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by ladyspica on October 28th, 2004

ladyspica

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Where does the legend of werewolves come from?

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  • by FadingxSmiles on March 24th, 2007

    FadingxSmiles

    [The parts in brackets are my own words.

    There are many theories.]

    "Many authors have speculated that werewolf and vampire legends may have been used to explain serial killings in less enlightened ages. This theory is given credence by the tendency of some modern serial killers to indulge in practices (such as cannibalism, mutilation and cyclic attacks) commonly associated with werewolves. The idea (although not the terminology) is well explored in Sabine Baring-Gould's seminal work The Book of Werewolves."

    [This is the most likely, and widely believed. Many things those days were twisted into being worse than they were. Either, because they were passed on by word of mouth, or because they were changed to get small children to listen to their mommies and daddies.]

    "A recent theory has been proposed to explain werewolf episodes in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ergot, which causes a form of food borne illness, is a fungus that grows in place of rye grains in wet growing seasons after very cold winters. Ergot poisoning usually affects whole towns or poor sections of towns, resulting in hallucinations, mass hysteria and paranoia, as well as convulsions and sometimes death. (The hallucinogen LSD can be derived from ergot). Ergot poisoning has been propounded as both a cause of an individual believing that one is a werewolf and of a whole town believing that they had witnessed a werewolf. This theory, however, is controversial and not widely accepted."

    [This is the one I have always believed. The part about it not being widely accepted is incorrect, I think. Most books and documentaries use this as one of the viable reasons.]

    Some modern researchers have tried to use conditions such as rabies, hypertrichosis (excessive hair growth over the entire body) or porphyria (an enzyme disorder with symptoms including hallucinations and paranoia) to explain werewolf beliefs. Congenital erythropoietic porphyria has clinical features which include photosensitivity (so sufferers only go out at night), hairy hands and face, poorly healing skin, pink urine, and reddish colour to the teeth."

    [I have only heard this theory a few times.]

    "There is also a rare mental disorder called clinical lycanthropy, in which an affected person has a delusional belief that he or she is transforming into another animal, but not necessarily a wolf or werewolf."

    [This is another widely accepted theory.]

    "Others believe that werewolf legends were partly inspired from shamanism and totem animals in primitive and nature-based cultures.[citation needed] The term therianthropy has been adopted to describe a spiritual concept in which the individual believes he or she has the spirit or soul, in whole or in part, of a nonhuman animal."

    [This is another thing used to scare small children. Most likely religious people trying to scare the kiddies away from blasphemous things.]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf

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