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More on Werewolves

WEREWOLF

A person who shapeshifts into a wolf or wolflike creature, either by using magic, or after being placed under a curse. The idea of transforming during the appearance of the full moon was an idea that was picked by fiction writers. In popular culture, a werewolf can be killed if shot by a silver bullet, although this was not a feature of the folk legends. The name most likely derives from Old English “wet” and “wulf.”

The first part, “wer”, translates as “man.” The second half, “wulf,” is the ancestor of “wolf.” An alternative derivation of the word has the first part coming from Old English “weri” (to wear), making the full form in this case: “wearer of wolf skin.”

Historical legends describe a wide variety of methods for becoming a werewolf, such as the removal of clothing and putting on a belt made of wolfskin, rubbing the body with a magic salve, drinking water out of the footprint of the animal in question, and drinking from certain enhanced streams. According to Russian lore, a child born on December 24th becomes a werewolf. Folklore and literature also depicts that a werewolf can be spawned from two werewolf parents. Becoming a werewolf by being bitten by another werewolf is common in modern fiction, but rate in legend, in which werewolf attacks seldom left the victim alive long enough to transform.

LYCANTHROPY

The ability or power of a human to transform into a wolf. There is also a mental illness called lycanthropy in which a patient believes he or she is, or has transformed into, an animal and behaves accordingly.

HOW TO BECOME A WEREWOLF

There are many different ways to become a werewolf. Such as through black magic, pacts with the devil, curses, incantations, and infection. Lycanthropic literature of the past is filled with such eerie chants as that found in THE FULL MOON. The chant is delivered in desolate locations, sometimes from within the perimeters of mysterious circles scratched onto the ground and generally beneath the ghostly light of a full moon.

HOW TO KILL A WEREWOLF

In some folklore Werewolves are immune to aging and most physical diseases. Contrary to popular belief, there are other ways to kill a werewolf. The most common second method of killing a werewolf is by inflecting a wound that destroys the heart or the brain. Or by any form of death that causes brain or heart damage (such as hanging or other oxygen-deprivation methods).

IS THERE A CURE?

There are many cures to lycanthropy found from many legends. In many German legends the cure is an “exorcism” that involves a carved circle, candles, mixing ingredients, and the repetition of the words “Foul spirit release this persons' soul, return to the great unknown!”

Another popular means of protection is water. This can be based upon the relation of lycanthropy and hydrophobia, since a real canid who is affected by this disease fears water. Thus the drinking of salt water and splashing the werewolf with holy water is known to get rid of the curse.

The other possible methods of curing lycanthropy include: drawing 3 drops of blood, addressing the werewolf three times with a Christian name, and saluting the werewolf with the sign of the cross.

DON’T GO TO BRAY ROAD ALONE

“Great, rule number one of hunting- don’t go to the werewolf capitol of the United States alone.”

The state of Wisconsin is oddly no stranger to werewolf sightings and encounters. Although it seems impossible that a mythical creature like a werewolf could stalk the nation’s Heartland, a number of bizarre encounters in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s leaves us pondering this very idea. There had already been encounters with what some believed were werewolves in Wisconsin in 1936, 1964 and 1972 respectively, but there had been nothing like the reports that came out of the area near Delavan, starting in 1989. Some thought it a deformed animal; others a werewolf. It chased cars and children and haunted the nightmares of a community. The appearance of a wolf-like creature, which quickly became a werewolf in the minds of many, electrified the inhabitants of Elkhorn in late 1991. Soon this potent story spread across the world, and reporters flocked to Elkhorn.

VAN HELSING

“You seriously think you can kill me. Van Helsing tried. He failed. I doubt you could do any better…”

Professor Abraham Van Helsing is a fictional character in the novel Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker. He is a Dutch doctor, of advanced age and a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc., etc.", but is best known as a vampire hunter. As a character, Van Helsing has been adapted and changed around in various ways. In some adaptations, such as the more recent film VAN HELSING, Helsing is presented as a monster hunter.

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