Werewolf Legend

The origins of the werewolf legend come from true stories of terrible events and diseases that took place centuries ago. Intermingled with those legends are also myths and rumors of magic that are woven throughout societies and cultures with deeply held beliefs in ancient witchcraft and black magic.

In this modern era, it is difficult to trace the werewolf legend back to one particular starting point. The creature that modern society now recognizes as a "werewolf" is actually a character developed from several different events throughout history. Part of the werewolf legend comes from the story of a 16th century murderer. Another component of the legend also comes from very real genetic defects and disorders that afflicted a small portion of the population. Finally, the legends also stem from the fact that there are so many witnesses who continue coming forward with stories about sightings of such creatures.

It is easy to imagine how the isolated and terrifying atmosphere that wolves created around the small villages throughout Europe during the 16th century could easily have fostered a horrible werewolf legend involving monstrous wolf-creatures. However, some of those stories about a human wolf were proven true in the late 1500's. One particular villager named Peter Stubbe, from the town of Colongne and Bedburg in Germany, confessed under torture that at age twelve he began practicing sorcery. He even claimed he'd eventually made a pact with the devil where he obtained what he believed was a magic belt. He believed that he became a wolf when he wore the belt. He would travel the fields around the village and attack animals, young children and even adults. He would massacre each victim, drink their blood and sometimes devour the bodies. He committed these horrible attacks for many years, even at one point taking his own son into the woods to murder him, crack open his skull and devour his brain.

His secret murders went on for over twenty years until a small group of townspeople and their dogs surrounded the wolf with spears and sticks. Surrounded, Peter stood up and revealed that the horrible creature that had been terrorizing the village for so many years was actually a man, not a wolf. His execution was crafted to be as fitting to the crimes as possible. Stubbe was tortured as executioners pulled his flesh with hot pincers, broke his arms and legs, and finally cut off his head. As the story about Stubbe, his gruesome crimes and his final execution made its way over the lands through word of mouth, the stories began to grow in scope. There were insinuations that there could be other such individuals living within the villages who only came out at night and went into the woods to feast on their victims. The term eventually chosen for these individuals was "werewolf".

From the 15th century through modern day, a number of medical rarities contributed to the social myth that certain humans suffer from an involuntary transformation into wolves after dark.

One such disease is known as Porphyria. It is a very rare genetic disorder involving a deficiency within red blood cells that causes a myriad of physical effects that amazingly parallel many of the old "werewolf" descriptions from most of the very old accounts.

These symptoms include:

• Severe photosensitivity that causes the patient to avoid the sun and only venture outside during the night. Most likely more of those who suffered from Porphyria preferred nights with a full moon because it was much easier to see while still avoiding direct sunlight.
• Advanced stages result in severe skin discoloration.
• Thick facial and body hair growth occurs.
• Dramatic changes to the skin, including sores, also happens.
• The cartilage deteriorates affecting the nose, ears and fingers.

Another rare disease is Hypertrichosis, also called "Wolfitis" due to the fact that the afflicted person suffers from dramatically excessive body hair. The overgrowth even affects areas of the body that normally do not have hair such as much of the face. Many psychologists believe that this condition also results in serious psychological disturbances regarding how people perceive their own feelings about their body. They believe that severe body image distortions lead to a psychiatric condition where the afflicted begin to believe they've actually transformed into a wolf.

Lycanthropy is the term used throughout folklore for the ability of humans to transform into a wolf. Clinical Lycanthropy is a psychological term used to describe a mental illness where the patient believes he or she has the ability to transform into a wolf. There have been a number of documented cases throughout the psychological journals that detail many of these fascinating cases that psychologists now classify as symptomatic of schizophrenia.

It is certainly possible that the phenomenon of werewolf sightings, and the werewolf legend itself, originated as a product of group psychology and a gross misinterpretation of tragic physical diseases. It is also possible that the phenomenon is a product of individuals suffering from mental illness who have fed cultural and social myths that focus on werewolves. However, none of these theories completely explains many of the sightings that still occur even in modern society. There are also witnesses throughout the Navajo Nation and other cultures throughout the world with members who swear that they've also seen the witches transformed into a wolf, such as the Navajo "Skinwalker."

Some examples of recent sightings include:

• Defiance, Ohio: In 1972, police reported receiving countless calls concerning attacks on local residents by an extremely hairy creature. Witnesses reported similar descriptions, and police were taking the reports very seriously.
• Delavan, Wisconsin: Throughout the 80s and 90s, a number of witnesses most often reported seeing a large hairy creature by Bray Road. He became known as the "Beast of Bray Road."

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