Just as the original source of the vampire lies in Eastern Europe, so the forests of France appear to harbor the origins of the werewolf. Reports of werewolves (called loupsgarous in France) even reached epidemic figures in the 16th century. No fewer than 30,000 cases were recorded between 1520 and 1630.
Experts
Although most experts dismissed the tales of werewolves as superstition, there have been experts – authoritative in their day – who did not regard the idea of a human being turned into a wolf as entirely a superstitious fantasy. One of those who belonged to the latter group was Sabine Baring-Gould. He wrote ,Book of Were-wolves, Being an Account of a Terrible Superstition, in 1865 . In this book, Sabine claimed: ‘Because the legend of the werewolf is so persistent and defies all time, it must contain some truth.’
Supporter
Elliott O’Donnell (a 20th century writer) agrees with Sabine Baring-Gould’s view. Elliott states that there is no absolute proof that those who claimed to be werewolves were also impostors. It was a striking feature of lycanthropy trials that the suspects seemed eager to confess. A lycanthrope is someone who suffers from a mental illness that causes them to believe they have been turned into a wolf. Lykanthrope comes from the Greek lykanthropos and means ‘wolf man’. Elliott O’Donnell points out that many of the accused were undoubtedly also victims of the justice system and only confessed after torture. Yet Elliott believes that his comment does not necessarily rule out the existence of the werewolf. He states that as with vampirism, records of werewolves have been preserved throughout the world since ancient times. As early as the 5th century BC, Herodotus (father of history) wrote about werewolves. Herodotus wrote: ‘Every neurotic changes himself once a year into the shape of a wolf and remains in that shape for several days, after which he resumes his own form.’ Elliott also mentions that in the 2nd century AD there was a Roman physician who noticed that lycanthropy was a kind of melancholy. ,Healing,, said the Roman physician, ,is possible by opening a vein and draining blood during an attack.,
Roman werewolf story
Petronius was a Roman satirist of the first century AD. He also wrote a werewolf story about a man who took a soldier on a night tour outside the city. To his astonishment, the man saw the soldier take off his clothes and turn into a wolf. With a loud howl the creature sprang into the forest and disappeared from sight. At the farm, the man was told a little later that a wolf had just entered and bit the cattle. After the stable hand stabbed the animal in the neck with a pitchfork, the creature took off. At daybreak the man had returned to his house. On his way back he passed the place where the soldier’s clothes had been lying. All he found was a pool of blood. When he got home he found the soldier injured. A doctor was bandaging his neck.
Remark
The above story by Petronius briefly summarizes the recurring theme of the werewolf legend: the wolf is wounded in a battle and later a human is discovered with a similar wound.
Adventures of a Russian lady
A medieval story tells the adventures of a Russian noble lady who did not want to believe that someone could turn into an animal. One of her servants offered to prove her wrong. He turned into a wolf and ran through the fields, being chased by his mistress’s dogs. He was cornered and injured in one of his eyes. When the servant returned to his mistress in human form, he was blind in one eye.
Story from the Auvergne
Another famous case occurred in the Auvergne region in central France in the year 1558. There, a hunter came across a nobleman while traveling through the forest. The nobleman asked him to take some game with him, if he was lucky in the hunt. The hunter was later attacked by a wild wolf, but he managed to chase the animal away. In doing so he cut off a claw from the beast. He put the claw in his game bag as a souvenir and went back home. On the way he stopped at the nobleman’s castle and told him of his adventure. He reached into his bag to show the wolf’s claw, but was astonished to find a narrow woman’s hand in its place. The nobleman was even more surprised, for he recognized the gold ring on one of the fingers. He ran upstairs and saw his wife bandaging the bleeding stump of her wrist. She confessed to being a werewolf and was burned at the stake.
The Werewolf Indian
An Indian lived with his three children in the forest, far away from his tribe. He died and made his eldest son and the girl promise that they would take care of their youngest brother. Not long after, the eldest brother began to long for the company of the tribe. He told this to his sister. She admitted that she also felt lonely. Thinking of her father’s words, she felt that she should not forget her little brother. Despite her objections, the older boy ran off. The girl, fed up with her duties, later abandoned her brother and she too headed for their tribe. The girl found her eldest brother, who was now married, and she decided to stay with him in the village. The little brother, left alone, waited in vain for his sister’s return. He became hungry and cold. At night he crept out from his hiding place to eat the remains left by the wolves. Soon he sought their company, having no other friends. One day the eldest brother was fishing in his canoe on a large lake. Suddenly he heard his little brother’s voice singing, ,My brother, my brother! I’m becoming a wolf!, The eldest brother quickly rowed to shore and jumped out of his boat. He ran after his brother and called him. But the boy, who had already become half a wolf, fled after his new brothers, the wolves, into the depths of the forest.
And the werewolf came back
In 1888, a professor went on holiday at a lake in Wales. One day he discovered what looked like the skull of a particularly large dog. He took it home. That evening his wife was home alone when there was sniffing and scratching at the kitchen door. She walked to the door to make sure everything was locked properly. In front of the window she then discovered the head of an enormous creature, half man, half animal. The claws and teeth were those of a wolf, but the eyes were human and intelligent. In terror, the woman heard the creature sneak around the house and rattle on the doors. A little later her husband returned with a guest. She just managed to lock the door before she lost consciousness. Recovering, she told her story. That night they stayed up to see if the monster would return. And it did. Suddenly a wolf stood at the window peering in. The professor and his wife grabbed a gun and ran, but the figure fled. The creature walked to the lake and disappeared into the depths without leaving a single ripple on the water. The next day the professor threw the skull into the deepest part of the lake. They never saw the werewolf again.
Not just stories
The fact that not only storytellers dabble in the domain of the werewolf is evident from the many paintings and engravings, such as:
- A 16th century engraving of the ancient Greek king Lycaon, depicting this king with a wolf’s head. This is probably the ancestor of the werewolf. According to the myth, Lycaon had tried to win over Zeus by sacrificing a child and offering its flesh to the mighty god. As punishment for this deed, Lycaon was turned into a wolf by Zeus;
- Illustrations from a 16th century pamphlet showing The Life and Death of Peter Stubb , the German werewolf. On the rack, Peter confessed that he had a magical belt that turned him into a wolf. He was found guilty, although his prosecutors were unable to find any trace of the belt. He was put to death under horrible torture;
- An engraving of the capture and hanging of a werewolf by the town population of Eschenbach in Germany dates from 1685. The werewolf had attacked children from the town. A rooster had been placed near a deep well as bait. The werewolf tried to jump over the pit, but missed his target. Thus he could easily be captured;
- In the vision of the 16th century German painter Lucas Cranach, a werewolf devours a baby. In the painting the man has not physically transformed into a wolf, but has merely adopted the predatory behavior of the ravenous animal;
- An engraving from 1765 shows the feared ‘Wild Beast of Gévaudan’ performing some of his nefarious deeds. The animal terrorized a number of regions in France and took the lives of more than 100 people. It was said that the ‘Wild Beast’ could deliver paralyzing blows with its long tail and that it could run with supernatural speed;
- Francisco de Goya’s painting The Magic Kitchen shows magicians transforming into wolf-like creatures. It is one of six paintings about sorcery and witchcraft that the Spanish master painted in 1798. DeGoya had a strong tendency to explore the depths of the subconscious.