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Welcome to Werewolf. This site is dedicated to the creatures of the night who roam the earth when the moon is full. Below you will find an original short story, links, werewolf or Halloween related midis, wolf PICS, a werewolf's favorite color. What is a werewolf's favorite color you might ask. Well, blood red, of course. a real werewolf howl of a welcome. Enjoy. |
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| thoughts .I know what I have to do. I have to burn an innocent heart for my better interests. Always trust your instincts, even when you aren't sure you can follow them out... my instincts tell me this has to be done. Then why can't I sleep? Fuck. Just fuck. I'm tired of having my mind occupied with thoughts detailing what-ifs and but-how-will-she-feels and other shit. It's keeping me up. This is the first time I haven't been able to sleep in months. Months. Just when I thought a night's sleep was a given again... And if I don't follow what my heart is telling me to do? If I leave things the way they are and forget about this other girl? What then? More sleepless nights of what-ifs? God... if only the full situation could be described in mere words... the pure, raw emotions cut down and chopped up into letters grouped together with meaning... then this post might seem less like pathetic whining and readers would know why I'm sleepless tonight. |
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werewolf informations werewolf A werewolf is an animal from folklore believed to consume human flesh or blood, which can change from human to wolf and back again. (Wer is an Old English term for man.) While there are no documented cases of any human turning into a wolf and back, there are documented cases of humans who believed they were werewolves. To suffer from such a delusion is known as lycanthropy. Some have speculated that certain excessively hirsute individuals resemble wolves and that the legend of the werewolf may have a basis in the genetic disorder known as hypertrichosis or in some other endocrine disorder, such as adrenal virilism, basophilic adenoma of the pituitary, masculinizing ovarian tumors, or Stein-Leventhal syndrome. (See the Merck Manual.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As popularly known, a werewolf is a person who is transformed, voluntarily or involuntarily, into a wolf under the influence of full moon. The word werewolf is a contraction of the old-Saxon word wer (which means "man") and wolf--werwolf, manwolf. Another term lycanthrope, often used to describe werewolves, however, refers to someone who suffers from a mental disease of fantasizing being a wolf. This particular mental disorder is termed lycanthropy. So, what is werewolf or lycanthropy? Is it a fact based on concrete evidences? Is it a myth? Is it a exaggeration of some other things? How can we answer so many questions? Will the answers always be conclusive? Nevertheless, there are many ways to answer all these questions. Fair amount or relation and contradiction, however, exist between them. Can werewolf phenomenon be judged as some inexplicable happenings of the past. Apparently, there are some incidents that are beyond our knowledge and comprehension and we cannot explain them with conventional knowledge. These inexplicable happenings have haunted mankind throughout time and many still survive through the ages as folklore or myth. Is the werewolf phenomenon such a myth? Nonetheless, the werewolf phenomenon has not perished yet; recent werewolf sightings still occur. There are as many bizarre stories of werewolves as there are cases when lycanthropes have recovered after thorough treatment. Can werewolf be explained on scientific basis? May be or may be not; the answer depends on how you decipher your accumulated information on werewolves. Though not conclusive, this web site tries to explain werewolf phenomenon from scientific viewpoints. Firstly, the origin of the werewolf legend is discussed from both mythological and anthropological viewpoint. Secondly, a portrait and the transformation process and a typical ritual of werewolves are described. Then some recorded French werewolf trials are mention. The influence of werewolves on European literature is also illustrated. Most important part of the website is the explanation of werewolf phenomenon. Both mythological and scientific explanation of werewolf and lycanthropy are discussed. In addition to it, some modern cases are mentioned to support the scientific explanations. Another important thing, a few illustrations of some important point and topics related to werewolf are included in the site. For more information on werewolf, please visit the links and books pages. The site is developed keeping visitors in mind. Easy navigational links are always with you wherever you go. Larger font with enough space is utilized for ease of on-screen reading. Most important of all, important points are highlighted for quick reading. Some information on this web page is take from a Time Life Book titled Transformation. Will find the details in the books page. This site is only the starting point of a long journey. If you like to join in, you are most welcome. Your contributions will definitely enrich this site. Feel free to drop any suggestion, comment or contribution to this site through the feedback form. And don't forget to sign the guest book. .................................... Werewolf legend originated from the countryside around German town Colongne and Bedburg in 1591. At that time Europe was under the dark shadow of ignorance and superstitions. Towns were underdeveloped and people lived near woods. The fear of wolves was like a nightmare. Their attacks were so frequent that people even feared to travel from one place to another. Every morning, countryside people would find half-eaten human limbs on their fields. They tried their best to kill those bloodthirsty creatures. But one day the inhabitants of the German town Colongne and Bedburg made a horrible discovery that altered the history of wolf killing. An age-old pamphlet describes those shivering moments vividly. A few people cornered a wolf and set their dogs upon it. They attacked it with sharp sticks and spears. Surprisingly the ferocious wolf did not run away; it stood up and turned into a middle-aged man. They could recognize the wolf shaped man; he was Peter Stubbe of the same village. This Peter Stubbe was the first werewolf mankind has ever faced with. Stubbe was put on the torture wheel where he confessed 16 murders including two pregnant women and thirteen children. The history behind his downfall was rather strange. He had started to practice sorcery when he was only 12 and was so obsessed with it that he even had tried to make a pact with the Devil. Wearing a magic girdle he started to attack his enemies, real or imaginary, for revenge. After several months, he took the guise of a wolf and continued his evil with more brutality. In the wolf form he used to tear up victims’ throats and suck warm blood. Gradually his thirst for blood grew and he roamed around fields in search of prey. The savagery of his crimes was beyond imagination. Once two men and a woman were walking along a road that went through the forest he used to hide in. He called one of them. The man did not return for a long time and the second one followed his trail. He also disappeared into the forest. The woman fled from the area. Later, two mangled corpses were recovered from the forest, but the woman’s body never reappeared. It was believed that Stubbe had devoured it all. Young girls who played together or milked the cows in the fields were his frequent victims. He used to chase them like a hound, catch the slowest one, rape and kill her. Then he would drink hot blood and eat tender flesh from her body. Stubbe committed the most gruesome crime upon his own son. He took his son to a nearby forest, cracked the poor child’s skull and ate brain. No punishment could match the magnitude of Stubbe’s crime. He was put on the torture wheel and his flesh was pulled off with red-hot pincer. His arms and legs were broken, and finally he was decapitated. His carcass was burned to ashes. As accessories to his misdeeds, his daughter and mistress were also burnt alive. The Magistrate of the town Bedburg built a grim monument remembering the ghastly incident.Workmen put the torture wheel atop a tall pole with Stubbe’s head above it. His head was structured with the likeliness of a wolf. Sixteen pieces of yard long wood pieces were hung from the rim of the wheel to commemorate the poor souls of his victims. The words of Stubbe’s trial and execution spread across the lands. His brutality, their ways and atrocity were beyond human experience. His ferocity was readily related with the behavior of wolf. People started to believe that such creatures with the shadow of wolves were living among them. They named them Werewolves. ;;;;;;;;;; GREEK MYTHOLOGY ;;;;;;;;;;;;; Greek mythology also testifies to the existence of werewolves. God Zeus once disguised himself as a traveler and sought for hospitality in the court of vicious Arcadian King Lycaon. The King recognized the god and tried to kill him. He served him human flesh. God Zeus caught the terrible trick and did not eat. Outraged, He destroyed the palace and condemned Lycaon to spend rest of his life as a wolf. This mythology originated the word “Lycanthrope†which is used to describe the werewolf phenomenon. (Greek lykos - wolf, and anthropos - man.) |
| WEREWOLF TRANSORMATION From centuries of stories, a composite portrait of a werewolf can be sketched. In human form they had bushy eyebrows that met over the bridge of the nose; blood red fingernails were long and Almond shaped. Their mouth and eyes were always dry and they were often thirsty. Ears were long and narrow, laid back on their heads. Their skin was rough, scratched and hairy. It often had a yellowish, pinkish or greenish cast. In addition to such physical features, the werewolf also displayed certain psychological traits. They commonly preferred the night and solitude, had an inclination towards visiting the graveyards and were known to dig up corpses and feast upon them. The transformation was achieved in numerous ways. The most common ritual was practiced on nights when the moon was full. First the afflicted man would locate an isolate place and trace a big circle on the soil. On the center of that circle he made a fire and prepared his magic ointment. (The compositions of those ointments were different, but generally contained plant ingredients like nightshade, belladonna and henbane. Pig fat, turpentine and olive oil were used as solvent for them. Later when the distillation of spirits was perfected, alcohol served the purpose.) After rubbing his body with the ointment, he would wear the wolf hide and concentrate on prayer to the Devil. At the end of the process the man turned into a wolf and ran in quest of prey. |
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WEREWOLF werewolf A werewolf is an animal from folklore believed to consume human flesh or blood, which can change from human to wolf and back again. (Wer is an Old English term for man.) While there are no documented cases of any human turning into a wolf and back, there are documented cases of humans who believed they were werewolves. To suffer from such a delusion is known as lycanthropy. Some have speculated that certain excessively hirsute individuals resemble wolves and that the legend of the werewolf may have a basis in the genetic disorder known as hypertrichosis or in some other endocrine disorder, such as adrenal virilism, basophilic adenoma of the pituitary, masculinizing ovarian tumors, or Stein-Leventhal syndrome. (See the Merck Manual.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As popularly known, a werewolf is a person who is transformed, voluntarily or involuntarily, into a wolf under the influence of full moon. The word werewolf is a contraction of the old-Saxon word wer (which means "man") and wolf--werwolf, manwolf. Another term lycanthrope, often used to describe werewolves, however, refers to someone who suffers from a mental disease of fantasizing being a wolf. This particular mental disorder is termed lycanthropy. So, what is werewolf or lycanthropy? Is it a fact based on concrete evidences? Is it a myth? Is it a exaggeration of some other things? How can we answer so many questions? Will the answers always be conclusive? Nevertheless, there are many ways to answer all these questions. Fair amount or relation and contradiction, however, exist between them. Can werewolf phenomenon be judged as some inexplicable happenings of the past. Apparently, there are some incidents that are beyond our knowledge and comprehension and we cannot explain them with conventional knowledge. These inexplicable happenings have haunted mankind throughout time and many still survive through the ages as folklore or myth. Is the werewolf phenomenon such a myth? Nonetheless, the werewolf phenomenon has not perished yet; recent werewolf sightings still occur. There are as many bizarre stories of werewolves as there are cases when lycanthropes have recovered after thorough treatment. Can werewolf be explained on scientific basis? May be or may be not; the answer depends on how you decipher your accumulated information on werewolves. Though not conclusive, this web site tries to explain werewolf phenomenon from scientific viewpoints. Firstly, the origin of the werewolf legend is discussed from both mythological and anthropological viewpoint. Secondly, a portrait and the transformation process and a typical ritual of werewolves are described. Then some recorded French werewolf trials are mention. The influence of werewolves on European literature is also illustrated. Most important part of the website is the explanation of werewolf phenomenon. Both mythological and scientific explanation of werewolf and lycanthropy are discussed. In addition to it, some modern cases are mentioned to support the scientific explanations. Another important thing, a few illustrations of some important point and topics related to werewolf are included in the site. For more information on werewolf, please visit the links and books pages. The site is developed keeping visitors in mind. Easy navigational links are always with you wherever you go. Larger font with enough space is utilized for ease of on-screen reading. Most important of all, important points are highlighted for quick reading. Some information on this web page is take from a Time Life Book titled Transformation. Will find the details in the books page. This site is only the starting point of a long journey. If you like to join in, you are most welcome. Your contributions will definitely enrich this site. Feel free to drop any suggestion, comment or contribution to this site through the feedback form. And don't forget to sign the guest book. .................................... Werewolf legend originated from the countryside around German town Colongne and Bedburg in 1591. At that time Europe was under the dark shadow of ignorance and superstitions. Towns were underdeveloped and people lived near woods. The fear of wolves was like a nightmare. Their attacks were so frequent that people even feared to travel from one place to another. Every morning, countryside people would find half-eaten human limbs on their fields. They tried their best to kill those bloodthirsty creatures. But one day the inhabitants of the German town Colongne and Bedburg made a horrible discovery that altered the history of wolf killing. An age-old pamphlet describes those shivering moments vividly. A few people cornered a wolf and set their dogs upon it. They attacked it with sharp sticks and spears. Surprisingly the ferocious wolf did not run away; it stood up and turned into a middle-aged man. They could recognize the wolf shaped man; he was Peter Stubbe of the same village. This Peter Stubbe was the first werewolf mankind has ever faced with. Stubbe was put on the torture wheel where he confessed 16 murders including two pregnant women and thirteen children. The history behind his downfall was rather strange. He had started to practice sorcery when he was only 12 and was so obsessed with it that he even had tried to make a pact with the Devil. Wearing a magic girdle he started to attack his enemies, real or imaginary, for revenge. After several months, he took the guise of a wolf and continued his evil with more brutality. In the wolf form he used to tear up victimsأ¢â‚¬â„¢ throats and suck warm blood. Gradually his thirst for blood grew and he roamed around fields in search of prey. The savagery of his crimes was beyond imagination. Once two men and a woman were walking along a road that went through the forest he used to hide in. He called one of them. The man did not return for a long time and the second one followed his trail. He also disappeared into the forest. The woman fled from the area. Later, two mangled corpses were recovered from the forest, but the womanأ¢â‚¬â„¢s body never reappeared. It was believed that Stubbe had devoured it all. Young girls who played together or milked the cows in the fields were his frequent victims. He used to chase them like a hound, catch the slowest one, rape and kill her. Then he would drink hot blood and eat tender flesh from her body. Stubbe committed the most gruesome crime upon his own son. He took his son to a nearby forest, cracked the poor childأ¢â‚¬â„¢s skull and ate brain. No punishment could match the magnitude of Stubbeأ¢â‚¬â„¢s crime. He was put on the torture wheel and his flesh was pulled off with red-hot pincer. His arms and legs were broken, and finally he was decapitated. His carcass was burned to ashes. As accessories to his misdeeds, his daughter and mistress were also burnt alive. The Magistrate of the town Bedburg built a grim monument remembering the ghastly incident.Workmen put the torture wheel atop a tall pole with Stubbeأ¢â‚¬â„¢s head above it. His head was structured with the likeliness of a wolf. Sixteen pieces of yard long wood pieces were hung from the rim of the wheel to commemorate the poor souls of his victims. The words of Stubbeأ¢â‚¬â„¢s trial and execution spread across the lands. His brutality, their ways and atrocity were beyond human experience. His ferocity was readily related with the behavior of wolf. People started to believe that such creatures with the shadow of wolves were living among them. They named them Werewolves. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Greek mythology also testifies to the existence of werewolves. God Zeus once disguised himself as a traveler and sought for hospitality in the court of vicious Arcadian King Lycaon. The King recognized the god and tried to kill him. He served him human flesh. God Zeus caught the terrible trick and did not eat. Outraged, He destroyed the palace and condemned Lycaon to spend rest of his life as a wolf. This mythology originated the word أ¢â‚¬إ“Lycanthropeأ¢â‚¬â€Œ which is used to describe the werewolf phenomenon. (Greek lykos - wolf, and anthropos - man.) ......................... Portrait of a Werewolf and the Transformation Process |
| Image title would go here. As centuries passed there arrived a point when fanciful stories told to amuse people were replaced by real incidents and real suffering. Suddenly tales such as Stubbe’s started to emerge. It was as if people believed that werewolves were every where. The trial records on lycanthropy revealed an epidemic cases. In France alone, between 1520 and 1630, some 30.000 individuals had the misfortune to be labeled werewolves, many of them underwent criminal investigation and torture, confessed, and suffered a vile death at the stake. For those who escaped such a fate, the trauma of interrogation must have left lifetime scars. Here is collection of some French werewolf trials which have been recorded. The case of Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun The trial of two French peasants in 1521 got wide spread notoriety. Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdum were the convicted werewolves. Nineteen years ago when Burgot was desperately trying to gather his storm frightened sheep, he met with three mysterious black dressed horsemen. One of them assured him the future protection of his sheep and gave him some money as well. In return the stranger just wanted Burgot to obey him as the Lord. Accepting the proposal Burgot agreed to meet again. In the second meeting the so-called Lord announced the full conditions of the deal: Burgot must renounce God, the Holy Virgin, the Company of Heaven, his baptism and also his confirmation. As year passed Burgot became reluctant to maintain the pact. Then he was called by Michel Verdum. Verdum demanded him to strip naked and rub a magic ointment on his body. When Burgot obeyed the order, he found his arms and legs had become hairy, his hands reshaped into paws. Verdum changed his shape too and together they ran through the surrounding countryside. They committed various awful crimes. They tore to pieces a seven-year-old boy, killed a woman and abducted a four-year-old girl. The unfortunate girl was fully eaten up by two of them. When they were caught they were duly put to death. Their picture was hung in the local church as a reminder of all the evil deeds that men could commit under the influence of Satan. Gilles Garnier, “the hermit of Dole,†ycanthrope trials increased in the following years. In 1573 werewolf attacks became more apparent. After finding several half-eaten children the authorities of the town Dأ´le in Frenche-Comtأ© province put a price on werewolves’ head. Two months after the injunction, an alleged werewolf named Gillas Garner was arrested. His victims were nine to twelve-year-old children. He slew them with his paws and teeth. To satisfy his appetite, he ate flesh from their thigh, legs and belly. The story of his crimes and sentencing him to death still survive and have become a folk song. Werewolf of Caude After an interval for a few years the werewolf menace rose again in 1584.This time two alleged werewolves, Pierre Gandillon and his son George were apprehended. They were accused for having murdered and eaten numerous youngsters under the narcotic influence of the salve with which they rubbed their bodies. Again in 1598 Jacques Rollet was tried for killing and eating a boy of fifteen. He was known as the werewolf of Caude. When he was found in the woods, he was half-naked with long matted hair and blood covered hands. He was still holding a lump of flesh. At his trial he described how he had slaughtered various people, including a number of Attorneys, lawyers and bailiffs. Though he was sentenced to death he was later sent to a madhouse. Strangely he stayed there for only two years. The Tailor Among other werewolf cases, the story of a tailor stands out for its peculiarity. The alleged werewolf would hide in the forests and lie in wait for a passerby. Whenever he could get a chance, he jumped out and killed the ill-fated man. He had a shop and used it as to bait children. He tempted them into his shop, and then killed them. In his cellars he stored their meat like butchers.Some barrels were used to stack up bones and “other foul and hideous thingsâ€. The records accumulated during his trial were so repulsive that the court decided that it would better destroy them. The Boy Lycanthrope There is also a record of a child werewolf. He was Jean Grenier of Aquitaire. His story was more or less like that of Burgot. When his father beat him, he ran away from home and wandered around the countryside. One evening another boy named Pierre La Tihaire took him to the depths of the woods. The Lord of the Jungle was present there. He was a tall black dressed dark man upon a dark horse. The Lord got off his horse and kissed Grenier with icy lips. In the second meeting both of the boys submitted themselves to the Lord of the forest. Their master scratched tattoos on their thighs as brands. He brought out a wine bag and gave them a drink. He also presented them wolf skins and an ointment. The Lord taught them how to rub their bodies with the ointment before putting on the fur. During their reign of terror fifteen children including one from Grenier’s cradle disappeared. When finally Grenier was caught in 1603, he confessed of eating them all. At that time he was fourteen, physically and mentally retarded. Taking into account of his age and limited mental capacity, the Judge ordered Grenier to be confined in a cloister for life. There he refused to eat any regular food and devoured offal instead. Seven years later when a man called Pierre de Lancre visited him, he had grown gaunt and lean. His deep-set black eyes burned incessantly. His hands were like claws with bent nails and his teeth were like canines. Apparently he enjoyed hearing about wolves and readily imitated them. After one more year he died, to be remembered forever in the anal of werewolves as the “boy lycanthropeâ€. Greiner’s case is among those that contributed to the shift in attitude towards the werewolf phenomenon. The head of the inquest committee who looked into this case found him incapable of rational thought. “The change of shape existed only in the disorganized brain of the insane. Consequently it was not a crime that could be punishedâ€. Judges began to regard werewolf cases with approaching tolerance. ;;;;;;;;;; Possible Explanations of Werewolf Phenomenon ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; General Explanation of Werewolf Phenomenon Was the werewolf phenomenon really a matter of delusion-or drug induced madness? There was no lack of effort to explain the werewolf behavior down through the ages. Some asserted that it was caused by an excess of melancholy or an imbalance in humors, the liquid or fluid part of the body. Many doctors believed that such melancholy could lead to insanity, hallucination and delusion. One physician recommended that the lycanthrope should be treated with baths, purging, bleeding, dietary measures; to promote a state of mental calmness, rubbing opium into the nostrils. In his 1621's work entitled Anatomy of Melancholy Robert Burton, the clergyman and scholar, considered lycanthrope to be a form of madness, and he blamed every thing from sorcerers and witches to poor diet, bad air, sleeplessness and even lack of exercise. Whatever would be the explanation, the frightened common folk preferred magical explanations. Thus, for some, the werewolf was the projection of a demon, which made its victims appear as a wolf in his own eyes and to those around him. For others, the werewolf was a direct manifestation of the Devil. Early seventeenth century French author Henri Bouguet believed, as did a great many people of that day, that Satan would leave the lycanthrope asleep behind a bush, go forth as a wolf, and perform whatever evil might be in that person’s mind. According to Bouguet, the Devil could confuse the sleeper’s imagination to such an extent “that he believes he had really been a wolf and had run about and killed men and beasts.†The Mysteries of Magic, written by nineteenth century French occultist ط©liphas Lأ©vi, postulates the existence of a phantom - a body that acted as mediator between a living organism and the soul. “Thus in case of a man whose instinct is savage and sanguinary, his phantom will wander abroad in lupine form, whilst he sleeps painfully at home, dreaming he is a veritable wolf.†Lأ©vi believed that the wounds so often reported in the cases of werewolves could be attributed to the out-of-body experience. He saw the human body as a subject to magnetic as well as nervous influences and capable of receiving the wounds suffered by the metamorphosed shape. Scientific Explanation of Werewolf Phenomenon: Modern physicians diagnose the lycanthrope as suffering from 1. Schizophrenia, 2. Organic Brain Syndrome with psychosis, 3. Psychotic Depressive Reaction, 4. Hysterical Neurosis of the dissociative type, 5. Manic-depressive Psychosis and 6. Psychomotor Epilepsy. Science has found a chemical basis for lycanthropy. Hallucinogenic plants and fungus-infected grain had caused many of the so-called lycanthrope to believe that they had turned into wolves. The main ingredients of the ointments used by the werewolves were belladonna or nightshade that could produce hallucination and delusions of bodily metamorphose. The diet of medieval peasants may have been another source of lycanthropic delusions. Bread was frequently made from ergot infected grains. Ergot is a fungus of which alkaloids are chemically related to LSD (LysergicAcid Diethylamide, a strong hallucinogenic psychoactive drug. The drug produces dreamlike changes in mood and thought, and alters the perception of time and space. It can create a feeling of lack of self-control, extreme terror and blur the feeling between the individual and the environment.) Like this modern drug, ergot infected grains can induce powerful and long lasting hallucination. In 1951, nearly 135 people had to be hospitalized and 6 died from ergot poisoning in the French town of Pont St. Esprit. They ate bread made from fungus infected rye. The victims had horrible visions of being attacked by tigers and snakes and of turning into beasts. This incident suggests that organic hallucination, rather than supernatural causes, may explain the werewolf phenomenon. Something else has to be considered as well: the distinct possibility that some so-called werewolves were in fact the tragic victims of rare diseases like Rabies and Porphyria. A strain of virus carried by dogs, wolves and other animals including vampire bats causes Rabies. The virus strikes the central nervous system and produces uncontrollable excitement and painful contractions of the throat muscles’ intervention, which prevent the victim from drinking. Death usually occurs within three to five days of the first symptom. The second disease, Porphyria is a rare genetic disorder that results in a deficiency of heme, one of the pigments in the oxygen-carrying red blood cells. At the 1985 conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, biochemist David Dolphin suggested that the untreated symptoms of Porphyria match many of the traits associated with the classic lycanthrope. One of them is severe photosensitivity, which makes venturing out into daylight extremely painful and thus dooms the sufferer to a life of shadows and darkness. As the condition advances, the victim’s appearance grows increasingly morbid. Discoloration of the skin and an unusual thick growth of facial or body hair occur. There is a tendency for an abnormal change in skin and formation of sores. Eventually the disease attacks cartilage (the soft bone) and causes a progressive deterioration of the nose, ears, eyelids and fingers. The teeth, as well as the fingernails and the flesh beneath them might turn red or reddish brown because of deposition of Porphyrin, a component of Hemoglobin in the blood. Porphyria is often accompanied by mental disturbance, from mild hysteria to delirium and manic-depressive psychoses. ;;;;;;;; Modern Werewolf Cases from Scientific View Points ;;;;;;;;;;;; There are many individuals today who believe they are werewolves, and some of the lycanthropes have been studied and treated by psychologists and psychiatrists. The November 1975 issues of The Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal reported in details on several recent cases of lycanthropy. In the first case, the twenty-year-old patient, referred to as Mr. H, was convinced that he was a werewolf. A drug user, he told his doctor that while serving in the United States Army in Europe, he had hiked into a forest near his post and had ingested LSD and strychnine, the latter a deadly poison that acts as a stimulant when taken in tiny quantities. Both substances are pharmacologically similar to some of the ingredient used by shape shifters in the past. They had an instant and potent effect on the young man, who claimed to have seen fur growing on his hands and felt it sprouting on his face. Soon he was overcome by a compulsion to chase after, catch, and devour live rabbits. He wandered in this delusional state for several days before returning to the post. Placed on the tranquilizer chlorpromazine, Mr. H was weaned away from drugs and received adjunct therapy for some nine months, during which time he continued to hear disembodied voices and to experience satanic visions. Claiming to be possessed by the devil, he insisted he had unusual powers. Tests indicated his delusions were “compatible with acute schizophrenic or toxic psychosis†He was treated with an antipsychotic drug, and when he improved sufficiently, he was referred to an outpatient clinic. After only two visits, however, he had stopped taking the medication and left treatment. Subsequent efforts to contact him failed. Another werewolf patient, thirty-seven-year-old Mr. W was admitted to the hospital after repeated pubic displays of bizarre activity, including howling at the moon, sleeping in cemeteries, allowing his hair and beard to grow out, and lying in the center of busy highways. Unlike Mr. H, Mr. W had no history of drug or alcohol abuse. He had once been a farmer and considered of average intelligence, which was found in an IQ test administered when he served in the United States Navy. Now, he was seen not only as psychotic but also as intellectually deficient, with a mental age of an eight-to ten year-old child. Because of the patient’s increasing dementia, the doctors performed a brain biopsy. Their findings revealed an abnormal physiological deterioration of cerebral tissue, known as walnut brain. Mr. W was diagnosed as having a chronic brain syndrome of unknown origin. When placed on antipsychotic drugs, he showed no further symptoms of lycanthropy. Seen later on an outpatient basis, he exhibited quiet, childlike behavior. The October 1977 issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry details the particularly bizarre story of a forty-nine year-old woman who believed herself a wolf and, with increasing frequency, had begun acting like one. She revealed that just below the surface of a seemingly normal twenty-year marriage she had harbored a consuming desire to indulge in secret, bestial appetites. Her erotic daydreams often involved other women in polymorphous perverse orgies. The wolf was a constant and central figure in her fantasies; she felt its mesmerizing stare fastened onto her by day, its hot breath on her bare neck at night. Soon she began “feeling like an animal with claws.†For her, the message was clear-she was a wolf. After a time, she began to act out her compulsions. At a family gathering, for instance, she was suddenly overwhelmed by the wolf passion. Stripping naked and dropping to all fours she excitedly approached her own mother, and assuming the sexual posture of a female wolf, she offered herself. The woman’s state continued to deteriorate; the next evening, after making love to her husband, she lapsed into a frenetic two-hour episode of grunting and of clawing and gnawing at the bed. She explained afterwards that the devil “come into her body and she became an animal.†Enrolled in an inpatient program, she received daily psychotherapy and was placed on medication. In the first three weeks she suffered relapses, during which she would rave: “I am a wolf of the night, I am wolf woman of the day……. I have claws, teeth, fangs, hair………and anguish is my prey at night………powerless is my cause. I am what I am and will always roam the earth after death……….I will continue to search for perfection and salvation.†Concurrently she experienced the urge to kill accompanied by a consuming sexual excitement. She now saw the head of a wolf, rather that her own face, when she gazed in the mirror. The medical staff commented on “the unintelligible, animal-like noises she made.†There was some improvement, but the patient then relapsed during the full moon. Writing about her experience, she stated: “I don’t intend to give up the search for (what) I lack……….in my present marriage……..my search for such a hairy creature. I will haunt the graveyards for a tall, dark man that that I intend to find.†After nine weeks of treatment, she was released from the hospital on a regimen of drugs designed to free her of her delusion. On the basis of the woman’s symptoms, her doctors were able to formulate a psychological profile of the lycanthrope, which is not so different, in spite of its modern medical language, from the conclusion of some of the more enlightened physicians and thinkers of earlier times. Werewolf in Literature -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A vivid description of King Lycaon’s metamorphosis was given in later centuries by Ovid, the Roman poet. With this tale, the werewolf entered popular literature that provided plenty of eerie accounts. It held the attention of medieval literature for almost three centuries. Certain peoples of Poland and Lithuania were widely regarded as sorcerers who turned themselves temporarily into wolves once a year. Similar ritualistic transformation seems to echo in the tales of Livonia describing ceremonies occurring during the Christmas seasons: Christmas, because of its association with the winter solstice, was traditionally a period of magical activity of all kinds. Ireland was a similar repository of werewolf lore; perhaps because wolves thrived there long after they were hunted to extinction in England. At one time the Emerlad Isle was even known as wolf-land and Saint Patrick himself was believed to have transformed Vereticus, the king of Wales, into a wolf. Romanticized stories involving werewolves persisted for years in Europe. England’s Gervase of Tilbury, a scholastic writing between 1210 and 1214, noted that “in England we often see men changed into wolves at the change of the moon.†Gervase’s Otia Imperialia, a collection of medieval legends and superstitions, includes the tale of Raimbaud of Auvergne, a former soldier turned outlaw, who turned himself into a werewolf and began a series of attack on children and adults alike until a carpenter chopped off his hand. A similarly curious twelfth century werewolf tale came from Ireland. In his Topographis Hibeniae the ecclesiastic Gerald of Wales related the tale of a priest and a boy who met with a werewolf couple on their journey to Meath. Medieval writers of romance started to construct airy fictions. Werewolves were figured as wicked-step mother and lost-heir of a throne. The Lay of the Werewolf was such a story describing the cruel infidelity of a woman. |
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FEAR AND NIGHTMARESSSSSSSSSSS F E A R That is generally the determining factor behind these elements that give us sleepless nights, forcing us to analyze our behavior and memory for the underlying message. Making us aware of fault and folly, regret and the machinations of others. Even when you get past the most recent interruption of your sleep pattern, you can be assured that soon there will be another to wake draped in sweat-soaked sheets and feverish skin. It's not the actual element of Nightmares that I want to discuss, but those that occur over and over in your life. That one dream that you can't escape throughout all your life. That one that haunts you through the years, finding you wherever you walk, forcing you to think and strive to uncover the meaning. I think mine is fairly typical. Generally it begins with some relationship, and the interference of boyfriend or husband. Catching us in the act, and then the consequent revenge/retribution. They are always highly exaggerated and illogical. One man against many, unbeatable odds and the pursuit and eventually evasion. Each scenario lies in darkness and fear, heart-pounding and mind blazing for escape. I always wake from these dreams with true fear behind my eyes. Wide and searching for that blade/gun/blunt object seeking to harm me. Honestly, I wouldn't ever want to try to analyze it ... but whether the assailants are mundane or extraordinary ... it is always the same. My mistake, leading to persecution and unending retreat. I think the very element of running from whatever, is the greatest fear there. What causes me to be so uncomfortable when I wake ... knowing I ran ... knowing I had no choice. Scares the living shit out of me. And now we come back to you. What dream finds you constantly, year by year, keeping you awake, and forcing fear to drive your body temperature to feverish heights. What nightmare has never left your subconscious, and still torments you. Share, I ask of you. Come on people!!! tell me your nightmares... i wanna know what freaks you out, what haunts you day in and day out... |
| Image title would go here. These are a few of my favorite photographs from my different travels. Feel free to browse them as you like. If you want one click your right mouse button and choose "Save As" from the menu. |
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Image title would go here. These are a few of my favorite photographs from my different travels. Feel free to browse them as you like. If you want one click your right mouse button and choose "Save As" from the menu. |
| Image title would go here. These are a few of my favorite photographs from my different travels. Feel free to browse them as you like. If you want one click your right mouse button and choose "Save As" from the menu. |
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Image title would go here. These are a few of my favorite photographs from my different travels. Feel free to browse them as you like. If you want one click your right mouse button and choose "Save As" from the menu. |
| Image title would go here. These are a few of my favorite photographs from my different travels. Feel free to browse them as you like. If you want one click your right mouse button and choose "Save As" from the menu. |
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Image title would go here. These are a few of my favorite photographs from my different travels. Feel free to browse them as you like. If you want one click your right mouse button and choose "Save As" from the menu. |
| Image title would go here. These are a few of my favorite photographs from my different travels. Feel free to browse them as you like. If you want one click your right mouse button and choose "Save As" from the menu. |
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