Okay, that’s not really funny, is it? I suppose the true question before us is: Is there any such thing as a werewolf?

To begin, I suppose we should go back to the root of the matter—what is a werewolf? Literally defined, the word werewolf translates to ManBeast. The word were is taken from Old Germanic wer to mean “Male Human”. The word “wolf” began as “wulf”, which literally means beast.

There’s also the school of thought the word “were” comes from the Old English weri meaning “to wear”. Fighting men of the northern countries were said to wear bearskins into battle. In fact, the berserkers of earliest Scandinavian wars—those insane and bestial men of war—are said to have worn the skin of wolves and bears in tribute to their king.

While modern fiction takes great liberty with the werewolf (myself included) Ancient Mythology tells us that the first werewolf began life as a king.

This is a picture (taken from Wikipedia) of Zeus turning Lycaon into a wolf:

English: Lycaon. Engraving by Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1617) for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book I, 209 ff.

You really can’t blame Zeus for being mad—Lycaon was serving Zeus a dish of dismembered child. Granted, Lycaon had fifty sons, but there’s no good excuse for cutting a child up and serving him for dinner. The story goes that Lycaon was trying to prove that Zeus was not a god.

Personally, I feel like there must have been a better way. Anyhow, Zeus stepped to the plate, resurrected the dismembered child, turned his horrible father into a werewolf (I don’t know why he chose a wolf…) and then struck Lycaon’s other forty-nine sons down with lightning bolts.

Another version of the story has Lycaon (also called Lykaon) sacrificing a baby upon Zeus’ alter during a festival and immediately transforming into a wolf.

Many fictional accounts feature the werewolf as a beleaguered underdog who, once bitten or scratched by another cursed creature, is forced to change shape in the light of the full moon. Even the Harry Potter series features a werewolf. According to movies and popular fiction, a werewolf can be injured by silver-silver bullets, silver arrows, silver chains. Another common theme is that, on the evening of the full moon, the werewolf is forcibly transformed, only to find himself returned to human form the next morning.

There was a famous account of a werewolf murder recorded in the 1500s, that ended in the trial, torture and burning of a man and two women. The pamphlet account of the life and death of Peter Stumpp was recovered by a man named Montague Summers in 1920. Stumpp eventually confessed to many murders, blood drinking, and transforming into a werewolf after receiving an enchanted belt from the devil. Of course, he confessed after being stretched on the rack and tortured. While some scholars believe that Stumpp’s persecution was more a result of his being Protestant in a catholic society, the original account of his discovery as a werewolf notes that he was found as a wolf and returned to human form after being impaled and pierced by spears and other implements.

Nonetheless, the idea that a certain belt allowed werewolves to change forms was reasonably accepted. Some people were convinced that potions which included the fat of children caused the change. (Ewwww!) To this day, there is still a Greek cult which cooks a meat dish every nine years including in it a bit of human intestine. Whomever eats that will be cursed to suffer as a werewolf for the following nine years—though there’s a loophole. I’m not clear, but it seems that the cursed person might avoid this fate if he or she can manage not to eat any other human parts.

As an aside, it does seem that most werewolves (certainly most werewolf legends) implicate men and not women as sufferers. I’ve read that some cultures do believe werewolves to be women-witches in fact- who change into wolves voluntarily so they can travel in peace. Otherwise, most folk tales suggest that werewolves are men, given that the word Were, or Wer means male human.

I can’t say with certainty whether or not werewolves are real or if there’s some simple scientific explanation for them. I’ve always thought, though, that if a story was taken as truth by enough varied cultures, there must be some truth to it. I’ve read reports of mass-hysteria or possible collective poisoning, but neither seems to cover the entire phenomena.

I suppose that anything is possible. Personally, I like the idea that there is more diversification in this world than can be explained in one article or a handful of books. It keeps us on our toes, doesn’t it?

I don’t know what I’ll explore next month. I get the feeling that I could go on about werewolves for another month and still not come close to all the literature. I might take a look at other “Were” creatures. We’ll have to see.

Have a great April! I’ll be back soon.