A Decade’s Worth of Werewolf Movies: 2000s

From year 2000 until now there have been a large handful of werewolf movies released. Most of us have only heard of movies like Underworld or Van Helsing but there are a significant number of lesser known films that deserve a mention and some werewolf fan lovin’… or mocking (gotta love campy flicks that amuse and disgust all at once).

Never Cry Werewolf: This film was shown on the Sci-Fi channel on May 11, 2008. It is a remake of the 1980s vampire film Fright Night, replacing the vampires with werewolves. About 16-year-old Loren being the only one suspicious of her new (and sexy) neighbor, Jared. She believes Jared is a werewolf and responsible for the town’s recent deaths.

Werewolf: The Devil’s Hound: Released in 2007, this is one of those low budget films you either love for it’s badness or totally hate for its badness. About Kevin, a man that has it all, who is seduced by a mysterious women. This women turns him against everything he knows and gets him involved with a shady werewolf hunter in return.

Big Bad Wolf: A horror film released in 2006, about a group of teens that go to a cabin in the woods where they are promptly slaughtered by a werewolf/beast.

Blood and Chocolate: An excellent and beautiful movie released in 2007, based on the book of the same name. Vivian is a werewolf that is promised to the leader of her pack but she falls in love with a human. Now she must betray her pack for love.

Bloodz vs. Wolvez: About a supernatural vampire vs. werewolf gang turf war… seriously, I didn’t just make that up. Gangstas! *cough* Onwards…

Underworld: Now we all know about this movie and how much it rocks. About the war between vampires and lycans. It has action, gore, Kate Beckinsale, sex, love, awesome plot, Kate Beckinsale annnnd Kate Beckinsale. This first movie follows vampire Selene, a death dealer, assigned to hunt down and eradicate the last of the lycan. When she comes across Michael Corvin, a human, who holds the key to end the war she must decide where her alligances will lie.

Underworld: Evolution: Beginning where Underworld finished, Selene and Michael are on the run from the vampires. Being the cause of Viktor’s death, Selene can only hope to plea to the last remaining elder, Marcus. However, Marcus has already awakened and has become a more powerful creature than before. Now his only remaining goal is to awaken his Lycan brother, William from his eternal imprisonment. With time running out, Selene and Michael must piece together the final clues to unlock the secrets of their bloodlines and stop Marcus before it’s too late

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans: A kickass prequel to the other two movies, this time focusing on the lycan’s history. In this movie the story traces the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the vampires and their onetime slaves, the Lycans. In the Dark Ages, a young Lycan named Lucian emerges as a powerful leader who rallies the werewolves to rise up against Viktor, the cruel vampire king who has enslaved them. Lucian is joined by his secret lover, Sonja, in his battle against the Vampire army and his struggle for Lycan freedom.

Werewolf in a Women’s Prison: I think the name of the film is all the explanation one needs, pretty self explanatory.

The Beast of Bray Road: Another low budget horror flick, this one based loosely on real werewolf sightings (and killings) in Walworth County, Wisconsin.

Wild Country: A Scottish film, also low budget. About some teens that find a baby in the woods and then are hunted down and picked off one by one by a beast.

Cursed: A Wes Craven horror flick about Ellie and her brother Jimmy who are involved in a car accident. When they try to help the woman in the other car they are attacked by what they later learn is a werewolf.

Ginger Snaps: This is one of the most popular werewolf movies out there. It is about the Fitzgerald sisters Ginger and Brigitte, who are fascinated by death and the macabre. They are outsiders and only have each other as friends. When they set out to take revenge on a girl who sleighted them, Ginger is attacked by a wild animal: The Beast of Bailey Downs. Later that night, Ginger’s wounds miraculously heal and she begins to change in only a matter of days.

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed: This movie picks up were the first leaves off. Brigitte’s on the run from Bailey Downs, and she tries to prevent what happened to her sister, Ginger, from happening to her by shooting up with monkshood. Eventually she collapses and the police that find her assume the monkshood is an illegal drug, and she is sent to rehab. She is deprived of the only thing that will stop her from turning into a beast and killing everyone and everything in her way. She meets a girl named Ghost that helps her deal with her new problem and to escape the werewolf curse.

Ginger Snaps Back : The Beginning: Prequel to ‘Ginger Snaps’ has the orphaned sisters Ginger and Brigette before becoming werewolves. In 1815 Canada where they stumble into a war between Native American “Wendigos” besieging a remote trading post populated by brutal settlers.

Romasanta: An award winning Spanish movie based on the true-life story of Manuel Blanco Romasanta, the travelling vendor, who confessed to the murders of thirteen people, using their body fat to make soap. Romasanta was tried in Allaríz in 1852 and avoided capital punishment by proclaiming he was a werewolf.

Van Helsing: Kate Beckinsale! I mean, uh, a film about the notorious vampire hunter, Van Helsing who is sent to Transylvania to take care of a vampire and werewolf situation.

DarkWolf: Yet another low budget werewolf flick, this time an erotic and bloody tale about a hybrid werewolf in LA.

Tomb of the Werewolf: A 2004 horror film about a man searching for treasure while being followed by a reality show film crew, who encounters a werewolf and a vampire instead.

Wolves of Wall Street: Jeff Allen just got a new job in one of Manhattan’s wealthiest brokerage firms, Wolfe Brothers and… I’m sure you can figure out the rest.

Dog Soldiers: An award winning film about a British Squad is sent on a training mission in the Highlands of Scotland against Special Operations squad. Ignoring the childish “campfire” stories heard about the area, they continue with their mission and come across the bloody remains of the Special Ops Squad, and a fierce howling is pitching the night sky… ba ba buuuum… werewolves!

Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl): A 2001 Canadian/American horror thriller about a girl who travels with a freak show because of her rare genetic disease, hypertrichosis.

Brotherhood of the Wolf: A very popular French film based on a true story. In 1765 something was stalking the mountains of central France. A ‘beast’ that pounced on humans and animals with terrible ferocity. Indeed they beast became so notorious that the King of France dispatched envoys to find out what was happening and to kill the creature.

And there you have it, the werewolf movies from 2000 and on. Some of which were beyond kickass, while others probably shouldn’t of even been mentioned.
If any films were missed please comment and let us know.

– Moonlight

moonlight

One of the writers for werewolves.com, as well as vampires.com.

The Land of Cheese Has Its Own Werewolf

What is the Beast of Bray Road? Why we believe it’s more than just a myth. A detailing of the shocking real werewolf sightings in Wisconsin.

It’s easy enough to dismiss the werewolf as pure myth, a psychological projection of the inner, bestial nature of human beings, conjured from the depths of our communal subconscious, from a time when we lived in direct contact with the wilderness. This dark vein of the human soul—a race memory, perhaps—runs deep enough to account for the prevalence of the lycanthropic legend. No other explanation is necessary. Yet other explanations do present themselves. What if people, throughout history, have literally seen a type creature matching in every respect the description of a werewolf? It turns out, in one location over the past couple of centuries, people have.

Yes, Wisconsin, of all places, has a werewolf. Called “The Beast of Bray Road,” after the principal area it prefers, this bipedal, hairy creature with a protruding snout has terrified more than a few eyewitnesses. It seems to have some connection to Native American spirituality, frequently encountered near reputed burial grounds. Tribal natives repeat stories, told to them by their ancestors, of shapeshifting fiends endemic of the Wisconsin wilds. Does such a creature exist in reality? The numerous men and women unlucky enough to have run into the Beast are firm believers. Do you believe?

Wayne

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of Evil 

The Terror of the Skinwalker, the Amerind Werewolf

The witch might wear the hide or skin of the animal identity it wants to assume, and when the transformation is complete, the human witch inherits the speed, strength, or cunning of the animal whose shape it has taken.

We tend to think werewolves are a purely European or American phenomenon. Those with an interest in the subject know that the concept of a human being transforming into a beast is universal to all cultures and predates recorded history. Only the animal into which the malefactor changes is different; usually this honor is assigned to the most prevalent predator in that particular area. American Indians have their own version of the myth, believing that a “skinwalker” can transform not just into a wolf, but into any animal he chooses. More than this—to the Indians of the southwest, skinwalkers are real.

Despite centuries of alcoholism and poverty (introduced to the indigenous cultures by European “settlers,” by the way), many modern Indians still hold to strong spiritual beliefs. There are witches, and those practicing witchcraft are said to possess abilities which they use for evil. Skinwalkers are as feared today as they ever were, figuring into court cases, murders, and everyday life. Most of those who believe don’t like to talk about them. Speak of the devil and up he pops, and all that. Are there any readers of Native descent who’d like to elaborate? (If you aren’t afraid to, that is.)

Wayne

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of Evil Cheez Productions (www.evilcheezproductions.com –www.evilcheezproductions.blogspot.com –www.facebook.com/evilcheezproductions) specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. He has written, produced and directed over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. And he really likes vampires and werewolves. Like, a LOT.

source: www.rense.com

Werewolf Timeline

1550 BC – King Lycaon of Arcadia serves human flesh to the god Zeus and is transformed into a wolf as punishment. The term “Lycanthrope” is derived from this story.

440 BC – In “Histories of Herodotus“, the traveller Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484 BC – 425 BC) writes of the Neuri people, who transform into wolves once a year.

400 BC – A victorious Olympic boxer by the name of Damarchus, an Arcadian of Parrhasia, is said to have transformed into that of a wolf at the sacrifice of Lycaean (Wolf) Zeus, and nine years after he became a man again.

37 BC – Roman poet Virgil (70 BC – 19 BC), in the “Eclogues”, tells of the change of Moeris to the form of a wolf by the use of herbs.

2 BC – 8 AD – Roman poet Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD) writes “Metamorphoses” including a verse about Lycaon, who is transformed into a wolf by the god Zeus.

60 – “Satyricon“, by Roman writer Petronius (27-66 AD), contains a detailed account of a soldier who is a werewolf.

432  – St. Patrick arrives in Ireland

970 – A man named Baianus is believed to be able to turn himself into a wolf through the arts of necromancy.

1020 – First use of the word “werewulf” recorded in English

1101 – Death of Vseslav Bryachislavich, the most famous ruler of Polotsk, believed by many to be a werewolf.

1182 – Welsh historian Giraldus Cambrensis (1146 – 1223) encountersIrish werewolves who transform during the Yuletide feast. The werewolves were reportedly natives of Ossory, whose people had been cursed by St. Natalis for their wickedness.

1194-1197 – Guillaume de Palerne composed.

1198 – Marie de France composes Bisclavret.

1250 – Lai de Melion composed.

1502? 1521? – The three werewolves of Poligny, Pierre Bourgot, Michel Verdung (or Udon), and Philibert Mentot are burnt at the stake being werewolves.

1541 – In Pavia, Italy, a farmer in the form of a wolf is said to have torn many men in the open country to pieces. After being captured, he assures his captors that the only difference between himself and a natural wolf, was that in a true wolf the hair grew outward, whilst in him it struck inward. In order to put this assertion to the proof, the magistrates cut off his arms and legs, and he dies from wounds.

1555 – Olaus Magnus records strange behavior of Baltic werewolves.

1573 – Gilles Garnier, the Werewolf of Dole, is burnt at the stake.

1578 – Jacques Rollet goes on trial in Paris. He was found guilty of being a werewolf.

1588 – The Werewolf of Auvergne is burned at the stake.

1589 – Peter Stubb is executed in Germany after terrorizing the countryside near Cologne in the form of a wolf.

1590 – Michel Jaques confesses to becoming a wolf seven or eight times after anointing himself with an unguent given to him by the devil.

1598 – The “Werewolf of Châlons“, known also as the “Demon Tailor”, was arraigned in France on December 14, on murder charges.

1598 – The same year, the Gandillon family, a sister, brother and two of the man’s children were tried together in France.

1598 – Jacques Roulet, a begger, is arrested in Caude in the vicinity of Angers, France for being a werewolf.

1602 – Michée Bauloz, along with Jeanne de la Pierre and Suzanne Prevost are condemned.

1603 – Teenage Jean Grenier tried as werewolf and is sentenced to life imprisonment.

1623 – There are a series of court trials in which eighteen men and thirteen women are tried for lycanthropy.

1692 – An 80-year-old man named Thiess is tried in Jurgenburg, Livonia. He confesses to being a werewolf.  Judges sentence Thiess to ten lashes for acts of idolatry and superstitious beliefs.

1764 – 1767 – The Beast of Gévaudan terrorizes the former province of Gévaudan, in the Margeride Mountains in south-central France. There were over 100 victims.

1812 – Grimm Brothers publish their version of “Little Red Riding Hood.”

1824 – Antoine Leger tried for werewolf crimes and sentenced to lunatic asylum.

1852 – Traveling vendor Manuel Blanco Romasanta confesses to the murders of thirteen people. Romasanta was tried in Allariz and eluded capital punishment by professing he was a werewolf.

1865 – “The Book of Were-Wolves” is written by the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould. Still considered one of the leading books on werewolf history.

1920 – Right-wing terror group “Operation Werewolf” established in Germany.

1933 – British Occult writer and clergyman Montague Summers publishes “The Werewolf.” He is still known today for his ridiculous writings on witches, vampires, and werewolves.

1941 – The film “The Wolf Man” starring Lon Chaney Jr. is released.

1948 – Robert Eisler delivers his lecture “Man into Wolf: An Anthropological Interpretation of Sadism, Masochism, and Lycanthropy” to the Psychiatric Section of the Royal Society of Medicine in London, England.

1981 – The film “An American Werewolf in London” is released and includes first four-footed werewolf.

1989 – The first sighting of the beast of Bray Road.

...werewolves.com

Werewolves in the Bible? Mmm, kinda.

Nebuchadnezzar was exiled as king of Babylon, stripped down naked, literally transformed into a werewolf, and he lived in the forest with other wild beasts for SEVEN long years!

Are werewolves mentioned in the Bible? In a word, no. Not specifically. However, there is a great deal of imagery that, while not overtly lycanthropic in nature, melds quite nicely into the body of common knowledge concerning werewolfism. Evil spirits aplenty, the devil depicted as a “roaring lion,” and verses like the following one from the book attributed to the Old Testament prophet Hosea (Chapter 13, verse 8): “I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rip them open.” Pretty vivid, no? But those seeking a more literal description of a werewolf in Scripture usually point to the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar.

Cursed by God for his wickedness, the mighty king goes insane, the prophet Daniel tells us, and is driven into the wilderness, where “his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like bird’s claws.” (Daniel Chapter 4, verse 33.) Nebuchadnezzar fails to fit the profile in one important respect, though. Daniel tells us that he ate grass like an ox. A vegetarian werewolf? T’ain’t no such a thing!

Wayne

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of Evil Cheez Productions (www.evilcheezproductions.com –www.evilcheezproductions.blogspot.com –www.facebook.com/evilcheezproductions) specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. He has written, produced and directed over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. And he really likes vampires and werewolves. Like, a LOT.

source: constancelee.wordpress.com

History OF WAREWOLF

History Indo-European comparative mythology Dolon wearing a wolf-skin. Attic red-figure vase, c. 460 BC. Vendel period depiction of a warrior wearing a wolf-skin (Tierkrieger) The werewolf folkore found in Europe harks back to a common development during the Middle Ages, arising in the context of Christianisation, and the associated interpretation of pre-Christian mythology in Christian terms. Their underlying common origin can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European mythology, where lycanthropy is reconstructed as an aspect of the initiation of the warrior class. This is reflected in Iron Age Europe in the Tierkrieger depictions from the Germanic sphere, among others. The standard comparative overview of this aspect of Indo-European mythology is McCone (1987)[9] Such transformations of "men into wolves" in pagan cult was associated with the devil from the early medieval perspective. The concept of the werewolf in Western and Northern Europe is strongly influenced by the role of the wolf in Germanic paganism (e.g. the French loup-garou is ultimately a loan from the Germanic term), but there are related traditions in other parts of Europe which were not necessarily influenced by Germanic tradition, especially in Slavic Europe and the Balkans, and possibly in areas bordering the Indo-European sphere (the Caucasus) or where Indo-European cultures have been replaced by military conquest in the medieval era (Hungary, Anatolia).[clarification needed] In his Man into Wolf (1948), Robert Eisler tried to cast the Indo-European tribal names meaning "wolf" or "wolf-men" in terms of "the European transition from fruit gathering to predatory hunting."[clarification needed] [10] Classical antiquity Zeus turning Lycaon into a wolf, engraving by Hendrik Goltzius. A few references to men changing into wolves are found in Ancient Greek literature and mythology. Herodotus, in his Histories,[11] wrote that the Neuri, a tribe he places to the north-east of Scythia, were all transformed into wolves once every year for several days, and then changed back to their human shape. In the second century BC, the Greek geographer Pausanias relates the story of Lycaon, who was transformed into a wolf because he had ritually murdered a child. In accounts by the Bibliotheca (3.8.1) and Ovid (Metamorphoses I.219-239), Lycaon serves human flesh to Zeus, wanting to know if he is really a god. Lycaon's transformation, therefore, is punishment for a crime, considered variously as murder, cannibalism, and impiety. Ovid also relates stories of men who roamed the woods of Arcadia in the form of wolves.[12][13] In addition to Ovid, other Roman writers also mentioned lycanthropy. Virgil wrote of human beings transforming into wolves.[14] Pliny the Elder relates two tales of lycanthropy. Quoting Euanthes,[15][16] he mentions a man who hung his clothes on an ash tree and swam across an Arcadian lake, transforming him into a wolf. On the condition that he attack no human being for nine years, he would be free to swim back across the lake to resume human form. Pliny also quotes Agriopas regarding a tale of a man who was turned into a wolf after tasting the entrails of a human child, but was restored to human form 10 years later. In the Latin work of prose, the Satyricon, written about 60 C.E. by Gaius Petronius Arbiter, one of the characters, Niceros, tells a story at a banquet about a friend who turned into a wolf (chs. 61-62). He describes the incident as follows, "When I look for my buddy I see he'd stripped and piled his clothes by the roadside... He pees in a circle round his clothes and then, just like that, turns into a wolf!... after he turned into a wolf he started howling and then ran off into the woods."[17] Middle Ages Further information: Hundings and Wulfing There was no widespread belief in werewolves in medieval Europe before the 14th century. There were some examples of man-wolf transformations in the court literature of the time, notably Marie de France's poem Bisclavret (c. 1200), in which the nobleman Bizuneh, for reasons not described, had to transform into a wolf every week. When his treacherous wife stole his clothing needed to restore his human form, he escaped the king's wolf hunt by imploring the king for mercy and accompanied the king thereafter. His behaviour at court was so much gentler than when his wife and her new husband appeared at court, that his hateful attack on the couple was deemed justly motivated, and the truth was revealed. The German word werwolf is recorded by Burchard von Worms in the 11th century, and by Bertold of Regensburg in the 13th, but is not recorded in all of medieval German poetry or fiction. References to werewolves are also rare in England, presumably because whatever significance the "wolf-men" of Germanic paganism had carried, the associated beliefs and practices had been successfully repressed after Christianization (or if they persisted, they did so outside of the sphere of literacy available to us).[18] The Germanic pagan traditions associated with wolf-men persisted longest in the Scandinavian Viking Age. Harald I of Norway is known to have had a body of Úlfhednar (wolf coated [men]), which are mentioned in the Vatnsdœla saga, Haraldskvæði, and the Völsunga saga, and resemble some werewolf legends. The Úlfhednar were 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.[19] These warriors were resistant to pain and killed viciously in battle, much like wild animals. Úlfhednar and berserkers are closely associated with the Norse god Odin. The Scandinavian traditions of this period may have spread to Rus, giving rise to the Slavic "werewolf" tales. The 11th century Belarusian Prince Usiaslau of Polatsk was considered to have been a Werewolf, capable of moving at superhuman speeds, as recounted in The Tale of Igor's Campaign: "Vseslav the prince judged men; as prince, he ruled towns; but at night he prowled in the guise of a wolf. From Kiev, prowling, he reached, before the cocks crew, Tmutorokan. The path of Great Sun, as a wolf, prowling, he crossed. For him in Polotsk they rang for matins early at St. Sophia the bells; but he heard the ringing in Kiev." The situation as described during the medieval period gives rise to the dual form of werewolf folklore in Early Modern Europe. On one hand the "Germanic" werewolf, which becomes associated with the witchcraft panic from around 1400, and on the other hand the "Slavic" werewolf or vlkodlak, which becomes associated with the concept of the revenant or "vampire". The "eastern" werewolf-vampire is found in the folklore of Cebral/Eastern Europe, including Hungary, Romania and the Balkans, while the "western" werewolf-sorcerer is found in France, German-speaking Europe and in the Baltic.

Lycanthropy as a medical condition,WEREWOLF

Lycanthropy as a medical condition See also: Hypertrichosis and Clinical lycanthropy Some modern researchers have tried to explain the reports of werewolf behaviour with recognised medical conditions. Dr Lee Illis of Guy's Hospital in London wrote a paper in 1963 entitled On Porphyria and the Aetiology of Werewolves, in which he argues that historical accounts on werewolves could have in fact been referring to victims of congenital porphyria, stating how the symptoms of photosensitivity, reddish teeth and psychosis could have been grounds for accusing a sufferer of being a werewolf.[28] This is however argued against by Woodward, who points out how mythological werewolves were almost invariably portrayed as resembling true wolves, and that their human forms were rarely physically conspicuous as porphyria victims.[19] Others have pointed out the possibility of historical werewolves having been sufferers of hypertrichosis, a hereditary condition manifesting itself in excessive hair growth. However, Woodward dismissed the possibility, as the rarity of the disease ruled it out from happening on a large scale, as werewolf cases were in medieval Europe.[19] People suffering from Down syndrome have been suggested by some scholars to have been possible originators of werewolf myths.[29] Woodward suggested rabies as the origin of werewolf beliefs, claiming remarkable similarities between the symptoms of that disease and some of the legends. Woodward focused on the idea that being bitten by a werewolf could result in the victim turning into one, which suggested the idea of a transmittable disease like rabies.[19] However, the idea that lycanthropy could be transmitted in this way is not part of the original myths and legends and only appears in relatively recent beliefs. Folk beliefs A German woodcut from 1722 Characteristics The beliefs classed together under lycanthropy are far from uniform, and the term is somewhat capriciously applied. The transformation may be temporary or permanent; the were-animal may be the man himself metamorphosed; may be his double whose activity leaves the real man to all appearance unchanged; may be his soul, which goes forth seeking whom it may devour, 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. Werewolves were said in European folklore to bear tell-tale physical traits even in their human form. These included the meeting of both eyebrows at the bridge of the nose, curved fingernails, low-set ears and a swinging stride. One method of identifying a werewolf in its human form was to cut the flesh of the accused, under the pretense that fur would be seen within the wound. A Russian superstition recalls a werewolf can be recognised by bristles under the tongue.[19] The appearance of a werewolf in its animal form varies from culture to culture, though it is most commonly portrayed as being indistinguishable from ordinary wolves save for the fact that it has no tail (a trait thought characteristic of witches in animal form), is often larger, and retains human eyes and voice. According to some Swedish accounts, the werewolf could be distinguished from a regular wolf by the fact that it would run on three legs, stretching the fourth one backwards to look like a tail.[30] After returning to their human forms, werewolves are usually documented as becoming weak, debilitated and undergoing painful nervous depression.[19] One universally reviled trait in medieval Europe was the werewolf's habit of devouring recently buried corpses, a trait that is documented extensively, particularly in the Annales Medico-psychologiques in the 19th century.[19] Fennoscandian werewolves were usually old women who possessed poison-coated claws and had the ability to paralyse cattle and children with their gaze.[19] Becoming a werewolf Various methods for becoming a werewolf have been reported, one of the simplest being the removal of clothing and putting on a belt made of wolfskin, probably as a substitute for the assumption of an entire animal skin (which also is frequently described).[31] In other cases, the body is rubbed with a magic salve.[31] Drinking rainwater out of the footprint of the animal in question or from certain enchanted streams were also considered effectual modes of accomplishing metamorphosis.[32] The 16th century Swedish writer Olaus Magnus says that the Livonian werewolves 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. In Italy, France and Germany, it was said that a man or woman could turn into a werewolf if he or she, on a certain Wednesday or Friday, slept outside on a summer night with the full moon shining directly on his or her face.[19] In other cases, the transformation was supposedly accomplished by Satanic allegiance for the most loathsome ends, often for the sake of sating a craving for human flesh. "The werewolves", writes Richard Verstegan (Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, 1628), are certayne sorcerers, who having annoynted their bodies with an ointment which they make by the instinct of the devil, and putting on a certayne inchaunted girdle, does not only unto the view of others seem as wolves, but to their own thinking have both the shape and nature of wolves, so long as they wear the said girdle. And they do dispose themselves as very wolves, in worrying and killing, and most of humane creatures. 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. 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. Such is the case of Lycaon, who was turned into a wolf by Zeus as punishment for slaughtering one of his own sons and serving his remains to the gods as a dinner. Those who were excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church were also said to become werewolves.[19]

1217 × 657 - ibroid.deviantart.com

 The power of transforming others into wild beasts was attributed not only to malignant sorcerers, but to Christian saints as well. 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 was said to have transformed the Welsh king Vereticus into a wolf; Natalis supposedly cursed an illustrious Irish family whose members were each doomed to be a wolf for seven years. In other tales the divine agency is even more direct, while in Russia, again, men supposedly became werewolves when incurring the wrath of the Devil. A notable exception to the association of Lycanthropy and the Devil, comes from a rare and lesser known account of an 80-year-old man named Thiess. In 1692, in Jürgensburg, Livonia, Thiess testified under oath that he and other werewolves were the Hounds of God.[33] He claimed they were warriors who went down into hell to do battle with witches and demons. Their efforts ensured that the Devil and his minions did not carry off the grain from local failed crops down to hell. Thiess was steadfast in his assertions, claiming that werewolves in Germany and Russia also did battle with the devil's minions in their own versions of hell, and insisted that when werewolves died, their souls were welcomed into heaven as reward for their service. Thiess was ultimately sentenced to ten lashes for Idolatry and superstitious belief. Remedies Various methods have existed for removing the werewolf form. In antiquity, the Ancient Greeks and Romans believed in the power of exhaustion in curing people of lycanthropy. The victim would be subjected to long periods of physical activity in the hope of being purged of the malady. This practice stemmed from the fact that many alleged werewolves would be left feeling weak and debilitated after committing depredations.[19] In medieval Europe, traditionally, there are three methods one can use to cure a victim of werewolfism; medicinally (usually via the use of wolfsbane), surgically or by exorcism. However, many of the cures advocated by medieval medical practitioners proved fatal to the patients. A Sicilian belief of Arabic origin holds that a werewolf can be cured of its ailment by striking it on the forehead or scalp with a knife. Another belief from the same culture involves the piercing of the werewolf's hands with nails. Sometimes, less extreme methods were used. In the German lowland of Schleswig-Holstein, a werewolf could be cured if one were to simply address it three times by its Christian name, while one Danish belief holds that simply scolding a werewolf will cure it.[19] Conversion to Christianity is also a common method of removing werewolfism in the medieval period. A devotion to St. Hubert has also been cited as both cure for and protection from lycanthropes. Connection to revenants Further information: Revenant Before the end of the 19th century, the Greeks believed that the corpses of werewolves, if not destroyed, would return to life in the form of wolves or hyenas which prowled battlefields, drinking the blood of dying soldiers. In the same vein, in some rural areas of Germany, Poland and Northern France, it was once believed that people who died in mortal sin came back to life as blood-drinking wolves. These "undead" werewolves would return to their human corpse form at daylight. They were dealt with by decapitation with a spade and exorcism by the parish priest. The head would then be thrown into a stream, where the weight of its sins was thought to weigh it down. Sometimes, the same methods used to dispose of ordinary vampires would be used. The vampire was also linked to the werewolf in East European countries, particularly Bulgaria, Serbia and Slovenia. In Serbia, the werewolf and vampire are known collectively as vulkodlak.[19] Hungary and Balkans In Hungarian folklore, the werewolves used to live specially in the region of Transdanubia, and it was thought that the ability to change into a wolf was obtained in the infant age, after the suffering of abuse by the parents or by a curse. At the age of seven the boy or the girl leaves the house and goes hunting by night and can change to person or wolf whenever he wants. The curse can also be obtained when in the adulthood the person passed three times through an arch made of a Birch with the help of a wild rose's spine. The werewolves were known to exterminate all kind of farm animals, especially sheep. The transformation usually occurred in the Winter solstice, Easter and full moon. Later in the 17th and 18th century, the trials in Hungary not only were conducted against witches, but against werewolves too, and many records exist creating connections between both kinds. Also the vampires and werewolves are closely related in Hungary, being both feared in the antiquity.[34] Among the South Slavs, and also among the Kashubs of what is now northern Poland,[clarification needed] there was the belief that if a child was born with hair, a birthmark or a caul on their head, they were supposed to possess shape-shifting abilities. Though capable of turning into any animal they wished, it was commonly believed that such people preferred to turn into a wolf.[35] Serbian vulkodlaks traditionally had the habit of congregating annually in the winter months, when they would strip off their wolf skins and hang them from trees. They would then get a hold of another vulkodlaks skin and burn it, releasing from its curse the vulkodlak from whom the skin came.[19] Caucasus According to Armenian lore, there are women who, in consequence of deadly sins, are condemned to spend seven years in wolf form.[36] In a typical account, a condemned woman is visited by a wolfskin-toting spirit, who orders her to wear the skin, which causes her to acquire frightful cravings for human flesh soon after. With her better nature overcome, the she-wolf devours each of her own children, then her relatives' children in order of relationship, and finally the children of strangers. She wanders only at night, with doors and locks springing open at her approach. When morning arrives, she reverts to human form and removes her wolfskin. The transformation is generally said to be involuntary, but there are alternate versions involving voluntary metamorphosis, where the women can transform at will. Americas and Caribbean Main article: Skin-walker The Naskapis believed that the caribou afterlife is guarded by giant wolves which kill careless hunters venturing too near. The Navajo people feared witches in wolf's clothing called "Mai-cob".[29] Woodward thought that these beliefs were due to the Norse colonization of the Americas.[19] When the European colonization of the Americas occurred, the pioneers brought their own werewolf folklore with them and were later influenced by the lore of their neighbouring colonies and those of the Natives. Belief in the loup-garou present in Canada, the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan[37] and upstate New York, originates from French folklore influenced by Native American stories on the Wendigo. In Mexico, there is a belief in a creature called the nahual, which traditionally limits itself to stealing cheese and raping women rather than murder.[citation needed] In Haiti, there is a superstition that werewolf spirits known locally as Jé-rouge (red eyes) can possess the bodies of unwitting persons and nightly transform them into cannibalistic lupine creatures. The Haitian jé-rouges typically try to trick mothers into giving away their children voluntarily by waking them at night and asking their permission to take their child, to which the disoriented mother may either reply yes or no. The Haitian jé-rouges differ from traditional European werewolves by their habit of actively trying to spread their lycanthropic condition to others, much like vampires.[19]