“Is there such a thing as a werewolf’?

Answer 1

Many authors have put forward the idea that stories of werewolves (and vampires) may have been used to explain serial killings in less enlightened ages. This theory is given credence by the tendency of some modern serial killers to indulge in practices (such as cannibalism, mutilation and cyclic attacks) commonly associated with the attack of a werewolf.

A recent theory has been proposed to explain werewolf episodes in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ergot, which causes a form of foodborne illness, is a fungus that grows in place of rye grains in wet growing seasons after very cold winters. Ergot poisoning usually affects whole towns or at least poor areas of towns and results in hallucinations, mass hysteria and paranoia, as well as convulsions and sometimes death. (LSD can be derived from ergot.) Ergot poisoning has been proposed as both a cause of an individual believing that he or she is a werewolf and of a whole town believing that they had seen a werewolf.

However, this theory is controversial and not well accepted.

Some modern researchers have tried to use conditions such as rabies, hypertrichosis (excessive hair growth over the entire body) or porphyria (an enzyme disorder with symptoms including hallucinations and paranoia) as an explanation for werewolf beliefs. Congenital erythropoietic porphyria has clinical features which include photosensitivity (so sufferers only go out at night), hairy hands and face, poorly healing skin, pink urine, and reddish colour to the teeth.

There is also a rare mental disorder called clinical lycanthropy, in which an affected person has a delusional belief that he or she is transforming into another animal, although not always a wolf or werewolf.

Others believe werewolf legends arose as a part of shamanism and totem animals in primitive and nature-based cultures. The term therianthropy has been adopted to describe a spiritual concept in which the individual believes he or she has the spirit or soul, in whole or in part, of a non-human animal.

Therefore werewolves exist, but probably not always in the form we would imagine!!

Answer 2

As well as the lycanthropy already mentioned and excessive hair growth conditions etc. another explanation of how the myth arose is 'wolf children'. There have been a few cases documented of babies abandoned in forests and raised by wolves (not just Mowgli!) and when they are found they exhibit wolf like behaviour and some have had a covering of downy 'fur' which is thought to be a reaction to malnutrition - the body has no fat to protect it because of the poor diet and is surviving in the cold (so in a sense it devolves).
With the lycanthropy, there is some neurological data (although statistically inconclusive due to the rarity of the condition) that it is borne out of an anomaly in the brain creating a sensation of fur under the skin. A good book on lycanthropy and the werewolf myth is 'The Werewolf Delusion' by Ian Woodward. 'From the Edge of the Couch' by Raj Persaud has a chapter on the psychiatric condition and I have a feeling Dr Ramachandran talks about it in one of his books on neurological conditions. Philosophically speaking it really depends on how you are defining it. If you believe you're a wolf, hang around with other wolves, kill deer with your teeth and howl at the moon then the skeletal structure is something of a minor point really. Tried to find the definition of 'were' when used in this sense but neither of my dictionaries have been forthcoming so I suppose it depends on that too.

Answer 3

Every civilization known to Man has its legends of were-creatures. Westerners are most familiar with the legend of the werewolf. Werejackels are common enough in Africa and were tigers in India. So common is this legend that science calls the disorder... Lycanthropy.

There was a Dr. Gerald Kirkland, 37, a physician from Trellwis, Glamorganshire (England) who was a medical officer in 1933 in Zimbabwe. Dr. Kirkland witnessed a "jackal dance" by Natives from a place of concealment. What astonished Dr. Kirkland, a trained medical observer, was that he witnessed the transformation of two of the Natives into... Jackals(*).

The Old Testament speaks of boantrophy, the transformation of a man into an ox. In the Four Corners Area of the Southwest exists the belief in Skin walkers, Navajo witches capable of shape shifting into animals.

I have always wondered if the Man eaters of Tsavo were shape shifters, that is... Were lions. I think werewolves are something we would prefer not to believe in, but who knows what can really occur in the dark recesses of the... Mind.

One very good book I read suggests that lycantrophy was born of necessity when Man had to emulate the beast in order to be a successful hunter. The most successful hunters emulated the predator so well that they actually became the predator in order to survive.

There is a phrase in Spanish that sums this up, ¡Quien Sabe! Who knows!

H

(*)FULL MOONS by Paul Katzeff (Citadel Press 1981) chapter 7; page: 65.

Answer 4

Yes.

However, they aren't like the media portrays them to be. Being a werewolf is basically a spiritual thing, not physical. Werewolves are generally people who believe that they're, say, a wolf in a human body- similar to males who believe they should be females, but with species instead of sex.

Answer 5

I think my initial answer of 'No.' was a bit harsh, after all this a mythology forum and the question wasn't asked in 'zoology' for example.

I would say, only in mythology and fiction. As others have stated Lycanthropy from lycan meaning wolf has been diagnosed as a clinical condition effecting the mind only. If you think of it realistically you can almost imagine flesh changing shape but bones? Nope. Not gonna happen. Period.

In medieval times they thought werewolves were all over the place and people were occasionally executed for crimes like changing to a wolf, and eating their neighbours chickens. People were pretty damn ignorant back then though.

Werewolves exist in a sense otherwise nobody would be able to attempt a response to the question - but we all know they only exist in fictions, old and new.

Answer 6

Yes! And no....

There is a clinical ailment called Lycanthropy, in which a man BELEIVES (much like religion) that he is indeed a wolf. He may act like a wolf, walk around on all fours and howl at the moon.

However, there is no succh thing as the shape-shifting monsters of lore, that rip out the throats of victims ala American Werewolf in London.... But it makes for great stories!!

Answer 7

Not like the films, but there are about 1,200 Vampires in the world or so I read, they steal blood from the blood banks or get it by bleeding animals

Answer 8

I used to be a werewolf but I'm alright nowooooooooo!

Answer 9

Sure...you ever heard of silver tip bullets?....they make them...just to rid the problem......

Answer 10

People say legends are born from reality...