10 "Facts" about Werewolves

Werewolves are everywhere: in books, movies and television series. These dark creatures appeal to the imagination and stand for everything we find scary: the dark, the unknown and, of course, murderous creatures. When the full moon appears, a werewolf shows its true nature. A normal human transforms into a bloodthirsty wolf that is almost unstoppable. Want to know more about these dark creatures? Here are ten facts about werewolves

10. MANWOLF WOULD HAVE MADE MORE SENSE

The word "werewolf" comes from the Primordial German *wera-wulfa. Wera meant "man" and wulfa "wolf". So a better translation would be manwolf.

9. LYCANTHROPY IS NOT JUST ABOUT WOLVES

The mental disorder in which a person is under the delusion that he is turning into a wolf is also called lycanthropy. Yet lycanthropy is not just about wolves, as all people who turn into an animal are called a lycanthrope. This term comes from the world of folk tales. Werewolves are of course the most famous example of this, but in other cultures stories are told about people turning into other animals. For example, man-tigers are popular in parts of Asia, the Russians have stories about man-bears, and man-leopards are known in parts of Africa.

8. HOW DO YOU BECOME A WEREWOLF?

When a person turns into a werewolf, it is usually because they have been bitten by another werewolf. This is the best known way these beasts are created, but there are other causes as well. For example, some writers have figured out that you can turn into a werewolf by eating a mix of human and wolf meat. There are other ways as well, such as being conceived when the new moon shines, drinking from the same water source as a wolf, and even by sleeping under a full moon when it is Friday. So watch out!

7. MEDICAL WEREWOLVES

Real werewolves only appear in stories, of course, but there are a number of diseases related to these creatures. For example, there is the disease hypertrichosis (also known as "werewolf syndrome"), in which long hairs grow all over your body. People with this disease are sometimes compared to werewolves because their hair looks like a long coat. There are also people who have porphyria. They are incredibly sensitive to daylight, so some researchers even think that this disease was the inspiration for stories about werewolves and vampires. The most notable medical werewolves are those with clinical lycanthropy. This is because they have a psychological problem that convinces them that they are a werewolf.

6. THE FIRST WEREWOLVES

Stories about werewolves have been told for centuries, but do you know what the very first story was? That is the story of King Lycaon from Greek mythology. There are several versions of this story circulating, but the most common version is the one in which Lycaon prepares a special meal for Zeus. He was in fact trying to serve the supreme god a mix of human and animal flesh. Zeus decided to punish the king by killing all his sons and by turning Lycaon himself into a wolf. This was the beginning of all the stories about werewolves that we know today.

5. THE WEREWOLF OF BEDBURG

The German town of Bedburg was rocked by a werewolf in 1573. A total of fifteen people were killed in a horrible way. Their bodies looked as if they had been attacked by a wild beast. This beast turned out to be Peter Stumpp, a simple man from the village. He was arrested and tortured, admitting to being the murderer. Stumpp said he could turn into a wolf thanks to a magic belt. He confessed that he had been working with magic and had contact with the devil. The hunters who had been chasing the killer told of seeing a wolf run away after a kill. Was it Peter Stumpp? The execution of Peter, along with his daughter and wife, goes down in history books as one of the most gruesome ever: he was placed on a wheel, where "flesh was torn from his body" with red-hot pliers. Then his limbs were broken with the blunt side of an axe to prevent him from returning from the grave. Finally, he was beheaded and his body burned at the stake.

4. THE FIRST FILM ABOUT WEREWOLVES

There are, of course, countless well-known movies that deal with werewolves, but the very first one, "The Werewolf" came out in 1913. This movie told the story of a female Indian from America. Her great love has died and the woman wants to take revenge on the persons responsible. To do this, she turns into a wolf, making her the first werewolf on the silver screen. Want to see this first werewolf movie? Then you are out of luck, because the film has unfortunately disappeared from the face of the earth.

3. HOW TO KILL A WEREWOLF

If you have seen a few films about werewolves, you know that you can defeat these creatures with pure silver. There are also a few other methods of defeating a werewolf. In some books it is described that the best way is to remove the heart or the brain of the wolf. This way they are no longer able to rise from the dead. Do you have monk juice nearby? Then you're in luck, because this plant can also be used to destroy a werewolf. Some books describe mercury as a good remedy against these creatures. In English, this element is also called quicksilver, which may have created the confusion that silver is a good remedy for werewolves.

2. THE BEAST OF GÉVAUDAN

Around the year 1760, the French village of Gévaudan was startled by a bloodthirsty monster. The monster was called the Beast of Gévaudan and was responsible for at least 60 deaths. People who had seen the beast said it was as big as a horse and looked like a mix between a hyena, panther, bear and wolf. Villagers were convinced it was a lycanthrope, that is, a human being who had been turned into an animal. Researchers think it was probably just several animals that made several victims in a short period of time.

1. THERE IS A WEREWOLF CAT!

Okay, werewolves don't really exist, but there is an animal that comes close, the cat breed "Lykoi", also known as the werewolf cat. Lykoi, by the way, is Greek for wolf. Because they have no fur on one part of their head, they look exactly like the classic werewolves from Hollywood movies