THE LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF

The legend of the werewolf is one of the most ancient and wide spread. Stories of werewolves can be found as far back as history has been written. The name Werewolf most likely derives from Old English wer (or were) and wulf. The first part, wer, translates as "man" (in the sense of male human, not the race of humanity). It has cognates in several Germanic languages including Gothic wair, Old High German wer and Old Norse var, as well as in other Indo-European languages, such as Latin vir, Lithuanian vyras and Welsh gwr, which have the same meaning. The second half, wulf, is the ancestor of modern English "wolf"; in some cases it also had the general meaning "beast". An alternative etymology derives the first part from Old English weri (to wear); the full form in this case would be glossed as wearer of wolf skin. Lobisón is the word that stands for Werewolf in north Argentina.
The Lobisón is usually the seventh son in a family (whereas the seventh daughter is doomed to be a witch). When they turn into a hairy creature that resembles both a man and a wolf, the Lobisón (a legend greatly influenced by the Brazilian traditions), wanders in the hills and mountains, feeding mostly upon carrion. However, if they get to meet with a human being, they will instantly attack. The survivors (men and women) will then turn into Lobisones themselves, but it is quite rare, because most people die in the claws and teeth of these ferocious creatures. It is also said that if a Lobison's saliva sprinkles over a man or a woman, he or she will eventually turn into a Lobisón. In the early 1900s the legend of the 7th son (it had to be 7 boys in a row, no girls in between) transforming himself into a werewolf was so widespread and believed that it was causing a lot of children to be abandoned or given away for adoption, and it is said that in some cases the parents killed their own son. Because of this, the president passed a law in the 1920s by which the 7th son of a family automatically receives the godfathership of the president of Argentina! Through this, the state gives him a gold medal on the day of his baptism (when the president officially becomes his godfather) and a scholarship for all of his studies until his 21st birthday. Supposedly, this ended the phenomenon of people condemning their children for fear of the werewolf. The law is still in effect, and it is popularly known, and the presidents have always attended at least some of the baptisms, especially during election season. In Brazil, A humam only will become a "lobisomem" if he was the 7th children (male) from the same father and mother. He changes into a "lobisomem", for the first time when he is 13 years old. Just for two hours: from Midnight to 2:00 am. Always on Friday during Lent. The Finnish werewolves are rather melancholy creatures (surprisingly...). In our stories/legends/myths a person usually turns into a wolf without really wanting it, accidentally (by doing something that'll turn him into a wolf without knowing this might happen) or because some witch has put a spell on him (according to Finns, these witches would naturally be Sami, although the Swedes thought we were pretty good at magic ourselves). The werewolf (who's usually bound to be a wolf for nights and days until something releases him from the spell) then lurks around houses, sometimes eating cattle but rarely people and waits for somebody to recognize him. When somebody does (e.g the wolf's mother), she/he can break the spell by calling the werewolf by his Christian name or giving him some bread to eat. Sometimes after the werewolf had regained his human form, he would still have his tail till the day he died. Some houses actually exhibit sauna benches that have a hole in them, presumably cut for the ex-werewolf's tail. In Portugal, werewolves are called lobis-homems. In the 1400's there was one kind of lobis-homem that was very quite common: The gentle and non-attacking creature. Once fallen under a spell, the lobis-homem would attend a crossroad at night to become a wolf after groveling on the dirt. Then the creature would run into the countryside, howling out loud, without hurting anyone. A shy and sad creature, the Portuguese lobis-homem could be easily recognized, for it was a wolf with a short and yellow-furred tail. However, there was yet another kind of werewolf in Portugal, with little resemblance to this noble creature. It was the evil and devilish variety, far less-common though, linked directly to the black arts of witchcraft. Evil lobis-homems could be recognized by the shape of their eyes and sometimes because of the presence of the Devil's mark in some part of the body.

The only werewolf in Georgia's history is said to be buried in O'Neal's District in Talbot County. Some of the older citizens can tell the story of the unlikely person who could turn into a werewolf at will to maraud among the sheep. Local residents complained that many of their sheep were being attacked, even with several guards standing post. And the dead sheep were never eaten by their attacker, it seemed to kill simply for the joy of killing. The species of the animal was unknown. Some thought that it may be a grey wolf but the animal's tracks were not like those of a grey wolf. Land owners began to increase security. They made new traps. More guards were placed over the sheep at night. Professional hunters were brought in and new rifles were purchased. They were never able to kill the creature. A couple of times a hunter was able to shoot the animal from a distance but could not bring it down. One farmer that had suffered more extensive losses than the others swore that he would kill the animal. He offered a $200 reward to anyone that killed it. One day the farmer received a note asking him to go to the farm of a new settler. The farmer did as the note said and he met the new settler. The person who had sent the note was a hard-working and religious man. "Back home in Bohemia, we had this same problem. People lose their sheep for months until someone nearby tells us of the werewolf legend. The werewolf loves to kill for fun, just to taste the blood. So we villagers did the same thing I am asking you to do. Here is my silver cross. Take it and melt it into the shape of a bullet. It is the only way a werewolf can be stopped." The farmer melted down the cross and fitted it into his own rifle. He sat with his flock to wait for the animal. He wasn't kept waiting for long. On the second night, the beast came to the flock he was guarding and began its nightly slaughter. He took aim at the animal and fired. The animal cried out a piercing scream, but it sounded more like the sound of a woman screaming than an animal. The farmer ran to check to see if he had killed it, but it was nowhere to be found. Instead, however, he found the left front foot of the beast, where the silver bullet had cleanly sliced it off. The slaughters stopped from then on. It was not until years later that the town doctor revealed on the very night of the shot he had bandaged a young woman's arm for what looked like the damage from a bullet which had taken off her entire hand and wrist. But this is how the real story goes...
Apparently, Ms. Burt was a resident of Talbot County, a rural county in southwest Georgia between Macon and Columbus. The Burt family, a wealthy and prominent family in the Talbot County community, had several children. According to the late Nancy Roberts in her book "Georgia Ghosts" published by John F. Blair publishers in 1997, there was Sarah, Mildred, Emily Isabella and Joel. Mrs. Burt was widowed by the age of thirty-seven and had inherited a nice estate from her deceased husband. Of all of her children, it appears that Emily Isabella was the one with the most problems. For one, she had inherited a lot of physical traits from her father, including dark hair and bushy eyebrows. However, she was said to have had sharp, white canine teeth that made her smile quite disturbing. In one report, Roberts claims that Emily Isabella's mother took her to a local dentist to see if the teeth could be altered in any way. He could do nothing for her. Soon afterwards, she fell ill and suffered from restless nights. The only thing that seemed to allay those sleepless nights was an elixir that contained opium. Nevertheless, the elixir was not fullproof, and some nights, Emily Isabella roamed the countryside. In addition to these strange issues, Emily Isabella had a fondness for reading, and her subject of choice was the supernatural. Given the fact that part of her mother's inheritance upon the death of her father was a vast collection of books, this affinity for reading was quite convenient. Even her mother was fond of this reading habit, as it was a way to keep an eye on Emily Isabella as she stayed home and read in the family library. Legend has it that the beau of one of Emily Isabella's sisters, a William Gorman, reported to the Burts that something was killing his sheep. Fearful that this may soon be happening to her animals, Mrs. Mildred Burt became quite concerned. On ensuing visits, Gorman would recount stories about more sheep killings and that some of his cattle were killed as well. He was concerned about the killings and decided to take action. He reported that he was going to be putting together what amounted to a posse. Their intentions were to shoot and kill whatever beast was doing the damage. Emily Isabella was unusually interested in what was going on and what events had transgressed in the hunt for this animal. On the night of the big hunt, Mildred Burt, who also had inherited more than a few guns and was a great markswoman, went out with her pistol. She apparently suspected that Emily Isabella was somehow involved with the killings and she wanted to be prepared for anything. As she was near the area, an animal lunged for her and she fired. It ran away. Interestingly enough, the next morning, it was reported that Emily Isabella was missing her left hand. After being taken to a local physician, her mother decided to send her to Paris to be treated by a doctor who specialized in lycanthropy, a disorder that made its victims think they were werewolves. While she was in Paris, the attacks stopped, and once she returned, supposedly cured, the attacks fell to a minimum. Isabella remained in Talbot County until her death in 1911. She was 70 years old and is buried in the Owens and Holmes Cemetery near Woodland. Her story has endured, but not everyone is convinced this legend is true. This story has shown up in a good many books on the supernatural and strange in Georgia. As mentioned earlier, Nancy Roberts wrote of it in her book "Georgia Ghosts." It also appears in Jim Miles' "Weird Georgia", as well as Dr. Alan Brown's "Haunted Georgia."
The werewolf is generally held as a European character, although its lore spread through the world in later times. Shape-shifters, similar to werewolves, are common in tales from all over the world, most notably amongst the Native Americans, though most of them involve animal forms other than wolves. Various methods for becoming a werewolf have been reported, one of the simplest being the removal of clothing and putting on a belt made of wolfskin, probably as a substitute for the assumption of an entire animal skin (which also is frequently described). In other cases, the body is rubbed with a magic salve. To drink rainwater out of the footprint of the animal in question or to drink from certain enchanted streams were also considered effectual modes of accomplishing metamorphosis. The 16th century Swedish writer Olaus Magnus says that the Livonian werewolves were initiated by draining a cup of specially prepared beer and repeating a set formula. Ralston in his Songs of the Russian People gives the form of incantation still familiar in Russia. In Italy, France and Germany, it was said that a man could turn into a werewolf if he, on a certain Wednesday or Friday, slept outside on a summer night with the full moon shining directly on his face. In other cases, the transformation was supposedly accomplished by Satanic allegiance for the most loathsome ends, often for the sake of sating a craving for human flesh. The phenomenon of repercussion, the power of animal metamorphosis, or of sending out a familiar, real or spiritual, as a messenger, and the supernormal powers conferred by association with such a familiar, are also attributed to the magician, male and female, all the world over; and witch superstitions are closely parallel to, if not identical with, lycanthropic beliefs, the occasional involuntary character of lycanthropy being almost the sole distinguishing feature. Werewolves have several described weaknesses, the most common being an aversion to wolfsbane (a plant that supposedly sprouted from weeds watered by the drool of Cerberus while he was brought out of Hades by Heracles). Unlike vampires, werewolves are not harmed by religious artifacts such as crucifixes and holy water. Various methods have existed for removing the werewolf form. The simplest method was the act of the enchanter (operating either on oneself or on a victim), and another was the removal of the animal belt or skin. To kneel in one spot for a hundred years, to be reproached with being a werewolf, to be struck three blows on the forehead with a knife, or to have at least three drops of blood drawn have also been mentioned as possible cures. Many European folk tales include throwing an iron object over or at the werewolf, to make it reveal its human form, naked in cases from 1859. Another vulnerability is to use a weapon of silver (bullet, knife etc). To stab a werewolf with a silver dagger, or to shoot it with a silver bullet is said to not only kill a werewolf, but to also cause it agony in the time before it dies, rather resembling being slowly burned from the inside. Silver in European folklore has long been traditionally believed to be an antidote to various maladies and mythical[citation needed] monsters. Notably, silver was believed to be a repellent against vampires (this primarily originates from its holy connotations; also, mirrors were originally polished silver, and as such, vampires allegedly cannot be seen in them because they have no soul) and it was also believed that a werewolf, in his bestial form, could only be killed by a weapon or bullet made of silver. This has given rise to the term "silver bullet", which is used to describe things that very effectively deal with one specific problem. In different traditions, silver is thought to be the metal associated with the moon and with the human soul. It is likely that these associations have contributed to the legend of the silver bullet.


During the period from 1520 to 1630 there were over 30,000 werewolf trials in France alone. Most of the people who were tried as being werewolves were poor, and came from lowlands with elevations less than 500 feet above sea level. A recent theory is that many of the werewolf accusations were a result of a fungus found in their rye crop. Rye bread was a staple for the poorer people of France, and after cold winters the rye developed the Ergot fungus. Unbeknownst to them, the fungus was a strong hallucinogenic. This theory contests that the werewolf hysteria was a result of mass hallucination since most of the accusers and the accused were poor. The wealthy staple was the more expensive wheat, which was immune to the Ergot fungus. This explains why the wealthy were immune from the werewolf hysteria. Another explanation of werewolves comes from within the human brain. Temporal lobes in the brain control sensations in the human body, and any irritation of the temporal lobes can cause hallucinations. Also, if a person has shrunken temporal lobes, they can be subject to complex partial seizures. These seizures can lead to fixed delusions. Such delusions can include a person thinking that they are a wolf. Also, a lack of nutrition or a hit on the head can cause complex partial seizures. The "magic salve" that was used by humans to transform into wolves was a strong hallucinogenic. When rubbed over the body, it is absorbed into the bloodstream and causes effects similar to LSD. A person under the salve's effect could imagine that he was anything, or anyone. One reason that people during the Medieval Times imagined themselves as werewolves, as opposed to other things, is because of the mass hysteria over werewolves during this time.
Feral. Mangy. Hungry and cursed. No wonder why the werewolf is such a irritable beast. He (or she) has had a hell of an on-screen romp full of ups and downs over the last century. More often than not, we can cite the successful werewolf films by heart; the go-to titles being, arguably, The Wolf Man, An American Werewolf in London and The Howling - that last title spawning a series of abysmal sequels that seemingly set out to destroy the werewolf sub-genre with an unwavering obsession equal to that of Calvin Lockheart's in The Beast Must Die. Nevertheless, the werewolf has endured. If Frankenstein's creation was the misunderstood monster, then the werewolf is without a doubt the misrepresented one. In the hands of an incapable filmmaker, lycanthropy can become a campy joke, no scarier than a retriever playing a game of fetch. In the eyes of special effects artists lacking vision, these hirsute creatures - and the transformation they undergo - can become silly and shaggy behemoths with claws. But some storytellers have gotten it right, recognizing the inner conflict of the afflicted man at the heart of their tale, furthermore the beast that lurks within, and used that to drive themes of adolescence, friendship, sexuality, disease or, of course, the fear of death.