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Description
-TEXT/DESCRIPTION TAKEN FROM THE ULTIMATE ENCYLOPEDIA OF MYTHICAL CREATRES. PICTURE DRAWN FROM THE BOOK BUT IS NOT TRACED-

WEREWOLF

the werewolf, after the vampire, must be the most well-knownmythical monster of all and it is not just hollywood and hammer horrors who have made him famous. myths of werewolves have been around since the dawn of time.

the world "lycanthropy", a medical condition wich describes a belief that one is possessed by the spirit of a wolf, comes from "lykos" meaning "wolf" and "anthropos" meaning "man", and in turn derives from the myth of king lycaon of arcadia in ancient greece.

there are several diffrent versions of the legend. either ie tempted zeus, who had come to court dsguised as a traveller , with the flesh of a child he had slain, or he wated to bribe zeus with an offer, or he was too mean to slay an ox to feed his distinguished guest and tried to pass off a dish of humane meat in its place. according to another version it was his son whom he offered. eus was so disgusted and so angered with this foul deed that he turned lycaon into a wolf, that his true beastly nature might be plain for all to see.

thereafter, at an annual sacrifice on the same spot, known as moutn lycaeus, a man was said to turn into a wolf and could not turn back unless he abstained from human flesh for ten years.

this is probably the origin of the myth in europebut there are similar beliefs in stories of men meamorphosing into wild animals in remote areas across the globe. the only real diffrence is that in place of a wolf they feared predator. in india they might feature the tiger, in africa the hyena, leopard or lion, in south america the jaguar.

from norse history we have the phenomenon of the "berserker", wich comes from norse for "ber" meaning "ear" and "serk" meaning "skin". these fearsome warriors were renowned for their ferocious behavior on the battle-field. although the heat of battle brought out the bestial instincts within all men, these berskerers went on stup further, transported into a bloody rage that knew no bounds, killing anything in their path, even men on their own side. in mediaeval france, it was more common to be accused of being a werewolf then witch and in the sixteenth century there were over 30,000 such trials.

one possible reason for prevalence of such cases was the lack of understandingof the phenomenon of the serial killer, who might kill to satisfy an insane blood lust. according to contemporary thinking, such homicidle impulses could not be traced to aberrrations within the brain. rather they had their source in external influences, particularly the desire of the devil to thrwart god's offer of salvation through christ to mankind before the advent of modern criminal investigation methods would have been quite easy for a serial killer to kill with impunity and with a transient population and no effective communication between borders, people might often disappeear and never be missed.

if someone stumbled across the abhorrent aftermath of such a frenzied killing they might well have difficulty beliving that this was the work of a man.

there were several diffrent ways in which a man could become a werewolf.

men and indeed womeen were not always turned into werewolves against their will by the bite of another werewolf. sometimes they actively sought to transform themselves.

according to much germanfolklore, a strap or belt was needed. this could be made from the hide and fur of a wolf, or a srip of skin from the back of a hangd man. sometimes the devil gave this strap as a to ken and once accepted it could nevere be renoucned.
another way was to stand within a circle in a grabeyard ona full moon and rub a specially prepared ointment into the skin while reciting magical versers.
this ointment contained amongst other ingredients belladonna and nightshade and henbane dissolved in pig fat and alcohol and supposedly fur began to sprout from the skin as the devilish incantatioins were repeated.

many stories, such as those gathered by the brothers grimm, follow a similar pattern and are clearly related.

for example there is the recuring case o the poor old woman, who always has fresh meat on her table. one night an envious neighbor follows her to the sheep pen and watches aghast as she attacks and kills one of the livestock.
then there are three woodcutrs who take a nap while waitingfor their lunch to arrive from the village. one of them does not trust the other and he pretends to fall asleep, with one eye open. he watches in horror as this man is transformed into a ravening beast and devours a whole horse. later, on theri return tot the village, he complains of a stomach ache.

"this is no surprise!" he is told.
"considering what you have just eaten!"

"If you had told me earlier what you had seen" is the dark reply
"you would not have left the forest..."

the other common motif is the discovery of the identity of the werewolf by managing to wound the werewolf and then finding a similarly injured man or woman. it is not improbable that stories of werwolves might have arisen by such coincidences occurring entirely innocently, especially when men were working alone withfarm toos, such as axes and scythes, unable to prove they had injured themselves. accusations of "werewolfery" may also have been entirely unfounded and malicious, as was often the case in witchcraft trials. envy of a neighbor's material possessions could have played a big part.

but the link to mental illness is strongest. this does not just mean that they wer mis diagnosing various frorms of dementia. even today there are many people who wholeheartedly belive that when the moon is full they bevome transformed into a wolf.

as for coming face to face with a werewolf, in the middle ages it was thought that if you threw a piece of metal over his head or called ou this name, then he would turn back into human form.

nowadays, you have to be better prepared, with a gun and a silver bullet in your pocket. and just in case you think this is a mere fanciful notion, bear in mind the story of the morbach monster. morbach ingermany is near wittlington, where, according to legend, the last werewolf was killed. there is a candle on a shrine to mark the e xact spot and should the candle ever die, the werewolf will return.
one night, as recently as 1988, airforce base security guards on patrol saw that a candal had been estinguished, and just then they heard the wail of the perimenter alarm echoing ominously in the night. a little later, one of the guards saw a large wolf-like animal rear up onto its hind legs and then leap over the fence which stood over eight feet high. his alastian was so terrified that it was unable to go on working and had to be retired!

Description
-TEXT/DESCRIPTION TAKEN FROM THE ULTIMATE ENCYLOPEDIA OF MYTHICAL CREATRES. PICTURE DRAWN FROM THE BOOK BUT IS NOT TRACED-

WEREWOLF

the werewolf, after the vampire, must be the most well-knownmythical monster of all and it is not just hollywood and hammer horrors who have made him famous. myths of werewolves have been around since the dawn of time.

the world "lycanthropy", a medical condition wich describes a belief that one is possessed by the spirit of a wolf, comes from "lykos" meaning "wolf" and "anthropos" meaning "man", and in turn derives from the myth of king lycaon of arcadia in ancient greece.

there are several diffrent versions of the legend. either ie tempted zeus, who had come to court dsguised as a traveller , with the flesh of a child he had slain, or he wated to bribe zeus with an offer, or he was too mean to slay an ox to feed his distinguished guest and tried to pass off a dish of humane meat in its place. according to another version it was his son whom he offered. eus was so disgusted and so angered with this foul deed that he turned lycaon into a wolf, that his true beastly nature might be plain for all to see.

thereafter, at an annual sacrifice on the same spot, known as moutn lycaeus, a man was said to turn into a wolf and could not turn back unless he abstained from human flesh for ten years.

this is probably the origin of the myth in europebut there are similar beliefs in stories of men meamorphosing into wild animals in remote areas across the globe. the only real diffrence is that in place of a wolf they feared predator. in india they might feature the tiger, in africa the hyena, leopard or lion, in south america the jaguar.

from norse history we have the phenomenon of the "berserker", wich comes from norse for "ber" meaning "ear" and "serk" meaning "skin". these fearsome warriors were renowned for their ferocious behavior on the battle-field. although the heat of battle brought out the bestial instincts within all men, these berskerers went on stup further, transported into a bloody rage that knew no bounds, killing anything in their path, even men on their own side. in mediaeval france, it was more common to be accused of being a werewolf then witch and in the sixteenth century there were over 30,000 such trials.

one possible reason for prevalence of such cases was the lack of understandingof the phenomenon of the serial killer, who might kill to satisfy an insane blood lust. according to contemporary thinking, such homicidle impulses could not be traced to aberrrations within the brain. rather they had their source in external influences, particularly the desire of the devil to thrwart god's offer of salvation through christ to mankind before the advent of modern criminal investigation methods would have been quite easy for a serial killer to kill with impunity and with a transient population and no effective communication between borders, people might often disappeear and never be missed.

if someone stumbled across the abhorrent aftermath of such a frenzied killing they might well have difficulty beliving that this was the work of a man.

there were several diffrent ways in which a man could become a werewolf.

men and indeed womeen were not always turned into werewolves against their will by the bite of another werewolf. sometimes they actively sought to transform themselves.

according to much germanfolklore, a strap or belt was needed. this could be made from the hide and fur of a wolf, or a srip of skin from the back of a hangd man. sometimes the devil gave this strap as a to ken and once accepted it could nevere be renoucned.
another way was to stand within a circle in a grabeyard ona full moon and rub a specially prepared ointment into the skin while reciting magical versers.
this ointment contained amongst other ingredients belladonna and nightshade and henbane dissolved in pig fat and alcohol and supposedly fur began to sprout from the skin as the devilish incantatioins were repeated.

many stories, such as those gathered by the brothers grimm, follow a similar pattern and are clearly related.

for example there is the recuring case o the poor old woman, who always has fresh meat on her table. one night an envious neighbor follows her to the sheep pen and watches aghast as she attacks and kills one of the livestock.
then there are three woodcutrs who take a nap while waitingfor their lunch to arrive from the village. one of them does not trust the other and he pretends to fall asleep, with one eye open. he watches in horror as this man is transformed into a ravening beast and devours a whole horse. later, on theri return tot the village, he complains of a stomach ache.

"this is no surprise!" he is told.
"considering what you have just eaten!"

"If you had told me earlier what you had seen" is the dark reply
"you would not have left the forest..."

the other common motif is the discovery of the identity of the werewolf by managing to wound the werewolf and then finding a similarly injured man or woman. it is not improbable that stories of werwolves might have arisen by such coincidences occurring entirely innocently, especially when men were working alone withfarm toos, such as axes and scythes, unable to prove they had injured themselves. accusations of "werewolfery" may also have been entirely unfounded and malicious, as was often the case in witchcraft trials. envy of a neighbor's material possessions could have played a big part.

but the link to mental illness is strongest. this does not just mean that they wer mis diagnosing various frorms of dementia. even today there are many people who wholeheartedly belive that when the moon is full they bevome transformed into a wolf.

as for coming face to face with a werewolf, in the middle ages it was thought that if you threw a piece of metal over his head or called ou this name, then he would turn back into human form.

nowadays, you have to be better prepared, with a gun and a silver bullet in your pocket. and just in case you think this is a mere fanciful notion, bear in mind the story of the morbach monster. morbach ingermany is near wittlington, where, according to legend, the last werewolf was killed. there is a candle on a shrine to mark the e xact spot and should the candle ever die, the werewolf will return.
one night, as recently as 1988, airforce base security guards on patrol saw that a candal had been estinguished, and just then they heard the wail of the perimenter alarm echoing ominously in the night. a little later, one of the guards saw a large wolf-like animal rear up onto its hind legs and then leap over the fence which stood over eight feet high. his alastian was so terrified that it was unable to go on working and had to be retired!