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A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope or lycan, is a mythological and folkloric person with the ability to morph into a wolf-like creature, either purposely, by being bitten by another werewolf, or after being placed under a curse. This transformation is often associated with the appearance of the full moon.
The form of a werewolf is a larger and more powerful wolf that at times can stand and run on its hind legs. Current-day werewolf fiction almost exclusively involves lycanthropy being either a hereditary condition or being transmitted like an infectious disease by the bite of another werewolf. In some fiction, the power of the werewolf extends to human form, such as invulnerability, super-human speed and strength and falling on their feet from high falls. Also aggressiveness and animalistic urges may be harder to control. Usually in these cases the abilities are diminished in human form. In other fictions it can even be cured by medicine men or even antidotes. Many authors have speculated that werewolf legends may have been used to explain serial killings in less rational ages. This theory is given credence by the tendency of some modern serial killers to indulge in practices commonly associated with werewolves, such as cannibalism, mutilation, and cyclic attacks such as the cycle of the moon. The idea is well explored in Sabine Baring-Gould's work The Book of Werewolves.
Werewolves are often depicted as immune to damage caused by ordinary weapons, being vulnerable only to silver objects, such as a silver-tipped cane, bullet or blade; this attribute was first adopted cinematically in The Wolf Man. This negative reaction to silver is sometimes so strong that the mere touch of the metal on a werewolf's skin will cause burns. Full Moons are traditionally associated with werewolf transformation as well as temporal insomnia and insanity (hence the terms lunacy and lunatic). The lunar effect is a pseudoscientific theory which overlaps into sociology, psychology and physiology suggesting that there is correlation between specific stages of the Earth's lunar cycle and deviant behavior in human beings. The claims of a correlation of lunar phases to human behavior do not hold up under scientific scrutiny. Over the past 30 years, even more evidence has emerged to stress that this is pseudoscience.
The transmogrification process is often portrayed as painful in film and literature within the horror genre. The resulting wolf is typically cunning but merciless and prone to killing and eating people without compunction, regardless of the moral character of its human counterpart. Wolfsbane, or Aconite, has been ascribed with supernatural powers in the mythology relating to werewolves and other lycanthropes, either to repel them, relating to aconite's use in poisoning wolves and other animals, or in some way induce their lycanthropic condition, as aconite was often an important ingredient in witches' magic ointments. In folklore, aconite was also said to make a person into a werewolf if it is worn, smelled, or eaten. They are also said to kill werewolves if they wear, smell, or eat aconite. In the popular Harry Potter series Aconite is a toxic plant that is used as an ingredient in the Wolfsbane Potion, a potion werewolves use to maintain their rationality and conscience when transformed into a wolf. During the events of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the werewolf Remus Lupin forgets to take his dose of Wolfsbane Potion that Severus Snape prepared for him and ends up turning into a werewolf during the full moon.
The first recorded Werewolf sighting took place around the countryside of German town Colongne and Bedburg in 1591. An age-old pamphlet describes those shivering moments vividly. Few people cornered a large wolf and set their dogs upon it. They started to pierce it with sharp sticks and spears. Surprisingly the ferocious wolf did not run away or tried to protect itself, rather it stood up and turned out to be a middle-aged man he was Peter Stubbe from the same village. Stubbe was put on a torture wheel where he confessed sixteen murders including two pregnant women and thirteen children. The history behind his downfall was rather bizarre. He had started to practice sorcery when he was only 12 and was so obsessed with it that even tried to make a pact with the Devil. Wearing a magic girdle he started to attack his enemies, real or imaginary. After several months, he would take the guise of a wolf and continued with his evil acts with more brutality. In the wolf form he used to tear up victims’ throats and suck warm blood from veins. Gradually his thirst for blood grew and he roamed around fields in search of prey.
No punishment could match the magnitude of Stubbe’s crime. His flesh was pulled off with red-hot pincer, his arms and legs were broken and he was finally decapitated. His carcass was burned to ashes. The Magistrate of Bedburg built a grim monument remembering the ghastly incident. Workmen put the torture wheel atop a tall pole with Stubbe’s head above it structured with the likeliness of a wolf. Sixteen pieces of yard long wood cuts were hung from the rim of the wheel commemorating poor souls of the victims. The words of Stubbe’s trial and execution spread across the lands in no time. His brutality, atrocity and savagery were beyond human comprehension and was readily related with the behavior of a wolf. People started to believe that such individuals with the shadow of wolves were living among them. They named them Werewolves.
The Beast of Gévaudan is a name given to man-eating wolf-like animals alleged to have terrorized the former province of Gévaudan in the Margeride Mountains in south-central France from 1764 to 1767 over an area stretching 90 by 80 kilometres. The beasts were consistently described by eyewitnesses as having formidable teeth and immense tails. Their fur had a reddish tinge, and was said to have emitted an unbearable odor. They killed their victims by tearing at their throats with their teeth. The number of victims differs according to source. De Beaufort (1987) estimated 210 attacks, resulting in 113 deaths and 49 injuries; 98 of the victims killed were partly eaten. Author Derek Brockis claims 25 women, 68 children, and 6 men were killed, with over 30 others injured. An enormous amount of manpower and resources was used in the hunting of the animals, including the army, conscripted civilians, several nobles, and a number of royal huntsmen. All animals operated outside of ordinary wolf packs, though eyewitness accounts indicate that they sometimes were accompanied by a smaller female, which did not take part in the attacks. The story is a popular subject for cryptozoologists.
Skin-Walkers, or the Navajo yee naaldlooshii meaning "with it, he goes on all fours", is one of several varieties of Navajo witch. The term refers to an ’ánt’įįhnii who is using his powers to travel in animal form. The ’ánt’įįhnii are human beings who have gained supernatural power by breaking a cultural taboo. Specifically, a person is said to gain the power to become a yee naaldlooshii upon initiation into the Witchery Way. Both men and women can become ’ánt’įįhnii and therefore possibly Skin-Walkers, but men are far more numerous. Skin-Walkers use an animal form for expedient travel, especially in the Navajo equivalent of the 'Black Mass', a perverted song used to curse instead of to heal. They may also transform to escape their pursuers. Some Navajo also believe that Skin-Walkers have the ability to steal the "skin" of a person. The Navajo believe that if you lock eyes with a Skin-Walker they can absorb themselves into your body. It is also said that Skin-Walkers avoid the light and that their eyes glow like wolf when in human form but in animal form they do not.
Often, Navajos will tell of their encounter with a Skin-Walker, though there is a lot of hesitancy to talk of such frightening things at night. Sometimes the Skin-Walker will try to break into the house and attack the people inside. Sometimes, a strange, animal-like figure is seen standing outside the window, peering in. It will taunt the occupants by banging on walls, tapping or scratching on the windows, and climbing on the roof. Legend has it that Skin-Walkers have the power to read your thoughts and possess the ability to make mimic other’s voices. A Skin-Walker may use the voice of a relative or the cry of an infant to lure victims out of the safety of their homes. Skin-Walkers are described as being fast, agile, and impossible to catch. Though some attempts have been made to shoot or kill one, they are not usually successful. Sometimes a Skin-Walker will be tracked down, only to lead to the house of someone known to the tracker. As in European werewolf lore, sometimes a wounded Skin-Walker will escape, only to have someone turn up later with a similar wound revealing them as the beast.
The Úlfhednar meaning "men clad in wolf skins", mentioned in the Vatnsdœla, Haraldskvæði, and Völsunga sagas, were a pack of Norse Viking fighters similar to the berserkers, though they dressed in wolf hides rather than those of bears and were reputed to channel the spirits of these animals to enhance effectiveness in battle. They fought in a nearly uncontrollable, trance-like fury. Most historians believe that the Úlfhednar worked themselves into a rage before battle, but some think that they might have consumed drugged foods. These warriors were resistant to pain and killed viciously in battle, much like wild animals. Úlfhednar were said to wear the pelt of a wolf using the head as a mask when they entered battle.
This look, combined with the wild dog like rage, confused victims into thinking they were not man but beast. Stories of the Úlfhednar resemble many werewolf legends and may be where it all began.
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