Werewolves, werewolves, lycanthropes, kitsune, tanuki, lugaru, anioto... what types of werewolves are not present in the mythology of various nations. According to popular belief, a werewolf is either an animal that can take on a human form, or a person who can turn into an animal.
The first mass persecution and detection of werewolves occurred in Europe in the 14th century. Several centuries later, werewolf addiction reached a new peak. The latest massive outbreak in France was accompanied by unprecedented controversy and lasted for 40 years. When courts sentenced those possessed by lycanthropy to be burned, and peasants slaughtered all suspicious passers-by with stakes, pundits wrote master's theses, pamphlets and treatises on the topic of werewolves.
It is now known that myths about werewolves are associated with clinical lycanthropy - a mental illness in which a person believes that he is some kind of animal, for example, a wolf, cat, horse or dog.
In the works of Paul Aeginetus, an Alexandrian physician, there is a detailed analysis of this disease and the causes that cause it. The doctor was convinced that the disease could be caused by the use of certain hallucinogenic drugs, as well as mental disorders.
In his books, he also described the symptoms characteristic of people suffering from lycanthropy. He included pallor of the skin, weakened vision, complete absence of tears and saliva, severe thirst, and affected lower extremities. Patients with lycanthropy have also been noted to have a strong desire to go to the cemetery at night and howl until the sun rises on the moon.
A person who fell ill with lycanthropy changed very quickly in appearance. Patients reported that at the beginning of the attack they experienced chills, which gradually turned into fever. At the same time, an unquenchable thirst and severe headaches arose. The patients also suffered from severe shortness of breath. The arms swelled and noticeably lengthened, the skin on the limbs and face became rough and blurred. The toes curved, resembling claws. At the same time, lycanthropes could not wear shoes and tried to quickly get rid of them. Consciousness also changed, and claustrophobia arose. The patients experienced a terrible fear of closed spaces and tried to get out into the street.
Then stomach cramps began, nausea and a burning sensation in the chest appeared. At this stage, patients with lycanthropy usually tried to free themselves from clothes and got up on all fours. The skin quickly darkened and became covered with hair. Coarse hair grew on the face and head.
The werewolves awakened to a wild thirst for fresh blood. The palms and soles of their feet became so hard that they could run on sharp rocks. Lycanthropes usually attacked the first person they came across, biting through arteries with sharp teeth and drinking blood. After this, the werewolves lost their magical power and at dawn turned back into people.
Most often, lycanthropes sensed the approach of an attack, but were unable to prevent it. Everything was happening too quickly. Some tried to take refuge in the basements and survive the attack there. Others ran into the forest and vented their aggression by growling loudly, rolling on the ground and scratching tree trunks.
Since ancient times, humanity has been writing legends about people with supernatural abilities that are inaccessible to other members of the race. The most popular of them are stories about the existence of werewolves. Werewolves are people who, under the influence of certain conditions, can turn into an animal, while retaining human intelligence and some physical traits. But whether werewolves exist in real life, or is it just a fiction of writers, will soon become clear.
What are werewolves like?
Mythology does not have a clear idea of what a werewolf should be. Each nation has its own understanding of what kind of animal a person can turn into, and does it have mythical abilities:
- Lycanthrope is the most common werewolf. This creature has many names: wolf-lak (Slavic mythology), vilktak (Lithuanian), werewolf (German and Anglo-Saxon), mardagail (Armenian), bisclavert (Breton), ulfhednar (Scandinavian).
- The Berserker is a warrior with the strength of a bear and the rage of a wolf, originally from the Scandinavian epic.
- Kitsune is a werefox from Japanese mythology. From there, stories began about Tanuki (were-raccoon), Anioto (leopard man) and Rugaru (human-pet hybrid).
- Silkies are wereseals from Celtic mythology.
Methods of transformation
According to legends, there were two ways to transform a person into a werewolf - by one’s own will and against one’s will. Each werewolf had his own way of transforming.
That is, if he could become a beast whenever he wanted, then nothing could force him to turn against his will. And this principle also applied to those who were forced to become werewolves. Unfortunately, they could not control their transformations.
But who exactly could transform whenever they wanted, and which werewolf was influenced by the desires of his beast? This was available to certain types of mythical creature:
Why is the possibility of their existence more controversial than the reality of other werewolves? Just imagine. Werewolves who did not know how to control themselves, in moments of hunger attacks, attacked any living creature that found itself in the access zone. How many random attacks were there? Accordingly, the number of new shifters would increase tenfold. And the more inexperienced newcomers there are, the more difficult it is to keep their very existence a secret. Therefore, the presence of werewolves in real life would have long ago become an indisputable fact, and not the usual interesting legend from the depths of mythology.
Man in the form of a beast
The transformation process itself was quite painful. It all started with a slight chill, developing into a fever. There was a throbbing pain in my head that gradually spread to my whole body. First, the arms and legs lengthened and enlarged, their muscle mass increased, and the skin darkened and became rough. At this stage, the person lost his mind, speech became slurred and more like a growl. Then the whole body increased in size, and the skin became covered with fur. Gradually, moving away from sensations, human intelligence and ingenuity returned to the werewolf.
It was an unusual creature, far superior to its fellow animals in physical parameters and endurance. Usually, werewolves walked on both four and two legs, were very tall and had enormous strength. The duration of their life depended on the number of transformations, that is, the more there are, the longer their youth lasts. According to some reports, immortal werewolves also existed.
These were the kings of the animal world. Any living creature felt the presence of a werewolf and obeyed him. There is very little information about whether werewolves had magical powers or not. But the fact that they are always associated with the phases of the moon (the so-called full moon) suggests that they felt the magnetic poles of the Earth and could influence them.
Do werewolves really exist?
It is difficult to figure out whether werewolves are a myth or reality, because if you are guided by the number of testimonies about encounters with werewolves, then there is no doubt that they exist in real life. If you remember common sense and the lack of significant evidence, you immediately begin to doubt the mental health of those people who made up legends about them. But what could have influenced so many witnesses so that they unanimously affirmed the reality of encounters with a bloodthirsty killer beast?
Firstly, we must remember the time in which the authors of these legends lived. The Middle Ages was a period when it was not the president and his ministers who reigned, but the church and the Pope. The Church used the Bible for its own purposes, interpreting the sacred laws in its own way. Accordingly, everything that did not fit into the generally accepted framework was considered the machinations of the devil, eager to grab another human soul.
Secondly, lycanthropy is a mental disorder during which a person considers himself an animal. The work of that part of the brain that is responsible for a person’s perception of himself as an individual is disrupted, and the patient seriously begins to perceive himself as a representative of the animal world and copy its behavior and habits.
During an attack, the body temperature rises very strongly, dehydration begins in the body, as a result of which the eyes become dry and the tongue cracks. Severe claustrophobia begins, and the patient strives by all means to find himself on the street. He perceives anyone who decides to interfere with him as an obstacle that must be eliminated. This explains all his attempts to scratch, bite or push.
This disease is incurable, but is not permanent. It appears and disappears, however, the person remembers everything he did at these moments. And he talks about it himself. This is similar to a split personality; the patient is firmly convinced that he has turned into an animal, and strives to tell all his friends and acquaintances about it.
Now imagine people frightened by the church who consider any manifestations of the weather to be the whims of the gods, and too revealing a neckline to be a temptation from the devil... Can you imagine? And so sick people come to such people and tell them about their nightly adventures. They want to help in their own way, going to the church for advice. Only she has only two ways to cure a person: to a monastery or to the fire...
What if a person was “lucky enough” to meet a sick person in the forest at night, pale with crazy eyes, scraps of clothing on his body, which he tore in a fit of fever? He climbs on all fours, growling and trying to figure out where to find water, and the man has already imagined all seven circles of hell. Here are the details of bloody encounters with a huge beast...
Facts about the existence of werewolves in Russia
No matter how strange it may sound, it also happens that a person meets a mythical creature in person, face to face. One fact of the meeting can be attributed to the fact that the person lied or confused him with some kind of animal. The second case can be attributed to an ordinary coincidence. But what to do when this happens for the third, fourth, fifth, sixth time? For example, we can recall the cases that occurred in Russia:
- Meeting in Irkutsk: This incident occurred in the late eighties on military territory. In the middle of the night, the senior lieutenant is called to the service unit. When he arrived, he noticed among the soldiers his private, intelligent and reasonable man, in a state close to hysterics. In addition, what he said did not fit within the framework of reason. Judging by his words, the incident occurred an hour ago, when he was making another round of the facility entrusted to him. Behind the barbed fence, the man saw an incomprehensible creature that looked like a wolf, but was about two meters tall. It also noticed the man and tried to climb over the fence. The private was not at a loss and opened fire on him. To his horror, the bullets bounced off the creature without harming it. But the beast did not like the noise made, and he went deep into the forest. To study all the details of the incident, the lieutenant and the chief of guard went to the scene of the incident. To their confusion, there were indeed traces of a very large animal walking on two legs. In addition, a large tuft of dark wool hung on the barbed wire.
- Kostroma region: Schoolgirl Ira spent her summer holidays with her grandmother in the village. One day, while riding a bicycle in the forest, she accidentally bumped into a local old woman, almost knocking her down on the path. Stopping in time, the girl wanted to apologize to the woman. But, looking at her, she was scared to death. The old woman's face became long and covered with gray fur, and white fangs flashed between her lips. This only lasted a couple of seconds, and her face returned to normal. The woman looked at the girl and told her to forget about this meeting, turned around and left.
And there are many such cases. None of us know what a werewolf looks like in reality., and even more so cannot answer the question of whether werewolves exist in our time at all. But no one can dispute the fact that such strange meetings occur in our time. What is this, a wild human imagination, or a truly real mythical creature? At the moment no one knows this.
Honestly, I asked myself this question more than once, because it’s still interesting to know whether this is a myth or reality. Most of you have thought about this.
The most complete Witcher collection
First of all, let's figure out who werewolves are? A werewolf is a person who turns into a monster in the moonlight. You and I know about their existence from films and books, some believe that this is a terrible disease, and others have actually seen them.
Werewolves are tall and have enormous strength, do not age and are virtually immortal. You can kill a werewolf with a silver bullet or blessed iron.
It was possible to turn into a werewolf in different ways, but the end result always turned out to be an unimaginably scary, evil, strong and dangerous creature. He had wolfish habits and at the same time human ingenuity. A person who turns into a werewolf is aggressive, violent, restless, and suffers from insomnia.
Book - True werewolf couple
According to legends, the transformation began with a slight chill of the body, the next step was fever, unbearable pain in the head and an insatiable desire for blood. The arms swelled and became large and long, the skin became rough. Sweat formed on the forehead, breathing slowed down, sanity was lost, speech became incomprehensible, due to the powerful growth of the body, clothes were torn into pieces, the skin became dark and overgrown with hair.
In the distant ancient world, it was believed that a werewolf attacked people and ate them, destroyed entire villages, and killed children. When he satisfied all his desires, he woke up in the morning as an ordinary person and did not remember anything.
According to legend, they transformed in several ways:
- Magic
- A curse
- From a werewolf bite
- If a person was born from a werewolf
- If a man wore clothes made of wolf skin
- With the help of a ritual
Who is right? Different versions of the existence of werewolves
And so... Is it really possible for people to transform into wolves? Or are these fairy tales and legends? Or just the imagination of a person with a rich imagination? Let's sort it out with you.
Most steam psychologists believe that there is actually no such thing as re-injury. This is a kind of hypnosis, i.e. a person is able to convince himself that he is a beast if he has a bad character and feels negative towards the people around him.
Book - Me and the Werewolf
Doctors say otherwise and adhere to the opinion expressed back in the nineteenth century by Lord Byron. He called the transformation of a person into a monster a disease in which a person suffers from delusion - Lycanthropy (mental disorder). A person sick with lycanthropy leaves the hut at night and walks through cemeteries. The patient was recognized by the following signs: a pale face, dry, sunken eyes, a constant desire to drink, which resulted in a dry tongue, and lacerations on the legs.
According to ancient Greek doctors, lycanthropy is a type of melancholy, and it should be treated with bloodletting until the patient faints. The patient was placed in a bath of water with sugar and bled until he fainted. After that they put him on a special diet
At the present time, scientists from Australia suggest that certain phases of the moon can contribute to the transition from a normal person to a beast. And in fact, it is not possible to transform from an ordinary person into a bloodthirsty beast, but research suggests the opposite.Evidence of werewolves in our lives
There was a case with signs similar to turnover in 2009. A group of people who were behaving strangely were brought to an Australian hospital at midnight. People rushed and scratched, biting doctors.
Another incident happened to the British John Golloway. It would seem a calm fifty-year-old man, a wonderful family man, calm and balanced, the father of three children. I couldn’t understand when, after the full moon, in the morning I opened my eyes not at home, but in prison or in the hospital. I was very surprised.
According to the police, he attacked a woman at night, who, all frightened, ran to the police station and said that a man had attacked her like an animal. And he tried to bite her to death with large and sharp teeth.
The police, without wasting a minute, quickly responded and caught him and brought him to the station. Where he offered strong resistance, in about half an hour, he destroyed almost all the furniture, scattered all the police, broke a window and jumped down from the 2nd floor, but he couldn’t escape, they caught up with him and gave him a sedative. Where in the morning I woke up in a cell and didn’t remember anything.
As local Filipinos say, some of them allegedly took the form of dog-like monsters at night and killed the animals, disemboweling their internal organs. People fear that a dangerous beast will be able to switch to them.
There were recorded outbreaks of werewolves in 2008 in Brazil. According to residents, the man is a wolf; he robs houses and carries away livestock at night. And in 2009, a strange girl contacted the police, according to whom she was attacked by a terrible beast, a huge one like a wolf. The girl was asked to draw up a portrait, and it was determined that this terrible beast resembled a werewolf.
The truck driver also encountered an incomprehensible, terrible beast. According to him, on the side of the road, an incomprehensible huge animal, similar to a gorilla and a wolf, was tearing apart a deer.
In France in 1760, people and livestock disappeared every day; according to the residents, it was an animal that looked like a werewolf. And supposedly it is not possible to kill him, since he is immortal. When the dangerous beast began to make more and more violent attacks, King Ludwik 15 sent an entire army to destroy the monster.
Unfortunately, the army was unable to destroy the monster; it was wounded, but it managed to escape. Then the king announced a hunt and a reward. And only in 1676, the monster was lucky enough to be felled with a silver bullet, the hunters of which were Jeanne Chastel.
People who have seen werewolves. They claim that they are able to acquire not only the image of a wolf. For example, in Burma there are the Taman people. According to the Tamans, a person who experiences nervousness and anxiety does not arbitrarily transform into a tiger.
In 2010, in England, a girl was walking in the park with a dog, not far in front of her, she saw a large creature that looked like a dog. Her dog broke free and rushed towards an incomprehensible animal, the woman followed after her, coming closer, looking more closely, she saw that the animal was somewhat similar to a huge fox. The beast looked at the girl, and then slowly walked away.
When the girl arrived home, she began looking through atlases about animals, but she never found such an animal. Then I opened a book about werewolves, and in it I found a creature that I encountered face to face.
Video: Do werewolves exist in real life?
Nowadays, there are legends about Bigfoot, who knows, it is likely that werewolves exist somewhere. And what do you think? Do werewolves exist today? Leave your comments! We'll figure it out together.
Regards, Alexey!
I am the administrator of this site and part-time author; in my free time I write articles related to the subject of the site. In 2015, I became interested in website building and making money from it. I studied many different courses, photoshop, the basics of html, seo and others. I learned to write optimized texts on my own, and therefore became interested in the subject of the site. And now there is no stopping))
The question of whether werewolves exist has been asked by humanity for many years. Amazing creatures, half-humans, half-beasts, frighten peaceful people, but there are those who are not averse to joining them.
In the article:
Are there real werewolves?
Almost the world contains myths and legends about werewolves. Many of us are accustomed to the fact that these are monsters into which sorcerers and ordinary people turn during the full moon. Similar legends are found in various sources, and stories about these creatures are told on all continents. 
Opinions differ as to whether half-beasts can exist.
- Some are sure that, in this case, a person practically does not change his appearance, but only acquires the qualities and strength of the animal into which he turns.
- Others believe that it is possible to turn into a werewolf, becoming similar in appearance to the beast.
- Still others believe that werewolves are people suffering from a terrible disease.
How they transform
Regarding the act of reincarnation into an animal, it is logical to assume that a person acquires the strength of the animal whose blood he uses during the ritual. The psychological factor plays an important role.
A person convinces himself that he is partially becoming a beast. The blood plot, which contains information about the animal to which it belonged, also plays a role.
Anyone who can control energy flows is able to use blood as a powerful biomaterial. On a psychological level, a person convinces himself that he is a werewolf. This does not always happen consciously.
At the same time, an energetic connection remains with the blood of the killed animal, which is capable of awakening animal rage and partially endowing it with strength.
A person can copy the habits of an animal and thereby frighten people from whom he defends himself or whom he attacks. But this does not mean that the person who performed the ritual will actually turn into a wolf, bear or fox.
Werewolf curse or disease
Lord Byron
It is believed that you can turn into a werewolf if a black witch curses you to eternally wander in the body of an animal. Doctors do not agree with this statement and have their own point of view. In the 19th century Lord Byron expressed the opinion that werewolfism is nothing more than lycanthropy. In simple terms, this is suffering from delusion.
This disease develops as a result of various mental disorders and schizophrenia. The disease has tormented humanity for many centuries. It was mentioned back in the 4th century.
Patients go to burial sites at night. They have certain distinctive features. Most often it is a white face, a dry tongue, sunken eyes, and wounds on the limbs.
In Ancient Greece, healers believed that such a disease was simple melancholy and that the disease should be treated with bloodletting, a special diet and sweet baths. Often, when the patient’s condition worsened, lycanthropy was fought with the help of opium.
Historians claim that one of the representatives of this mysterious disease was the Byzantine emperor Justin II. Since childhood, the ruler showed himself to be a werewolf, was subject to sudden attacks of aggression, repeated the habits of animals and made strange sounds.
Scientist studied lycanthropy Lee Illis from Britain. This man studied in detail about 100 cases described in the medical literature indicating that werewolves exist.
The famous doctor came to the conclusion that the changes do not have a magical background, they can be explained from a medical point of view.
In this case, the strange behavior of a person, his animal habits and thirst for blood are explained. Illis says that werewolf is a serious disease, as a result of which a person completely loses his sanity. As a result, he may actually lose his human appearance. What is happening is not a complete transformation into a monster, but a degradation of man.
Illis argued that the cause of the development of the disease could be poor heredity. Today, research is being conducted by scientists from Australia who want to prove that the bestial nature awakens in patients with lycanthropy during certain phases of the moon.
What werewolves look like
There are many opinions regarding what kind of werewolves are. If you believe the images in films, books, myths and legends, these are huge creatures, half animals, very tall, almost immortal. Such a monster can only be destroyed with the help of silver bullets or iron consecrated in the temple.
According to myths, werewolves are evil and strong. There is some debate as to whether they understand what they are doing or not.
- Some are confident that the werewolf retains the ability to think, and is not only a strong death machine, but also intelligent.
- Others believe that half-beasts are unable to control their habits and attack everyone indiscriminately.
These monsters are rude both externally and internally, impulsive, committed to violence, unsociable, and easily fall into rage and aggression. Werewolves sleep little and lightly, and show constant anxiety.
Ancient treatises indicate that when a person turns into a beast on a full moon, he becomes thirsty and begins to become cowardly from the cold, which ends in a fever. At this moment, a person’s hands swell, become larger, and the skin becomes rougher and thicker.
The person experiences a feeling of nausea, spasms appear in the chest and throat, the tongue does not obey, so it does not make any intelligible sounds other than an animal growl.
When the transformation is complete, the werewolf becomes quadruped and moves around as animals do.
At the moment of transformation, the monster’s skin darkens and wool grows in places. But the question of its appearance on the body is controversial; most rituals are not aimed at changing the human appearance and only allow one to acquire the strength of an animal.
There are many ways to become a beast, using witchcraft rituals and animal biomaterial. Most peoples of the world have rituals of initiation and transformation into a werewolf, after which a person receives the power of the animal.
Do werewolves exist today?
The full moon affects people. Scientists have proven that if a person has behavioral disorders, during the full moon he can acquire the habits of an animal.
An amazing incident in Britain
This happened on a full moon to a resident of Britain John Gollway. He was always calm, nothing could give him away as a werewolf.
A few years ago, John began having strange attacks every full moon. His wife went to the police station and reported that her husband had turned into a monster with huge fangs and was trying to kill her.
When the police arrived for the man, he behaved like an animal, scattered the police with amazing strength, broke furniture in the house and jumped out of the window. After his capture, the man was injected with a large dose of sleeping pills. The next morning the man no longer remembered anything.
Livestock destruction in the Philippines
Residents of the Philippines faced such a story. At night, an incomprehensible monster, which smelled strongly of sulfur, was killing livestock. Sheep and goats were found without internal organs.
Attacks on people
According to some sources, werewolves killed not only animals. IN 2009 year, a resident of the state of Rio Grande do Sul contacted the police, claiming that she had been attacked by an unknown creature. The girl testified that the monster walked on its hind legs and was a cross between a wolf and a dog. There were numerous wounds and abrasions on the victim's face and limbs.
August 27 2010 years ago, a truck driver was driving at night and saw that a large carcass of a deer was lying in front, which was being torn apart by an unknown animal. It was a huge wolf, standing on its hind legs and tearing its prey with its forelimbs.
In England in 2010 Jane McNeilly and her dog were attacked by a strange creature that was the size of a bear, but looked like a wolf. The monster first tried to attack the dog, but then stopped, looking at the woman, and then disappeared in an unknown direction.
How to find a werewolf
Is it possible to detect a werewolf? Legends say that it is possible to find the creature. It is necessary to have its biological material, which can only be obtained through direct contact with a werewolf, which makes the task almost impossible, since it is difficult to cope with an uncontrollable animal.
But if an experienced sorcerer has a sample of werewolf fur in his hands, he can use it to determine the location of the animal. For this you need a special talisman stone.
Usually they are chosen following the call of the heart. Take one of the . It must have magical properties.
In almost all cultures existing on the planet, there are legends and myths about werewolves - people who, in the light of the full moon, turn into monsters. Their existence was talked about on all continents. Many learned about werewolves from films and books, others perceived these monsters as ordinary people suffering from a serious illness. There are also those who have seen werewolves with their own eyes.
In mythology, werewolves are always huge and very strong. They never age, so they are practically immortal. But you can still kill them; for this you need silver bullets or iron blessed in the church.
The methods by which one could turn into a werewolf were different, but in the end the result was always the same: a very evil, unusually strong creature that possessed both wolfish habits and human ingenuity. A werewolf, according to mythology, is overly impulsive, tends to violence, falls into rage and aggression without the slightest reason, and experiences anxiety and insomnia.
According to ancient treatises, the beginning of the process of transforming a person into a werewolf was accompanied by a slight chill, followed by fever, headache and severe thirst. The arms began to swell and increase in length, the skin of the limbs and face became rough. Sweat appeared on the forehead, breathing became difficult. Nausea and spasms were accompanied by clouding of the mind; instead of understandable speech, guttural muttering appeared, since the tongue did not obey. The werewolf took off his clothes and stood on all fours, and his skin darkened and became covered with fur. The werewolf began to experience an irresistible thirst for blood.
In ancient times, werewolves were credited with eating people, destroying entire villages, and killing babies. Having satisfied his needs, the werewolf fell asleep, and the next morning he woke up again in human form.
The treatises described several ways to turn people into werewolves: using magic, a curse, a werewolf bite, birth from a werewolf, wearing clothes made from wolf skin.
In Arcadia, for example, people turned into werewolves after a special initiation rite. Everyone came to the remote swamps, where they undressed and crossed the swamp to a special island. There they turned into werewolves and lived among them as equals.
Can a person really turn into a wolf and other animals, or should all legends be taken as nothing more than the fiction of people endowed with a rich imagination?
Some parapsychologists are confident that transformation itself is a pure myth, and it’s all about the hypnosis that some people possess. Allegedly, due to their bad character and demonstration of their superiority over others, they periodically use their abilities, forcing people to see them as beasts.
Doctors, however, have their own point of view. They support the proposal made by Lord Byron in the 19th century. He called werewolf lycanthropy, that is, suffering from delusion. In turn, lycanthropy is a consequence of schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.
The disease itself has been known for hundreds of years. Back in the 4th century, it was described something like this: people with lycanthropy leave their houses at night and wander into cemeteries. You can recognize them by their pale faces, dry sunken eyes, dry tongue, thirst, and wounds on their legs.
Additionally, ancient Greek doctors believed that lycanthropy was a type of melancholy that could be treated with bloodletting to the point of fainting, a bath in sweet water, and a special diet. If the disease worsens, the patient is calmed with opium and wet compresses.
There is evidence that the Byzantine Emperor Justin II suffered from lycanthropy, in whom signs of the disease were noticed even in the early years of his reign. The ruler could walk around the palace, meow or bark, and during frequent outbursts of anger he could throw various objects out of the windows.
In the middle of the last century, British scientist Lee Illis conducted research on lycanthropy. He studied in detail 80 cases of mental illness that were described in the medical literature, and came to the conclusion that outbreaks of werewolfism have a clear medical basis. In this case, we are talking about a serious illness, as a result of which a person often loses his mind and loses his human appearance.
It is quite obvious that in the literal sense a person does not turn into a wolf, he simply degrades and bears little resemblance to “a reasonable man” in his mental and physical understanding. This disease, according to Dr. Illis, cannot be transmitted through bites; the reason for this is poor heredity.
Today, Dr. Illis’s ideas are being developed by scientists from Australia, who have put forward the hypothesis that a beast can awaken in a person during certain lunar phases. And although a person cannot turn into a bloodthirsty creature, the research results make one think.
So, for example, in 2009, more than 90 patients suffering from an acute behavioral disorder that resembled the behavior of werewolves were brought to an Australian hospital near Sydney.
As toxicology specialist Leon Culver notes, most patients arrived during the full moon. Some of those admitted tried to attack the staff, scratching and biting.
But if in mythology people, in order to completely transform into a beast, rubbed special magical ointments into their skin or inhaled their vapors, then modern werewolves do not need these drugs. They use drugs or alcohol to do this. Culver believes that people with acute behavioral problems are more likely to end up in the emergency room on full moon days.
One such case occurred with 53-year-old Briton John Golloway. Outwardly, he was a very quiet and modest man, the father of three children, that is, he did not resemble a werewolf in any way. Every time the full moon came and a man found himself in a hospital or prison, he was always very surprised. This man's illness first appeared several years ago, when a young woman with a look of horror on her face burst into one of the police stations in the suburb of London and reported that a real monster with large sharp teeth had attacked her and tried to bite her to death. The police reacted instantly and grabbed John. But he showed fierce resistance, biting, baring his teeth, tearing his clothes. In twenty minutes he broke all the furniture, scattered the police, broke a window and jumped from the second floor. However, he was unable to escape far; he was restrained and injected with a huge dose of sedative. After this, the man fell asleep, and when he woke up, he remembered absolutely nothing of what happened the day before.
Here are a few more cases of werewolves appearing. So, in particular, residents of one of the regions of the Philippines say that a werewolf is destroying their livestock. In their opinion, the monster, which at night turns from a human into a dog-like creature of enormous size, has already killed several dozen animals. Recently, three goats were found dead, without internal organs. Before this incident, an entire flock of sheep was destroyed by the monster.
The local population argues with the authorities who came to the village and claims that the animals were not killed by a stray dog, but by some supernatural creature that smelled of sulfur. The peasants are frightened, believing that the monster can switch from animals to people.
Something similar happened in Brazil. Over the past few years, the local population has been suffering from werewolves. For example, in 2008, peasants from the state of Ceara contacted the police with a statement that the local population was being terrified by a wolf man who was robbing houses and stealing sheep. According to witnesses, this is a terrible creature that smells of sulfur. However, no reliable evidence that any supernatural forces exist there was found at that time.
A few months later, in 2009, a 21-year-old resident of the state of Rio Grande do Sul contacted the police and reported an attack by a strange animal that resembled a large dog or a wolf. The girl claims that the creature moved on its hind limbs, like a person. The girl presented bruises on her face and hands as evidence of a werewolf attack, and also drew an approximate image of him.
A truck driver named Scott also met the werewolf. It happened on August 27, 2005. The driver sent a message on the radio that he saw an unknown animal on the side of the road tearing apart the carcass of a deer. According to the driver, the animal was very similar to a mixture of a wolf and a monkey.
And this case, perhaps, has already become a textbook case. The beast terrorized south-central France in the 1760s. People and animals disappeared every day. According to local residents, they were abducted by a gigantic wolf. People were sure that this was not just a wolf, but a werewolf Lou-Garou. They wanted to kill him, but they said that he was immortal.
When the attacks became very frequent and especially violent, King Louis XV sent troops to the area to destroy the werewolf. The soldiers failed to catch it; the animal was wounded, but managed to escape. The king announced a reward for him. It was only in 1767 that a group of hunters led by Jean Chastel managed to kill the monster by shooting him with a silver bullet directly in the heart.
Some people who have seen a werewolf say that a werewolf may not necessarily be a wolf. So, for example, in Burma, the Taman people live. They very often have sudden transformations into tigers. According to the Tamans themselves, transformation occurs involuntarily; it is preceded by strong tension, nervousness, and anxiety, after which the person turns into a tiger.
Cases of appearances of other werewolves have also been recorded. In particular, in 2010 in England, a woman named Jane McNeilly said that while walking with her dog in the park, she encountered a strange creature. The dog broke free and ran to the dog in the distance. When the woman came closer, she saw that it was not a dog in the usual sense of the word. Outwardly, this creature looked like a giant fox. The creature looked at the woman for a long time, and then slowly left.
At home, Jane looked through several atlases with animals, but did not find anything similar anywhere. And only in a book about werewolves did I see the creature I met.
According to some researchers, modern encounters with werewolves may involve a creature called Bigfoot. On the other hand, today it is no longer a secret to anyone that the world is much larger than what a person can see. It is quite possible that in that part of the world that is unknown to people, there is a place for werewolves.
