The Complete Idiot's Guide to Werewolves

by Brown Robert

  One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what this means. Apparently, for much of human history, our ancestors were tripping out on a psychedelic hallucinogen … and they didn’t even know it.

  So you may be wondering what any of this stuff about ergot poisoning has to do with werewolves. Well, as anyone who has ever sampled LSD would likely tell you, psychedelic drugs can make it very difficult to keep a firm grip on reality. Such drugs can also cause lapses in one’s ability to sense the passage of time. For example, a person suffering from ergot poisoning might look up and see a person he or she knows. Several minutes may pass, during which the other person walks away, but the poisoned individual is unaware that any time has passed. Then a wild dog or other animal passes by and somehow catches the attention of the affected person. To him or her, it would seem as if only a split second before there had been a person standing where the animal stands now when, in actuality, as much as an hour may have passed between these two events.

  In addition to losing time, a person suffering from ergot poisoning experiences intense hallucinations that actually “amplify” reality (light, colors, sounds, etc.), often in ways that can become rather frightening under stress. This is commonly referred to by LSD users as having a “bad trip.” Imagine if you will the effect that a sudden encounter with a wild dog (or even a wolf) would have on the mind of a person suffering from ergot poisoning. The dog would likely appear to the person as a monster with huge fangs. Any bark or yelp would sound like the bellowing growls of some demonic creature. In some cases, the poisoned individual might even hallucinate that he or she is a werewolf and go running, barking, and snarling through the village (scaring the crap out of the neighbors, who are probably also suffering from the hallucinogenic effects of ergot poisoning). Add to this mix the fact that the werewolf myth is already embedded in everyone’s minds, and you have a recipe for absolute chaos and widespread lunacy.

  The Savage Truth

  Ergot poisoning can be fatal. It is called “poisoning” for a good reason. One would be very ill advised to experiment with the ingestion of this substance in any way, shape, or form. Doing so could result in irreversible damage to one’s brain and/or spinal cord, (temporary or permanent) localized paralysis, a permanent state of psychosis, cardiac arrest, and even death. Any desired hallucinogenic or euphoric effects that one might expect to receive from swallowing ergot are most definitely not worth the serious health risks that it involves. Simply put, do not ingest ergot.

  When one considers how widespread the occurrence of ergot poisoning must have been in ancient and medieval Europe, it is not hard to imagine how so many werewolf sightings occurred during these periods. It may be no small coincidence that sightings of werewolves and cases of lycanthropy have dropped off considerably since 1850, following the identification of ergot’s hallucinogenic properties.

  Porphyria

  The condition known as porphyria is thought by some to be an explanation for some reports of werewolves. Porphyria is a condition that affects the blood and marrow. Those with porphyria have an inability to create porphyrin in the bone marrow. This leads to a discoloration of the skin that is reddish or purplish. Symptoms of porphyria are as follows:

  • Severe photosensitivity (namely sensitivity to ultraviolet light).

  • Hypertrichosis may develop on parts of the skin that are especially photosensitive.

  • Teeth may turn a red or red-brown color.

  • Skin lesions.

  • Red- or brown-colored skin.

  • Porphyria often attacks cartilage, causing mutilations and deformities of the eyelids, nose, mouth, and hands.

  As a result of social expulsion, individuals with porphyria, especially during ancient and medieval times, may have grown up with little to no interaction with other humans. Their frightening appearances, coupled with their unsocial or “savage” behaviors, may have caused them to be mistakenly labeled as werewolves in the ages of the past.

  Rabies

  Rabies is an infectious virus that, once contracted, has the potential to attack the nervous system of most mammals (including wolves/canines and humans). There are two main types of rabies—paralytic rabies and “furious” rabies. When contracted by a human being, both types of rabies develop through the following three primary stages of infection:

  Beastly Words

  Rabies is a viral infection, often passed by the saliva through a bite, that attacks the brain and nervous system of warm-blooded animals. It is also thought to be a possible explanation forbe medieval reports of lycanthropy and certain parts of werewolf lore.

  • Stage One: The individual is bitten by a rabies-infected animal, and a tingling sensation at the site of infection may be experienced.

  • Stage Two: The infected person begins to experience fever, fatigue, nausea and loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, migraine headaches, lung infection (similar to bronchitis symptoms), throat infection, and stomach pain.

  • Stage Three: The infected individual becomes highly irritable, suffering from insomnia as well as extreme anxiety or paranoia. (This anxiety is usually irrational and unprovoked.) Near the latter part of the third stage of rabies infection, the infected person begins to suffer from severe depression and (mild to severe) hallucinations.

  At the end of the third stage of rabies infection, the virus will take the form of either paralytic or “furious” rabies. By the time the rabies virus has reached the third stage, it is almost certainly too late to save the infected person. In all of known history, only three people have ever survived after being treated past the third stage of infection, and all of them lived out their lives with permanent physical damage. This is why it is so important to seek immediate medical attention when one has been bitten by any animal (especially mammals since rabies only affects warm-blooded animals). The sooner treatment is received, the less likely it becomes that one will suffer any permanent nerve or brain damage. However, once the symptoms of the third stage of rabies infection have been displayed, the virus is nearly 100 percent fatal.

  After the third stage of infection, some human beings develop paralytic rabies. This form of the virus gradually paralyzes the infected person’s muscles, starting from the site of infection (where the person was bitten) and working outward over a period of time until the entire muscular system (including the heart muscle and the diaphragm) has become paralyzed. In the end, the person will appear to enter a coma and remain comatose until his or her heart and lungs cease to function. While the paralytic form of rabies is not likely to have influenced werewolf lore, it would appear that the “furious” form of rabies may be responsible for a vast amount of it.

  “Furious” rabies also occurs at the end of the third stage of infection. The symptoms and potential behaviors of a person suffering from “furious” rabies are as follows:

  • Extreme dehydration/thirst

  • Howling and growling

  • Biting people

  • Increasingly intense hallucinations

  • Extreme hydrophobia (fear of water), a symptom that is so common and severe that rabies was long referred to alternatively as “hydrophobia”

  Do any of the preceding symptoms sound familiar? They should. Most of these symptoms are also, according to the majority of werewolf lore, the primary symptoms of lycanthropic infection (which are discussed at length in Chapter 15). If one thinks about the occurrence of rabies in the ancient and medieval world, the relationship between rabies and werewolf lore makes perfect sense.

  First of all, rabies infections are known to have occurred in a good number of canine breeds (including wolves and coyotes). These infections usually occurred when the carnivorous canine devoured a smaller, rabies-infected animal. In canines, any rabies viral infection had the potential to develop into the “furious” form.

  During the Middle Ages of Europe, rabies infections were as rampant as occurrences of ergot poisonings. These occurrences were often thought to be cases of lycanthrop
y or some other work of the devil. During the Middle Ages, many of the people who were bitten by rabid animals, believing themselves cursed with lycanthropy, are known to have taken their own lives. Sometimes they were killed by the other villagers. Sadly, these may have been mercy killings since there was not yet a successful treatment for rabies infection.

  The Savage Truth

  The use of irons against werewolves probably originated from the practice of peasants carrying iron crosses, called the “Keys of St. Hubert,” for protection against the curse of lycanthropy. Usually, these keys were inserted into the inner sides of house doors or were hung on house walls.

  To combat these “curses,” the bites were supposed to be immediately treated by being burned with hot irons. In many cases in which this method was put into practice, no further symptoms developed in those individuals. This may have led to the belief that iron was a potent element against werewolves and lycanthropic magic.

  Bark vs. Bite

  The success in some cases in which hot irons were applied likely had little to do with magic and more to do with medicine. Hot irons, if applied soon enough, would have cauterized and sterilized the bite. This would have minimized the infection or, in some cases, destroyed the infection completely.

  Consider the following hypothetical scenario to understand how a rabies infection may have been viewed when it occurred in the ancient or medieval world:

  A man went walking in the woods and came upon a rabies-infected wolf, coyote, or other wild dog. He was bitten during the encounter but survived to return home and tell the tale of his frightening encounter. The bite was bandaged, perhaps given a home-remedy salve of some sort by his wife, but was otherwise untreated.

  Over time, the bitten man began to get sick, developing the symptoms of the initial three stages of rabies infection. His wife noticed that he was always getting nervous or angry about the silliest things. At other times, she noticed that he seemed to be staring in certain places for long periods, as if he saw something, when nothing was there.

  Within a month (rabies can develop from the initial bite to its final form in anywhere from three to four weeks), the man’s wife noticed that he always seemed to be thirsty. Soon enough, he began frothing at the mouth. The infected man then went mad and began growling and tearing at his clothes. He ran through the village, savagely biting anyone who attempted to restrain him. The man eventually disappeared into the forest and was never heard from again.

  Shortly afterward, some of the people the man had bitten began to die under mysterious circumstances (those who developed paralytic rabies). Others, however, soon went as mad as the man who bit them. They also soon began to growl like animals, and many tried to bite their fellow villagers before they, too, ran off into the woods.

  This situation, which we would now identify as a rabies outbreak, would have been considered a case of lycanthropy or demonic possession by most people who lived in the ancient or medieval world, where the unexplained was often labeled under superstitious terms.

  Hysterical Beast Encounters

  Hysteria is commonly defined as unusual or irrational behavior resulting from an experience of overwhelming fear, mental distress, or uncontrollable emotions. When it comes to werewolves, it is possible that some reports are actually nothing more than bouts of hysteria caused by a frightening encounter with a wild animal. This is especially the case when the encountered animal cannot be immediately identified by the individual.

  Beastly Words

  Hysteria is characterized by unusual and often irrational behavior by an individual suffering a mental break (often temporary but sometimes permanent) caused by an experience of overwhelming fear.

  Hysteria from an encounter with a wild animal can occur as a result of diminished mental capacity (brought on by extreme panic or fear) or a limited knowledge of wildlife. For example, supposed sightings of a mythical vampire/lizardlike creature called the chupacabra have turned out to be nothing more than human encounters with inbred or mange-ridden coyotes. The animals were so horribly deformed by genetic inbreeding and mange that the individuals who encountered them could not identify that they were coyotes. As a result, the involved persons believed they had encountered a “monster” of some sort. Since the chupacabra was a part of their local or cultural lore, they ascribed the encounter as being with this creature. To this day, all claims to have killed or captured a chupacabra have turned out to be nothing more than coyotes … very hideous coyotes … but coyotes, nonetheless.

  Hysteria from an encounter with a wild animal can also be caused when the animal is not one that would be expected in that region. For example, in recent years a winged “monster” was reported to have attacked a young boy in Florida, briefly lifting him off the ground with its sharp talons only to release him shortly after. Following an investigation of the descriptions and reported behaviors of the so-called “monster,” wildlife officials came to the conclusion that an extremely large predatory bird (one normally indigenous to Africa) was responsible for the attack. Small primates are the most common prey for these large raptors, and the animal likely mistook the boy for food. It is also believed that human encounters with escaped, misplaced, or unidentified species of gorillas in North America (a region where gorillas are not thought to be indigenous) are the cause of many modern reports of werewolf and Sasquatch sightings.

  Cryptids

  The relatively young discipline of cryptozoology walks the sometimes blurry line between science and myth. Cryptozoologists are devoted to the study of special animals called cryptids, which are believed to be unidentified, undiscovered, or extinct species of animals that have often been mislabeled as “monsters.” Cryptozoologists seek to either confirm or prove false the existence of cryptids through the use of scientific methods. Some argue that cryptozoology is not science but glorified “monster chasing.” However, even mainstream science must admit that the discipline of cryptozoology has yielded some results.

  Beastly Words

  Cryptozoology is the study of special/rare animals called cryptids. Cryptids are believed (by cryptozoologists) to actually be unidentified, undiscovered, or extinct species of animals that have been mislabeled as “monsters” or “creatures.” Perhaps the most globally known of the cryptids is the so-called “Loch Ness Monster,” which has yet to be confirmed or concretely identified.

  Cryptozoology scholars have successfully identified, and proven the existence of, a number of cryptids in recent years. In Indonesian New Guinea, there had long been a local legend about a race of short, hairy humanoids called the bondegezou, or “men of the forests.” Cryptozoologists were able to uncover and examine a valid set of remains from one of these creatures that had been killed by a local hunter. The bondegezou turned out to actually be an unidentified species of unusually hairy tree kangaroo. These animals often move on two feet and have oddly flat faces, giving them the appearance of being humanoid if seen from any good distance.

  As far as werewolves are concerned, the jury is still out. Cryptozoologists have werewolves listed among those cryptids that have yet to be either confirmed or disproven. There are some cryptozoologists who believe that werewolves are an undiscovered species of primate. Others in the field believe that werewolves may be an unidentified species of canine that has evolved to become bipedal. A very small number of cryptozoologists believe that werewolves, as well as certain other cryptids, are beings that come from alternate dimensions. Subscribers of this theory claim that such creatures temporarily pass over into our dimension from time to time, either purposely or accidentally, when temporal rifts (or portals) open up between our two dimensions.

  The Least You Need to Know

  • The rare condition of hypertrichosis, which causes long hair to grow all over a person’s body, may have led to some werewolf legends.

  • Ergot poisoning may have led to at least some of the reports of werewolves in the ancient to medieval world.

  • The frightening appearance and behaviors
of porphyria sufferers may have caused some of the older reports of werewolves.

  • Many of the symptoms of rabies are identical to what are said to be the primary symptoms of lycanthropy.

  • Hysteria caused by surprise encounters with wild animals may also be an explanation for some reports of werewolf encounters.

  • In cryptozoology, werewolves are on the list of unconfirmed cryptids.

  Chapter 18

  Werewolves and the Psyche

  In This Chapter

  • A close look at the phenomenon of clinical lycanthropy

  • The “Lycanthropy Revisited” case studies by Surawicz and Banta