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If the legends are to be believed, lycanthropy has been with us since King Lycaon was transformed into a wolf, in retribution for serving human flesh to Zeus during a dinner party in ancient Greece. Ever since, the werewolf has followed the human race through whispered tales and popular myth, stalking towns and villages from the Caucasus to Colorado.
The popularity and seeming irrationality of these stories has been a traditional target for debunkers of the supernatural. Rationalisations of the werewolf myth have stretched from theories of rabies infection to ergot poisoning. More difficult to dispel has been the delusional convictions of people with clinical lycanthropy. Often submerged in intense psychosis, affected individuals report the feeling of transformation into various forms of animal, some experienced as so unusual, the animal has yet to be identified.
Susanna Martin, Werecat of Salem Susannah Martin (née North, baptized September 30, 1621 – July 19, 1692) was one of fourteen women executed for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of colonial Massachusetts. The following is from the 1692 testimony of Robert Downer in Cotton Mather’s The Wonders of the Invisible World: That this Prisoner … Read more
The Old English epic poem Beowulf describes the monster Grendel and his mother in terms that leave little doubt as to their lupine nature – among the words used to describe them are: werga, werhtho, heorowearh, brimwylf, grundwyrgenne, all of which contain the elements wearg/wearh or wylf. This is a complex word: it is often … Read more
During the burning times, in the 16th and 17th centuries, all across Europe, people were being accused of witchcraft. One of the most common charge was lycanthropy: transforming into wolves. It was said that humans who enter into a pact with the Devil himself do so out of desperation and often, in an effort to … Read more
The curse of lycanthropy was also considered by some scholars as being a divine punishment. Werewolf literature shows many examples of God or saints allegedly cursing those who invoked their wrath with werewolfism. St. Patrick transformed Vereticus, a king in Wales, into a wolf; and St. Natalis cursed an illustrious Irish family with the result … Read more
Suggestion no doubt plays a large part in producing a belief in the power to change form at will, and the occult aspect of transformation is perhaps more interesting than any other view of the subject. Incantations, salves, herbs, drugs, perfumes, and other accessories of ritual are merely employed to strengthen concentrative force and to … Read more
Becoming a werewolf simply by being bitten by another werewolf as a form of contagion is common in modern fiction, but rare in legend, in which werewolf attacks seldom left the victim alive to transform. Modern authors were probably inspired by the kiss of the vampire to add this form of transmission of lycanthropy. The … Read more
According to German and Polish folklore, any person could transform himself into a werewolf by using a so-called wolf strap or magic belt. Whoever fastened such a strap around himself would turn into a wolf. A wolf strap was a gift from the devil. A person who possessed such a strap could not get rid … Read more
In the Balkanic Peninsula grows a flower that, people say, if eaten, transforms the eater into a werewolf. Lycanthropous flowers possess properties peculiar to themselves which are only discernible to those who are well acquainted with them. Their scent is described as faint and subtly suggestive of death, whilst their sap is rather offensively white … Read more