Of Wolf and Man

[LV426]

(this is a section from my website)


So what does a werewolf look like and how can you tell if someone you know is in fact a creature of the night?
From countless stories over the centuries people have noted difference that supposedly signify wereism. In their everyday human form they have course bushy eyebrows that met over the bridge of their nose, thick almond shaped fingernails that are usually very long and curved and colored a dark red. Hair grows from their palms and sometimes a star is formed from the lines on the palms. Extra long canines, heavy jaws, and large protruding noses are also signs that one might be a werewolf. Their ears are long and pressed back upon the head. Their skin is usually mottled or unusual colors such as yellow or grey and sometimes even greenish. Their skin is also supposedly rough and dry, scratchy and they usually sport copious amounts of hair all over their bodies. Another sign is that werewolves are often very thirsty and their mouths and eyes are always dry.

But it wasn’t just appearance that set these people apart from the regular population. They also displayed other traits. They are usually prevalent to nocturnal behavior and are solitary in their activities. They are known for frequenting graveyards and violating graves by digging them up and feasting upon the dead.

Of course a werewolf was not always in his/her lupine form. Normally the werewolf appears as a normal human except for the above mentioned signs. But the werewolf is most comfortable in a wolfy guise. This transformation was achieved in many ways, highly dangerous ways at that. Most commonly referred to by known werewolves that had appeared in documented trials was the ritual or rite. Usually practiced in the solitary confines of the forests when the moon was full and bright. The afflicted individual would trace a large circle into the earth and in the center of the circle a fire would be made and the beginnings of a magic ointment or potion was made. Each person made theirs differently but mostly the plants involved were highly toxic. Belladona, Hemlock, Henbane, and Nightshade were used. These plant ingredients were boiled or steeped to extract their most potent properties and then the resulting brew was mixed with fat from either human or animal, olive oil or turpentine. Some time later when distillation of alcohol was prevalent alcohol was substituted. After the mixture was complete the person wishing to change would then rub the concoction onto his skin and then don a belt made of wolf skin or a full wolf pelt and pray to the devil to help him change. When completed the person would then turn into a wolf and took off to search for prey.

Ritual Prayer
“Hail, hail, hail, great Wolf Spirit, hail
A boon I ask thee, mighty shade,
Within this circle I have made.
Make me a werewolf strong and bold,
The terror alike of young and old.”

The chant above is similar to the many other chants and prayers that have been recorded as ancient incantations that bring about the change from man to wolf. Invocations of evil. Calling upon the spirits of the forests and even the devil himself to aide in the transformation. But the prayer was not enough, it was the belt or pelt made of a wolf’s hide that lent the spirit of the wolf to the human that sought release from the human form. And with the combination of the highly hallucinogenic and toxicity of the plants used in the salve that was rubbed into the flesh, the transformation was complete. It is not known for certain that these people did not truly transform, but the methods they used to complete their transformation were definitely conducive to altering their perceptions into believing that they were mad blood thirsty beasts.

Cases and Accounts of Werism

It was not just a faery tale to frighten children any more. As civilizations improved and more people began passing on stories a new light was shed on these creatures and when murders of violent brutality occurred there began a new series of documentation, one that was more credible than the usual peasant hearsay. Suddently werewolves were everywhere and now there were trial records to back up the epidemic of cases.

During 1520 and 1630 more than 30,000 people were labeled as werewolves. These people were tortured until they confessed to the crimes revealed by their criminal investigation. Many suffered burning, decapitation, and impalement upon stakes. For the ones that escaped death it was not an easy row. Scarred forever with psychological trauma and the stigma of having been accused of being a werewolf many never regained their normal lives and some took their own life to escape the tortures they had to live with.
Werewolf Trials

The case of Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun
In 1591, Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdum were the convicted werewolves. Nineteen years ago when Burgot was desperately trying to gather his storm frightened sheep, he met with three mysterious black dressed horsemen. One of them assured him the future protection of his sheep and gave him some money as well. In return the stranger just wanted Burgot to obey him as the Lord. Accepting the proposal Burgot agreed to meet again. In the second meeting the so-called Lord announced the full conditions of the deal:


Burgot must renounce God, the Holy Virgin, the Company of Heaven, his baptism and also his confirmation.


As year passed Burgot became reluctant to maintain the pact. Then he was called by Michel Verdum. Verdum demanded him to strip naked and rub a magic ointment on his body. When Burgot obeyed the order, he found his arms and legs had become hairy, his hands reshaped into paws. Verdum changed his shape too and together they ran through the surrounding countryside. They committed various awful crimes. They tore to pieces a seven-year-old boy, killed a woman and abducted a four-year-old girl. The unfortunate girl was fully eaten up by two of them. When they were caught they were duly put to death. Their picture was hung in the local church as a reminder of all the evil deeds that men could commit under the influence of Satan.

Gilles Garnier, “the hermit of Dole,”

In 1573 werewolf attacks became more apparent. After finding several half-eaten children the authorities of the town Dôle in Frenche-Comté province put a price on werewolves’ head. Two months after the injunction, an alleged werewolf named Gillas Garner was arrested. His victims were nine to twelve-year-old children. He slew them with his paws and teeth. To satisfy his appetite, he ate flesh from their thigh, legs and belly. The story of his crimes and sentencing him to death still survive and have become a folk song.

Werewolf of Caude

In 1584 two alleged werewolves, Pierre Gandillon and his son George were apprehended. They were accused for having murdered and eaten numerous youngsters under the narcotic influence of the salve with which they rubbed their bodies. Again in 1598 Jacques Rollet was tried for killing and eating a boy of fifteen. He was known as the werewolf of Caude. When he was found in the woods, he was half-naked with long matted hair and blood covered hands. He was still holding a lump of flesh. At his trial he described how he had slaughtered various people, including a number of Attorneys, lawyers and bailiffs. Though he was sentenced to death he was later sent to a madhouse. Strangely he stayed there for only two years.

The Tailor

Among other werewolf cases, the story of a tailor stands out for its peculiarity. The alleged werewolf would hide in the forests and lie in wait for a passerby. Whenever he could get a chance, he jumped out and killed the ill-fated man. He had a shop and used it as to bait children. He tempted them into his shop, and then killed them. In his cellars he stored their meat like butchers.Some barrels were used to stack up bones and “other foul and hideous things”. The records accumulated during his trial were so repulsive that the court decided that it would better destroy them.

The Lycanthropic Child

There is also a record of a child werewolf. He was Jean Grenier of Aquitaire. His story was more or less like that of Burgot. When his father beat him, he ran away from home and wandered around the countryside. One evening another boy named Pierre La Tihaire took him to the depths of the woods. The Lord of the Jungle was present there. He was a tall black dressed dark man upon a dark horse. The Lord got off his horse and kissed Grenier with icy lips. In the second meeting both of the boys submitted themselves to the Lord of the forest. Their master scratched tattoos on their thighs as brands. He brought out a wine bag and gave them a drink. He also presented them wolf skins and an ointment. The Lord taught them how to rub their bodies with the ointment before putting on the fur.

[LV426]

During their reign of terror fifteen children including one from Grenier’s cradle disappeared. When finally Grenier was caught in 1603, he confessed of eating them all. At that time he was fourteen, physically and mentally retarded. Taking into account of his age and limited mental capacity, the Judge ordered Grenier to be confined in a cloister for life. There he refused to eat any regular food and devoured offal instead. Seven years later when a man called Pierre de Lancre visited him, he had grown gaunt and lean. His deep-set black eyes burned incessantly. His hands were like claws with bent nails and his teeth were like canines. Apparently he enjoyed hearing about wolves and readily imitated them. After one more year he died, to be remembered forever in the anal of werewolves as the “boy lycanthrope”. Greiner’s case is among those that contributed to the shift in attitude towards the werewolf phenomenon. The head of the inquest committee who looked into this case found him incapable of rational thought. “The change of shape existed only in the disorganized brain of the insane. Consequently it was not a crime that could be punished”. Judges began to regard werewolf cases with approaching tolerance.

Explanation
So what caused this phenomenon of the werewolf. Was it psychological delusions or drug induced frenzies. From the first report of werewolves there have been many explanations offered. Doctors, scientists, and psychologists have all tried to understand what caused such a rise in the belief of werewolves.

From depression and chemical imbalances, to poor diet and lack of hygiene, many have tried to explain and effectively treat lycanthrope. As early as 1621 a clergyman by the name of Robert Burton wrote a book called Anatomy of Melancholy. In this work he claimed that lycanthrope was a psychological illness and he cast blame on witches, sorcerers, bad air, lack of sleep and even poor diet.

But it matted not the medical reason for these people transforming into werewolves. At the time it was the preferred belief that magic and witchcraft was responsible for anything out of the ordinary. A French author in the early seventeenth century by the name of Henry Bouget wrote, that Satan would leave the person sleeping behind a bush and then go forth as a wolf to enact the evil thoughts of that person. He believed that the Devil could enter into the sleeping individual’s mind and confuse the thoughts so much “that he believes he had really been a wolf and had run about and killed men and beats.”

In the nineteenth century a French occultist Éliphas Lévi, wrote a book called the Mysteries of Magic and proposed that it was not the person that was doing the deeds but a phantom. He wrote, “Thus in case of a man whose instinct is savage and sanguinary, his phantom will wander abroad in lupine form, whilst he sleeps painfully at home, dreaming he is a veritable wolf.” Lévi believed that the wounds so often reported in the cases of werewolves could be attributed to the out-of-body experience. He saw the human body as a subject to magnetic as well as nervous influences and capable of receiving the wounds suffered by the metamorphosed shape.

Science Takes a Shot:

Today there is a list of afflictions that leads to lycanthropic episodes.

1. Schizophrenia
2. Organic Brain Syndrome with psychosis
3. Psychotic Depressive Reaction
4. Hysterical Neurosis of the disassociative type
5. Manic-depressive Psychosis
6. Psychomotor Epilepsy.


Of course science has attributed the earlier episodes of lycanthrope to a chemical reaction induced by grains and plants that had been infected with a type of fungus that can lead to hallucinogenic episodes. Also the ingredients of the salves and ointments was very toxic and held hallucinogenic properties and could have contributed to the psychosis and delusions of physical transformations.

A strong theory that is usually accepted as the origin of lycanthrope is the diet of the common peasant. Bread was made from grain and was the main staple of the peasant’s diet. The grain used however was usually infected with ergot, a fungus which produces a chemical not unlike LSD (LysergicAcid Diethylamide). Although there are medicinal properties of ergot, consumed in large quantities could induce paranoid and hallucinogenic episodes. IN fact it was documented that in 1951 6 people died and 135 people were hospitalized from ergot poisoning in the French town of Pont St. Espirit. The victims had eaten bread made with ergot infected grain and the result was that the victims had horrible visions of being attacked by tigers and snakes and of turning into beasts. This particular incident gives merit to the organic cause of werewolves rather than an other worldly cause.

Of course the other distinct possibility is that the werewolf victims were merely infected with a disease such as Rabies or Porphyria.

Rabies is carried by warm blooded animals and is a virus that attacks the central nervous system and produces uncontrollable excitement and painful throat muscle contractions. This results in the victim being unable to swallow and drink, possibly resulting in the sign of dry mouth that is associated with werewolves. Of course death usually occurs with in three to five days of the first signs of symptoms.

Porphyria is a rare genetic disorder that results in a deficiency of heme, a pigment in oxygen carrying red blood cells. Symptoms of Porphyria are photosensitivity, so severe that venturing out into daylight is extremely painful and usually promotes the sufferer to remain inside during daylight hours. As the condition advances the appearance of the victim becomes increasingly horrific. Discoloration of the skin and large amounts of hair on the face and body occur, and sometimes ever sores become apparent. Further progression of the disease leads to cartilage breakdown and the deterioration of the nose, ears, eyelids, and fingers begins. The teeth, fingernails can turn a dark reddish brown . Porphyria is also accompanied by mental disturbance including hysteria and delerium to manic-depressive episodes.

[wolfwolf]

where is your web site?

[Ahroun]

Thank you for this topic, LycanthropicHowl. Gives us much info and as history level was very complete.

Ahroun

[Wraywolf]

Is this from the book, Of Wolf and Men?

[LV426]

Is this from the book, Of Wolf and Men?


No it's a compilation of information I have taken from books at the library and put on my website. If you want the sources I can get them for you.

[Wraywolf]

I would like that very much, thank you.

[dark_wolf681]

damn man gj on the history :buttrock:

[lordragoon]

Nice to know someone's done their research. Try The Werewolf by Montague Summers if you want to find some more good, unpolluted information on Europe's werewolves. There are even more well known examples than these.

[LV426]

Sorry it took me so long, I forgot to post the sources and then I had to go find the notebook that they were in and then I forgot again so here are my sources.



Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture- Charlotte O'Han editor


Man into Wolf: An Anthropological Study of Sadism, Masochism, and Lycanthropy


Vampire and Werewolf Stories- Alan Durrant

Werewolf Book: Encyclopedia of Shapeshifting Beings-Brad Steiger

Witchcraft, Lycanthropy, Drugs, and Disease-H. Sidley

Time Life Books:Mysteries of the Unknown, Transformations 1989,

Baring-Gould: The book of Werewolves
Werewolves-Daniel Cohen

Beast Within-Adam Douglas



White Wolf Woman and other native America transformation myths. Teresa Pijoan

[Wraywolf]

Thank you. Erk. I have so many books to read! and the libary is so far away. Urrgh! I have to take the bus now. it's so crowded... can't move... can't breath! THERES NO AIR LEFT!!!!!# I R GAANN DIE OMGWTFBBQ!!!!1111 !!1!@

[Voicavamp4life]

(this is a section from my website)


So what does a werewolf look like and how can you tell if someone you know is in fact a creature of the night?
From countless stories over the centuries people have noted difference that supposedly signify wereism. In their everyday human form they have course bushy eyebrows that met over the bridge of their nose, thick almond shaped fingernails that are usually very long and curved and colored a dark red. Hair grows from their palms and sometimes a star is formed from the lines on the palms. Extra long canines, heavy jaws, and large protruding noses are also signs that one might be a werewolf. Their ears are long and pressed back upon the head. Their skin is usually mottled or unusual colors such as yellow or grey and sometimes even greenish. Their skin is also supposedly rough and dry, scratchy and they usually sport copious amounts of hair all over their bodies. Another sign is that werewolves are often very thirsty and their mouths and eyes are always dry.

But it wasn’t just appearance that set these people apart from the regular population. They also displayed other traits. They are usually prevalent to nocturnal behavior and are solitary in their activities. They are known for frequenting graveyards and violating graves by digging them up and feasting upon the dead.

Of course a werewolf was not always in his/her lupine form. Normally the werewolf appears as a normal human except for the above mentioned signs. But the werewolf is most comfortable in a wolfy guise. This transformation was achieved in many ways, highly dangerous ways at that. Most commonly referred to by known werewolves that had appeared in documented trials was the ritual or rite. Usually practiced in the solitary confines of the forests when the moon was full and bright. The afflicted individual would trace a large circle into the earth and in the center of the circle a fire would be made and the beginnings of a magic ointment or potion was made. Each person made theirs differently but mostly the plants involved were highly toxic. Belladona, Hemlock, Henbane, and Nightshade were used. These plant ingredients were boiled or steeped to extract their most potent properties and then the resulting brew was mixed with fat from either human or animal, olive oil or turpentine. Some time later when distillation of alcohol was prevalent alcohol was substituted. After the mixture was complete the person wishing to change would then rub the concoction onto his skin and then don a belt made of wolf skin or a full wolf pelt and pray to the devil to help him change. When completed the person would then turn into a wolf and took off to search for prey.

Ritual Prayer
“Hail, hail, hail, great Wolf Spirit, hail
A boon I ask thee, mighty shade,
Within this circle I have made.
Make me a werewolf strong and bold,
The terror alike of young and old.”

The chant above is similar to the many other chants and prayers that have been recorded as ancient incantations that bring about the change from man to wolf. Invocations of evil. Calling upon the spirits of the forests and even the devil himself to aide in the transformation. But the prayer was not enough, it was the belt or pelt made of a wolf’s hide that lent the spirit of the wolf to the human that sought release from the human form. And with the combination of the highly hallucinogenic and toxicity of the plants used in the salve that was rubbed into the flesh, the transformation was complete. It is not known for certain that these people did not truly transform, but the methods they used to complete their transformation were definitely conducive to altering their perceptions into believing that they were mad blood thirsty beasts.

Cases and Accounts of Werism

It was not just a faery tale to frighten children any more. As civilizations improved and more people began passing on stories a new light was shed on these creatures and when murders of violent brutality occurred there began a new series of documentation, one that was more credible than the usual peasant hearsay. Suddently werewolves were everywhere and now there were trial records to back up the epidemic of cases.

During 1520 and 1630 more than 30,000 people were labeled as werewolves. These people were tortured until they confessed to the crimes revealed by their criminal investigation. Many suffered burning, decapitation, and impalement upon stakes. For the ones that escaped death it was not an easy row. Scarred forever with psychological trauma and the stigma of having been accused of being a werewolf many never regained their normal lives and some took their own life to escape the tortures they had to live with.
Werewolf Trials

The case of Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun
In 1591, Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdum were the convicted werewolves. Nineteen years ago when Burgot was desperately trying to gather his storm frightened sheep, he met with three mysterious black dressed horsemen. One of them assured him the future protection of his sheep and gave him some money as well. In return the stranger just wanted Burgot to obey him as the Lord. Accepting the proposal Burgot agreed to meet again. In the second meeting the so-called Lord announced the full conditions of the deal:


Burgot must renounce God, the Holy Virgin, the Company of Heaven, his baptism and also his confirmation.


As year passed Burgot became reluctant to maintain the pact. Then he was called by Michel Verdum. Verdum demanded him to strip naked and rub a magic ointment on his body. When Burgot obeyed the order, he found his arms and legs had become hairy, his hands reshaped into paws. Verdum changed his shape too and together they ran through the surrounding countryside. They committed various awful crimes. They tore to pieces a seven-year-old boy, killed a woman and abducted a four-year-old girl. The unfortunate girl was fully eaten up by two of them. When they were caught they were duly put to death. Their picture was hung in the local church as a reminder of all the evil deeds that men could commit under the influence of Satan.

Gilles Garnier, “the hermit of Dole,”

In 1573 werewolf attacks became more apparent. After finding several half-eaten children the authorities of the town Dôle in Frenche-Comté province put a price on werewolves’ head. Two months after the injunction, an alleged werewolf named Gillas Garner was arrested. His victims were nine to twelve-year-old children. He slew them with his paws and teeth. To satisfy his appetite, he ate flesh from their thigh, legs and belly. The story of his crimes and sentencing him to death still survive and have become a folk song.

Werewolf of Caude

In 1584 two alleged werewolves, Pierre Gandillon and his son George were apprehended. They were accused for having murdered and eaten numerous youngsters under the narcotic influence of the salve with which they rubbed their bodies. Again in 1598 Jacques Rollet was tried for killing and eating a boy of fifteen. He was known as the werewolf of Caude. When he was found in the woods, he was half-naked with long matted hair and blood covered hands. He was still holding a lump of flesh. At his trial he described how he had slaughtered various people, including a number of Attorneys, lawyers and bailiffs. Though he was sentenced to death he was later sent to a madhouse. Strangely he stayed there for only two years.

The Tailor

Among other werewolf cases, the story of a tailor stands out for its peculiarity. The alleged werewolf would hide in the forests and lie in wait for a passerby. Whenever he could get a chance, he jumped out and killed the ill-fated man. He had a shop and used it as to bait children. He tempted them into his shop, and then killed them. In his cellars he stored their meat like butchers.Some barrels were used to stack up bones and “other foul and hideous things”. The records accumulated during his trial were so repulsive that the court decided that it would better destroy them.

The Lycanthropic Child

There is also a record of a child werewolf. He was Jean Grenier of Aquitaire. His story was more or less like that of Burgot. When his father beat him, he ran away from home and wandered around the countryside. One evening another boy named Pierre La Tihaire took him to the depths of the woods. The Lord of the Jungle was present there. He was a tall black dressed dark man upon a dark horse. The Lord got off his horse and kissed Grenier with icy lips. In the second meeting both of the boys submitted themselves to the Lord of the forest. Their master scratched tattoos on their thighs as brands. He brought out a wine bag and gave them a drink. He also presented them wolf skins and an ointment. The Lord taught them how to rub their bodies with the ointment before putting on the fur.


:p Very interesting. Informative. I did not know alot of those things. Like the traits and everything. :)
-Voica