Supernatural Creatures and Haunted Places: True Spine chilling stories.

Werewolf: Is It Curse or Power?

In European tradition, a werewolf is a man that transforms into a wolf at night and devours animals, people, or corpses before resuming human form during the day. Some werewolves change shape deliberately, while others change shape involuntarily under the influence of a full moon, whether the trait is inherited or acquired from being bitten by a werewolf. Werewolf belief can be found all over the world. Lycanthropy is a psychiatric illness in which a person feels he is a wolf.

The "eastern" werewolf-vampire appears in Central and Eastern European folklore, such as Hungary, Romania, and the Balkans, whereas the "western" werewolf-sorcerer appears in France, German-speaking Europe, and the Baltic.

It's uncertain when and where the mythology of the werewolf began. According to some academics, the werewolf first appeared in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest known Western narrative, when Gilgamesh spurned a potential suitor because she had changed her former partner into a wolf.

With the Legend of Lycaon, werewolves made another early appearance in Greek mythology. According to tradition, the god Zeus was enraged when Lycaon, the son of Pelasgus, presented him a banquet prepared from the remains of a sacrificed kid. Zeus, angry, transformed Lycaon and his sons into wolves as a punishment.

Werewolves made an appearance in early Nordic legend as well. The Saga of the Volsungs is about a father and son who discovered wolf pelts that could convert people into wolves for ten days. The father-and-son team put on the pelts, changed into wolves, and proceeded on a killing spree across the woods. Their rage came to a stop when the father attacked his son, killing him. Only because a friendly raven offered the father a healing leaf did the son survive.

To turn into a werewolf, you must be bitten by a werewolf in their wolfish form during the full moon. Contamination occurs when the werewolf's saliva mixes with the victim's blood. During the full moon, the majority of werewolves transform. Furthermore, unlike a bitten werewolf, a purebred werewolf can easily transform. The human develops sharp teeth, more hair covers the body, nails resemble claws, and facial features such as the nose, eyes, and mouth grow larger during transition.

A werewolf, like other mythical creatures, is recognised for possessing amazing skills. They have enhanced vision, smell, and hearing abilities. Werewolves are also extremely swift and have quick healing abilities. The thoughts of a werewolf can be shared with other werewolves.

Werewolves are commonly depicted as ancient women with poison-coated claws capable of paralysing huge animals and children in Scandinavian folklore.

Saints like St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Patrick are said to have converted sinners into werewolves for years in some Christian legends.

Galen of Pergamon, a Greek surgeon in the second century, proposed that when a patient fantasises about transforming into an animal, he or she is suffering from clinical lycanthropy.

Werewolfism can be cured in Medieval Europe with wolfsbane (a unique blooming plant) or exorcism, both of which are dangerous. Werewolves are also vulnerable to silver weapons.

Greeks believed that the bodies of dead werewolves should be burnt because they would come back to life as a hyena or wolf towards the end of the 19th century. People in rural Germany, Poland, and Northern France thought that persons who died as a result of fatal sins would return as werewolves.

Various methods for becoming a werewolf have been reported, with one of the most basic being the removal of clothing and the use of a wolf-skin belt as a substitute for the assumption of a whole animal skin.

In other circumstances, a magical salve is applied to the body. Drinking rainwater from the animal's footprint or from particular enchanted streams were also thought to be effective methods of achieving metamorphosis. The Livonian werewolves were allegedly initiated by sipping a cup of specially prepared beer and repeating a specific formula, according to the 16th century Swedish writer Olaus Magnus. In his Songs of the Russian People, Ralston describes a type of incantation that is still used in Russia.

In Italy, France, and Germany, it was thought that if a man or woman slept outside on a summer night with the full moon shining directly on his face on a Wednesday or Friday, he or she could turn into a werewolf.

There have been several methods for removing the werewolf phase. The Ancient Greeks and Romans believed in the healing potential of tiredness in the treatment of lycanthropy. Long durations of physical exertion would be imposed on the victim in the hopes of curing the disease. This practise arose from the fact that many claimed werewolves felt weak and weakened after carrying out their crimes.

In medieval Europe, traditionally, there are three methods one can use to cure a victim of werewolfism; medicinally (usually via the use of wolfsbane), surgically or by exorcism. However, many of the cures advocated by medieval medical practitioners proved fatal to the patients. A Sicilian belief of Arabic origin holds that a werewolf can be cured of its ailment by striking it three times on the forehead or scalp with a knife.

Another legend from the same culture includes the werewolf's hands being pierced with nails. Less harsh procedures were applied on occasion. A werewolf could be healed in the German lowland of Schleswig-Holstein by just addressing it three times by its Christian name, while one Danish superstition claims that simply scolding a werewolf will cure it. In the mediaeval period, conversion to Christianity was a typical technique of eradicating werewolfism. St. Hubert's devotion has also been credited for curing and protecting lycanthropes. The disease is also reported to be cured by rolling in dew.

Werewolves have been depicted in a number of films, books, and web series. They have engulfed the modern world of entertainment in their claws, beginning with Wolverine, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Vampire Diaries, and the Twilight Series.

When you hear a howl on every full moon, remember a werewolf is nearby!