Werewolf

By Crusader1307

 All cultures have some form of Shapeshifting myths. The guise of a Wolf, is one of the most common. Other than a Bird, persons changing into a Wolf (or canine), may have been the first recorded. Ancient Greece had variations as well. The traditional Wolfman legend seems to be rooted in 15th Century Central Europe. Again, the formula seems to be repeated (throughout). A cursed person is bitten by a Person already cursed . They in turn, physically transform into a Wolf when The Moon is at full cycle. This is seen as a nod to the Hunter's Moon (which afforded night-time light for Hunts) of which the Wolf would be an Apex Hunter .

This now transformed human would then hunt (animals). With the coming Sun, our Wolf would revert back to his human form. As the legend grows more sinister, The Wolf (around the 17th Century), now hunts humans (and takes the more familiar form of a human-wolf hybrid. Partially as food, IF a person survives the bite , THEY will be infected by the curse as well! Doomed to suffer the same changes , our Wolfman can only be cured by either the death of the original wolf (a vampire nod ) - or the practice of blessed silver (a sword before firearms), to pierce the Wolfman's heart. The theory of Silver no doubt developed from the Mid-Medieval practice of using Silver to ward away evil. With the advent of firearms, the sword was quickly replaced with a silver molded bullet. By the 19th Century, the Wolfman Curse had been incorporated into Modern Horror and Gothic Writers fare. The eventual rest became film History .

A more logical explanation began to develop in the 18th Century. It was noted that many persons who suffered from mental or emotional conditions, seemed to loss control of themselves when The Moon reached it's full Cycle. This made some of these poor souls begin to emulate a wild beast or Wolf. Locked away in Insane Asylums, they would revert back to a normal state with the waning of The Moon. This strange condition was called Lycanthropy . In fact, humans do react somewhat differently during full Lunar Cycles. In some cases, (and well documented), Crime goes UP during such (Robbery, Rape, Murder etc.) As late as the 1850s, Lycanthrophy was officially identified as an illness of the brain . Or..........................