not prohibited. We can, therefore, draw no line of demarcation, and this makes it probable that lycanthropy is connected with nagualism and the belief in familiar spirits, rather than with metempsychosis, as Dr Tylor argues, or with totemism, as suggested by J. F. M'Lennan. A further link is supplied by the Zulu belief that the magician's familiar is really a transformed human being; when he finds a dead body on which he can work his spells without fear of discovery, the wizard breathes a sort of life into it, which enables it to move and speak, it being thought that some dead wizard has taken possession of it. He then burns a hole in the head and through the aperture extracts the tongue. Further spells have the effect of changing the revivified body into the form of some animal, hyena, owl or wild cat, the latter being most in favour. This creature then becomes the wizard's servant and obeys him in all things; its chief use is, however, to inflict sickness and death upon persons who are disliked by its master.
Spiritual and supernatural implications of lycanthropy
Lycanthropy is often confused with transmigration; but the essential feature of the were-animal is that it is the alternative form or the double of a living human being, while the soul-animal is the vehicle, temporary or permanent, of the spirit of a dead human being. The vampire is sometimes regarded as an example of lycanthropy; but it is in human form, sometimes only a head, sometimes a whole body, sometimes that of a living person, at others of a dead man who issues nightly from the grave to prey upon the living.
Even if the denotation of lycanthropy be limited to the animal-metamorphosis of living human beings, the beliefs classed together under this head are far from uniform, and the term is somewhat capriciously applied. The transformation may be voluntary or involuntary, temporary or permanent; the were-animal may be the man himself metamorphosed, it may be his double whose activity leaves the real man to all appearance unchanged, it may be his soul, which goes forth seeking whom it may devour and leaving its body in a state of trance; or it may be no more than the messenger of the human being, a real animal or a familiar spirit, whose intimate connection with its owner is shown by the fact that any injury to it is believed, by a phenomenon known as repercussion, to cause a corresponding injury to the human being.
The phenomenon of repercussion, the power of animal metamorphosis, or of sending out a familiar, real or spiritual, as a messenger, and the supernormal powers conferred by association with such a familiar, are also attributed to the magician, male and female, all the world over; and witch superstitions are closely parallel to, if not identical with, lycanthropic beliefs, the occasional involuntary character of lycanthropy being almost the sole distinguishing feature. In another direction the phenomenon of repercussion is asserted to manifest itself in connection with the bush-soul of the West African and the nagual of Central America; but though there is no line of demarcation to be drawn on logical grounds, the assumed power of the magician and the intimate association of the bush-soul or the nagual with a human being are not termed lycanthropy. Nevertheless it will be well to touch on both these beliefs here.
In North and Central America, and to some extent in West Africa, Australia and other parts of the world, every male acquires at puberty a tutelary spirit (see Demonology); in some tribes of Indians the youth kills the animal of which he dreams in his initiation fast; its claw, skin or feathers are put into a little bag and become his "medicine" and must be carefully retained, for a "medicine" once lost can never be replaced. In West Africa this relation is said to be entered into by means of the blood bond, and it is so close that the death of the animal causes the man to die and vice versa. Elsewhere the possession of a tutelary spirit in animal form is the privilege of the magician. In Alaska the candidate for magical powers has to leave the abodes of men; the chief of the gods sends an otter to meet him, which he kills by saying "O" four times; he then cuts out its tongue and thereby secures the powers which he seeks. The Malays believe that the office of pawang (priest) is only hereditary if the soul of the dead priest, in the form of a tiger, passes into the body of his son. While the familiar is often regarded as the alternative form of the magician, the nagual or bush-soul is commonly regarded as wholly distinct from the human being. Transitional beliefs, however, are found, especially in Africa, in which the power of transformation is attributed to the whole of the population of certain areas. The people of Banana are said to change themselves by magical means, composed of human embryos and other ingredients, but in their leopard form they may do no hurt to mankind under pain of retaining forever the beast shape. In other cases the change is supposed to be made for the purposes of evil magic and human victims are not prohibited. We can, therefore, draw no line of demarcation, and this makes it probable that lycanthropy is connected with nagualism and the belief in familiar spirits, rather than with metempsychosis, as Dr Tylor argues, or with totemism, as suggested by J. F. M'Lennan. A further link is supplied by the Zulu belief that the magician's familiar is really a transformed human being; when he finds a dead body on which he can work his spells without fear of discovery, the wizard breathes a sort of life into it, which enables it to move and speak, it being thought that some dead wizard has taken possession of it. He then burns a hole in the head and through the aperture extracts the tongue. Further spells have the effect of changing the revivified body into the form of some animal, hyena, owl or wild cat, the latter being most in favour. This creature then becomes the wizard's servant and obeys him in all things; its chief use is, however, to inflict sickness and death upon persons who are disliked by its master.
Local animal forms found in lycanthropy
Although the term lycanthropy properly speaking refers to metamorphosis into a wolf (see Werewolf), it is in popular practice used of transformation into any animal. The Greeks also spoke of kynanthropy (Kynior, dog) ; in India and the Asian islands the tiger is the commonest form, in North Europe the bear (see berserker), in Japan the fox, in Africa the leopard or hyena, sometimes also the lion, in South America the jaguar; but though there is a tendency for the most important carnivorous animal of the area to take the first place in stories and beliefs as to transformation, the less important beasts of prey and even harmless animals like the deer also figure among the were-animals. Another unusual case is the were-shark of Polynesia.
Although the term lycanthropy properly speaking refers to metamorphosis into a wolf (see Werewolf), it is in popular practice used of transformation into any animal. The Greeks also spoke of kynanthropy (Kynior, dog) ; in India and the Asian islands the tiger is the commonest form, in North Europe the bear (see berserker), in Japan the fox, in Africa the leopard or hyena, sometimes also the lion, in South America the jaguar; but though there is a tendency for the most important carnivorous animal of the area to take the first place in stories and beliefs as to transformation, the less important beasts of prey and even harmless animals like the deer also figure among the were-animals. Another unusual case is the were-shark of Polynesia.
Lycanthropy in Europe.
The wolf is the most common form of the were-animal, though in the north the bear disputes its pre-eminence. In ancient Greece the dog was also associated with the belief. Marcellus of Sida, who wrote under the Antonines, gives an account of a disease which befell people in February; but a pathological state seems to be meant.
The wolf is the most common form of the were-animal, though in the north the bear disputes its pre-eminence. In ancient Greece the dog was also associated with the belief. Marcellus of Sida, who wrote under the Antonines, gives an account of a disease which befell people in February; but a pathological state seems to be meant.
Lycanthropy in Africa.
In Abyssinia the power of transformation is attributed to the Boudas, and at the same time we have records of pathological lycanthropy (see below). Blacksmiths are credited with magical powers in many parts of the world, and it is significant that the Boudas are workers in iron and clay; in the Life of N. Pearce (i. 287) a European observer tells a story of a supposed transformation which took place in his presence and almost before his eyes; but it does not appear how far hallucination rather than coincidence must be invoked to explain the experience.
In Abyssinia the power of transformation is attributed to the Boudas, and at the same time we have records of pathological lycanthropy (see below). Blacksmiths are credited with magical powers in many parts of the world, and it is significant that the Boudas are workers in iron and clay; in the Life of N. Pearce (i. 287) a European observer tells a story of a supposed transformation which took place in his presence and almost before his eyes; but it does not appear how far hallucination rather than coincidence must be invoked to explain the experience.
The Were-tiger of the East Indies.
The Poso-Alfures of central Celebes believe that man has three souls, the inosa, the angga and the tanoana. The inosa is the vital principle; it can be detected in the veins and arteries; it is given to man by one of the great natural phenomena, more especially the wind. The angga is the intellectual part of man; its seat is unknown; after death it goes to the under-world, and, unlike the inosa, which is believed to be dissolved into its original elements, takes possession of an immaterial body. The tanoana is the divine in man and after death returns to its lord, Poewempala boeroe. It goes forth during sleep, and all that it sees it whispers into the sleeper's ear and then he dreams. According to another account, the tanoana is the substance by which man lives, thinks and acts; the tanoana of man, plants and animals is of the same nature. A man's tanoana can be strengthened by those of others; when the tanoana is long away or destroyed the man dies. The tanoana seems to be the soul of which lycanthropic feats are asserted.
Among the Toradjas of central Celebes it is believed that a man's "inside" can take the form of a cat, wild pig, ape, deer or other animal, and afterwards resume human form; it is termed lamboyo. The exact relation of the lamboyo to the tanoana does not seem to be settled; it will be seen below that the view seems to vary. According to some the power of transformation is a gift of tlie gods, but others hold that werewolfism is contagious and may be acquired by eating food left by a werewolf or even by leaning one's head against the same pillar. The Todjoers hold that any one who touches blood becomes a werewolf. In accordance with this view is the belief that werewolfism can be cured; the breast and stomach of the wereman must be rubbed and pinched, just as when any other witch object has to be extracted. The patient drinks medicine, and the contagion leaves the body in the form of snakes and worms. There are certain marks by which a wereman can be recognized. His eyes are unsteady and sometimes green with dark shadows underneath. He does not sleep soundly and fireflies come out of his mouth. His lips remain red in spite of betel chewing, and he has a long tongue. The Todjoers add that his hair stands on end.
Some of the forms of the lamboyo are distinguishable from ordinary animals by the fact that they run about among the houses; the were-buffalo has only one horn, and the were-pig transforms itself into an ants' nest, such as hangs from trees. Some say that the wereman does not really take the form of an animal himself, but, like the sorcerer, only sends out a messenger. The lamboyo attacks by preference solitary individuals, for he does not like to be observed. The victim feels sleepy and loses consciousness; the lamboyo then assumes human form (his body being, however, still at home) and cuts up his victim, scattering the fragments all about. He then takes the liver and eats it, puts the body together again, licks it with his long tongue and joins it together. When the victim comes to himself again he has no idea that anything unusual has happened to him. He goes home. but soon begins to feel unwell. In a few days he dies, but before his death he is able sometimes to name the wereman to whom he has fallen a victim.
From this account it might be inferred that the lamboyo was identical with the tanoana: the absence of the lamboyo seems to entail a condition of unconsciousness, and it can assume human form. In other cases, however, the lamboyo seems to be analogous to the familiar of the sorcerer. The Toradjas tell a story of how a man once' came to a house and asked the woman to give him a rendezvous; it was night and she was asleep; the question was put three times before the answer was given "in the tobacco plantation". The husband was awake, and next day followed his wife, who was irresistibly drawn thither. The wereman came to meet her in human form, although his body was engaged in building a new house, and caused the woman to faint by stamping three times on the ground. Thereupon the husband attacked the wereman with a piece of wood, and the latter to escape transformed himself into a leaf; this the husband put into a piece of bamboo and fastened the ends so that he could not escape, he then went back to the village and put the bamboo in the fire. The wereman said "Don't", and as soon as it was burnt he fell dead.
In another case a woman died, and, as her death was believed to be due to the malevolence of a werewolf, her husband watched by her body. For, like Indian witches, the werewolf, for some reason, wishes to revive his victim and comes in human form to carry off the coffin. As soon as the woman was brought to life the husband attacked the werewolf, who transformed himself into a piece of wood and was burnt. The woman remained alive, but her murderer died the same night.
According to a third form of the belief, the body of the wereman is itself transformed. One evening a man left the hut in which a party were preparing to pass the night; one of his companions heard a deer and fired into tlie darkness. Soon after the man came back and said he had been shot. Although no marks were to be seen he died a few days later.
In Central Java we meet with another kind of were-tiger. The power of transformation is regarded as due to inheritance, to the use of spells, to fasting and will-power, to the use of charms, etc. Save when it is hungry or has just cause for revenge it is not hostile to man; in fact, it is said to take its animal form only at night and to guard the plantations from wild pigs. exactly as the balams (magicians) of Yucatán were said to guard the maize fields in animal form. Variants of this belief assert that the wereman does not recognize his friends unless they call him by name, or that he goes out as a mendicant and transforms himself to take vengeance on those who refuse him alms. Somewhat similar is the belief of the Khonds – for them the tiger is friendly, and he reserves his wrath for their enemies, and a man is said to take the form of a tiger in order to wreak a just vengeance.
The Poso-Alfures of central Celebes believe that man has three souls, the inosa, the angga and the tanoana. The inosa is the vital principle; it can be detected in the veins and arteries; it is given to man by one of the great natural phenomena, more especially the wind. The angga is the intellectual part of man; its seat is unknown; after death it goes to the under-world, and, unlike the inosa, which is believed to be dissolved into its original elements, takes possession of an immaterial body. The tanoana is the divine in man and after death returns to its lord, Poewempala boeroe. It goes forth during sleep, and all that it sees it whispers into the sleeper's ear and then he dreams. According to another account, the tanoana is the substance by which man lives, thinks and acts; the tanoana of man, plants and animals is of the same nature. A man's tanoana can be strengthened by those of others; when the tanoana is long away or destroyed the man dies. The tanoana seems to be the soul of which lycanthropic feats are asserted.
Among the Toradjas of central Celebes it is believed that a man's "inside" can take the form of a cat, wild pig, ape, deer or other animal, and afterwards resume human form; it is termed lamboyo. The exact relation of the lamboyo to the tanoana does not seem to be settled; it will be seen below that the view seems to vary. According to some the power of transformation is a gift of tlie gods, but others hold that werewolfism is contagious and may be acquired by eating food left by a werewolf or even by leaning one's head against the same pillar. The Todjoers hold that any one who touches blood becomes a werewolf. In accordance with this view is the belief that werewolfism can be cured; the breast and stomach of the wereman must be rubbed and pinched, just as when any other witch object has to be extracted. The patient drinks medicine, and the contagion leaves the body in the form of snakes and worms. There are certain marks by which a wereman can be recognized. His eyes are unsteady and sometimes green with dark shadows underneath. He does not sleep soundly and fireflies come out of his mouth. His lips remain red in spite of betel chewing, and he has a long tongue. The Todjoers add that his hair stands on end.
Some of the forms of the lamboyo are distinguishable from ordinary animals by the fact that they run about among the houses; the were-buffalo has only one horn, and the were-pig transforms itself into an ants' nest, such as hangs from trees. Some say that the wereman does not really take the form of an animal himself, but, like the sorcerer, only sends out a messenger. The lamboyo attacks by preference solitary individuals, for he does not like to be observed. The victim feels sleepy and loses consciousness; the lamboyo then assumes human form (his body being, however, still at home) and cuts up his victim, scattering the fragments all about. He then takes the liver and eats it, puts the body together again, licks it with his long tongue and joins it together. When the victim comes to himself again he has no idea that anything unusual has happened to him. He goes home. but soon begins to feel unwell. In a few days he dies, but before his death he is able sometimes to name the wereman to whom he has fallen a victim.
From this account it might be inferred that the lamboyo was identical with the tanoana: the absence of the lamboyo seems to entail a condition of unconsciousness, and it can assume human form. In other cases, however, the lamboyo seems to be analogous to the familiar of the sorcerer. The Toradjas tell a story of how a man once' came to a house and asked the woman to give him a rendezvous; it was night and she was asleep; the question was put three times before the answer was given "in the tobacco plantation". The husband was awake, and next day followed his wife, who was irresistibly drawn thither. The wereman came to meet her in human form, although his body was engaged in building a new house, and caused the woman to faint by stamping three times on the ground. Thereupon the husband attacked the wereman with a piece of wood, and the latter to escape transformed himself into a leaf; this the husband put into a piece of bamboo and fastened the ends so that he could not escape, he then went back to the village and put the bamboo in the fire. The wereman said "Don't", and as soon as it was burnt he fell dead.
In another case a woman died, and, as her death was believed to be due to the malevolence of a werewolf, her husband watched by her body. For, like Indian witches, the werewolf, for some reason, wishes to revive his victim and comes in human form to carry off the coffin. As soon as the woman was brought to life the husband attacked the werewolf, who transformed himself into a piece of wood and was burnt. The woman remained alive, but her murderer died the same night.
According to a third form of the belief, the body of the wereman is itself transformed. One evening a man left the hut in which a party were preparing to pass the night; one of his companions heard a deer and fired into tlie darkness. Soon after the man came back and said he had been shot. Although no marks were to be seen he died a few days later.
In Central Java we meet with another kind of were-tiger. The power of transformation is regarded as due to inheritance, to the use of spells, to fasting and will-power, to the use of charms, etc. Save when it is hungry or has just cause for revenge it is not hostile to man; in fact, it is said to take its animal form only at night and to guard the plantations from wild pigs. exactly as the balams (magicians) of Yucatán were said to guard the maize fields in animal form. Variants of this belief assert that the wereman does not recognize his friends unless they call him by name, or that he goes out as a mendicant and transforms himself to take vengeance on those who refuse him alms. Somewhat similar is the belief of the Khonds – for them the tiger is friendly, and he reserves his wrath for their enemies, and a man is said to take the form of a tiger in order to wreak a just vengeance.
Lycanthropy in South America
According to K. F. P. v. Martius the kanaima is a human being who employs poison to carry out his function of blood avenger; other authorities represent the kanaima as a jaguar, which is either an avenger of blood or the familiar of a cannibalistic sorcerer. The Europeans of Brazil hold that the seventh child of the same sex in unbroken succession becomes a wer-man or woman, and takes the form of a horse, goat, jaguar or pig.
According to K. F. P. v. Martius the kanaima is a human being who employs poison to carry out his function of blood avenger; other authorities represent the kanaima as a jaguar, which is either an avenger of blood or the familiar of a cannibalistic sorcerer. The Europeans of Brazil hold that the seventh child of the same sex in unbroken succession becomes a wer-man or woman, and takes the form of a horse, goat, jaguar or pig.
I was already aware that Lycanthropy was more than just werewolfism, through my own research. But, I didn't realize that it included so many forms.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.