Halloween is coming and, as the Cornish Prayer goes, “From ghoulies and ghosties and long leggity beasties and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord deliver us.” People believed in the reality of werewolves. It wasn’t just a ghost story to amuse adults and to scare children. Folks lived in terror of this hereditary condition and dreaded the full moon.
Court records from France in the 1600’s report a case of justifiable homicide based on werewolfism. A French farmer related he was out hunting one day when he was attacked by a wolf. In the struggle he managed to cut off the wolf’s right paw, which caused the wolf to abandon the assault. When the farmer got home, his wife was washing the bloody stump of her right hand in their kitchen sink. So, he melted down some silver coins to fashion a bullet and then used it to kill her. That was his story to the jury. As collaborative proof, he produced the body of his wife – missing her hand. The autopsy, such as it was, found the silver bullet lodged in the wife’s heart. The jury found him not guilty of murder. The judge commended him on his quick thinking by using a silver bullet to save his wife’s soul and ridding the community of this dangerous creature. The mayor declared a day in his honor. The French farmer managed to get over his grief by marrying the stunning beautiful local barmaid, roughly half his age, in a year’s time.
That story is historically factual and reinforces the fact that folks actually believed in werewolves. Of course, we know the truth. The farmer was having an affair, or at least was lusting after the barmaid, killed his wife(cleverly using a pre-prepared silver bullet) and cut off her hand to bolster his werewolf story. Either the barmaid was in cahoots with the farmer, or she was naïve and so impressed with his bravery at taking on a werewolf that she married him. Either way, it worked out for the farmer. It wouldn’t have been possible, except for the believe in werewolves.
Myth and Hollywood would have you believe that you MUST have a silver bullet to kill a werewolf. That’s not true. You can kill a werewolf with anything. However, the poor person’s soul is condemned to Hell unless the werewolf is killed with the purifying substance of silver. So, if the werewolf is a dear demented loved one – you do your level best to kill them using silver. Otherwise, you can take the thing out with whatever lies to hand and the monster can rot in Hell for all you care.
There was also physical confirmation of werewolfism. There is an actual genetic deformity called “hypertrichosis” which causes hair to grow wildly all over a person, including their face – only the lips and eyes are spared. That condition can be inherited. The person looks like the Hollywood version of a werewolf. They are normal in every other way, except their appearance. It doesn’t happen often; less than a hundred cases have been reported all around the world in the last 400 years or so. Perhaps there were more but when those traits were observed, the poor child wasn’t allowed to live.
Rabies was more common back in the day among humans. That disease, if not caught almost immediately, is fatal. It causes delirium, abnormal behavior, a fear of water, frothing at the mouth and actions that can only be described as demented. That disease, and the poor souls afflicted with it, added to the “reality” of werewolfism.
In lore, there were other signs that you were born a werewolf. In many ancient cultures, if a baby was born with the caul on their head, it meant they were fated for great good or great evil – or, they were a werewolf. In the Balkans, if you had the temerity to be born on Christ’s birthday – Christmas Day – you obviously were evil (imagine – trying to share a birthday with Our Savior – the nerve!) and a werewolf. If you slept out in the open, under the light of the full moon, you became a werewolf. Also, if you were bitten by a werewolf you were infected with the disease yourself.
There was a “symptom list” for physicians in order to aid their diagnosis of a patient who was a potential werewolf. A combination of these things could mean you were a werewolf. I’m not sure what the tipping point was from a one off to full-fledged werewolfism. Here’s the list: pointed teeth, pawlike hands, small low set ears, extreme hairiness (like back hair), green eyes, deep set eyes, pale skin, hatred of bright light or dry mouth or fear of water (all rabies symptoms too), preference for rare or raw meat, havingscratches or bites or perhaps the same physical wound that a wolf has alsobeen observed to have.
Citizens could (and can, if you are still a believer) protect themselves from werewolves by staying indoors during a full moon. Werewolves are repelled by rye, mistletoe, ash or yew – I don’t know why – so hang that up around your home or plant those things outside your house. Werewolves hate running water, so install a fountain outside and if a werewolf manages to get inside – hit the shower. A cross, preferably a Crucifix, could ward off werewolf attacks with the added bonus that it works against vampires too.
Lycanthropy is also real. This is a rare psychiatric condition where an individual really believes themselves to be a werewolf. The term is usually applied to myth, fiction or the legend of people turning into werewolves but there have been 43 cases of mental illness where people have been deluded into thinking that they turn into werewolves.
So, are werewolves real? The answer is, of course not. However, were ancient people nuts to believe werewolves were real? The answer is, not really. There are monsters in our world. They are people who hurt children and others, serial killers, sadistic torturers and the like but no werewolves. In a way, that’s too bad because we know how to identify and dispose of werewolves. Our modern day monsters, not so much.