The word “zooanthropy” has existed for many centuries. This is not the supposed ability of a human being to transform into an animal through the art of witchcraft, but a pathology. Over time, more and more people consider themselves animals, think that they can behave like animals, receiving all their abilities. Pathology aside, the question arises: did this ever happen? Did wolf-men, or lycanthropes, inherit zooanthropic magic?
THE ANIMAL IS INSIDE US
The Wolfman seems to be the perfect synthesis of the human-animal transformation. But there are not only wolf people, there is evidence confirming the existence of coyote people, hyenas and even bears.
It is unknown when the so-called wolf people first appeared in history. Experts believe that in reality we are talking about totemic forms of manifestation of primitive shamanic magic. Herodotus said that both the Greeks and the Scythians considered the inhabitants of the shores of the Black Sea to be magicians, who had the ability to turn into wolves on certain days of the year, and, at will, to acquire a human form. Were there people who really knew how to do this?
WOLVES AND WITCHES
Beginning in the 15th century, lycanthropy gradually gained some popularity in rural settings. It is believed that magicians and sorcerers had the ability to enter into agreements with evil spirits, and through these entities they managed to turn into wolf people. This happened especially often during the full moon. On this occasion, the demonologist Lancre, one of the most famous of his time, argued: “The devil turns into a wolf with greater pleasure than into another animal, because the wolf is a predator and causes more harm than other animals. And also because the wolf is the mortal enemy of the lamb, in the form of which Jesus was portrayed.”
With the support of the church, wolf people began to be hunted in the same way as witches. Even the rulers of large European countries believed in the existence of those who suffered from the so-called wolf disease. Let's not go far: King Sigismund of Hungary, once the ruler of the Roman Empire, did everything possible and impossible for the church to recognize the existence of wolf people. And at the Ecumenical Council in 1414 it was recognized that lycanthropes really exist. Thanks to this recognition, church hunters set to work: in France alone, in the years 1520-1630, more than 30 thousand cases of clashes with wolf people were recorded. It's worth remembering some creepy cases, dating back to that time.
GARNIER THE DEVIOR
In 1573, a group of peasants captured Gilles Garnier, who confessed to having eaten dozens of children. He died at the stake after saying that on nights with a waxing moon, as well as on the full moon, he felt strong rage within himself. He felt his body thirst for blood, and the only way out was, he said, to hunt people.
ROLLE: FOUND WITH HUMAN MEAT
In 1598, peasants found the corpse of a young man in a sown field, devoured by wolves. Seeing the peasants, the wolves tried to escape into the nearest forest. The peasants chased the predators and eventually found a naked man squatting in the foliage. He was stained with blood, and in his hands were pieces of human flesh. The killer was the weak-minded Jacques Rollet, who claimed to have the ability to turn into a wolf. The only thing that saved him from death at the stake was that he was declared insane.
GRENIER – THE YOUNG WOLF
In 1790, the mentally retarded Jean Grenier was 13 years old. There was clearly something suspicious in his face: there were pronounced canine features, his cheekbones were very defined, his fangs were pointed, and, in addition, he considered himself a wolf-man. One day he warned several girls that he was passionate about their blood and flesh and when the sun went down, he would come to eat them. Unfortunately, he made good on his promise and attacked one of the girls, but she managed to escape, although she was seriously injured. Grenier was captured, and during his trial he said that he only released the wolf that was inside him. He claimed that he had the ability to transform into a wolf thanks to an encounter with the devil in the forest, where he signed a pact with him and received the wolf's skin.
In court, the young lycanthrope admitted that he had committed many crimes in the guise of a wolf.
edited news VENDETTA - 27-07-2012, 13:13
Since ancient times, werewolves have brought fear and horror to all people without exception. According to popular belief, a werewolf is a person who can take on the appearance of a wolf. Werewolves got their name from the Greek word “lycanthrope,” which translates as “wolf man.” But it should be noted that in different countries, people who can turn into a wolf were called differently. For example, in France, such people were called Lugarou; in other European countries - werewolf, werekodlak; in Transylvania - volkolok.
Since ancient times, the main task of people was to understand how to recognize a werewolf. Based on some striking signs, a werewolf can be recognized in two of its types, both in the form of a human and in the form of a wolf. To do this, you just need to be careful and know a few basic signs of a werewolf.
How to recognize a werewolf in human form?
To begin with, it should be noted that recognizing a werewolf in human form is much more difficult than when he is in the form of a wolf.
1) Transformation into a werewolf always takes place secretly, a person tries in every possible way to hide it. This leads to the person behaving in an unusual manner. As a rule, a wolf man is characterized by increased impulsiveness, secrecy, anxiety, and he can often be overcome by causeless rage and anger. As a rule, restless behavior is more pronounced during the full moon. But over time, a werewolf can learn to keep these signs under control, so be sure to know other signs of lycanthropy.
2) Also clear evidence that a person is a werewolf are numerous wounds on the body. As you know, the process of turning a person into a wolf is very painful, so a person often leaves many deep wounds on his body. Also, rushing through the forest at high speed, the werewolf is also often injured.
3) Thick, fused eyebrows in a person can be a sign of a werewolf.
4) Small ears with a pointed top.
5) Long red nails or bright red hair.
6) Strong hairiness throughout the body (especially the presence of hair on the palms).
7) Before how to recognize a werewolf in human form by looking at it through a mirror. As you know, a mirror shows the real appearance of a person.
8) Since werewolves are afraid of silver, a wolf in human form will never wear silver. And if he touches it, severe and painful wounds will appear at the site of contact.
9) The wolf man has an index and middle finger one length.
11) Love for undercooked and raw meat.
As you can see, recognizing a werewolf in human form is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance.
Many people are also very concerned about the question: “ How to recognize a werewolf in his wolf form? There are several clear signs that can easily distinguish a simple wolf from a werewolf.
Here are the main ones:
1) A werewolf, unlike a simple wolf, has knees bent in the opposite direction.
2) A werewolf can stand calmly on two legs.
3) Bright red eyes are also a clear sign that this is not a simple wolf.
4) The presence of very short hair (sometimes there is no hair at all).
5) If you look at the reflection of a werewolf in the water, you will see his human appearance, and not a wolf’s mouth.
6) Often, after turning into a wolf, a werewolf remains with some signs of a human (white skin, white stripe on the neck, lack of a tail).
7) Unlike a simple wolf, a werewolf cannot be killed or at least seriously injured with simple weapons. To do this you will need a silver weapon.
8) Ordinary wolves rarely attack people for no apparent reason, while a werewolf, after transformation, begins a targeted hunt for people.
Interesting things about werewolves:
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Concept "werewolf" familiar to almost all peoples. For a modern person, this word is associated with another “horror movie” and is the embodiment of something magical.
For a huge number of years, official science tried to classify werewolves as pure fiction, but it turned out that this was impossible. After all, the fact remains: stories about strange creatures collected in different parts of our planet coincide in a completely inexplicable way. The similarity in appearance, characters, behavior, and habits of werewolves in the legends of different peoples cannot be a mere coincidence.
Legends say that a “shifter” is a person who, within a few moments, can turn into a beast, and then, after some time, return to his usual appearance. Werewolves are phenomenally strong, practically invulnerable (they can only be dealt with with the help of silver or obsidian) and obsessed with murder.
The transformation of an ordinary person into a monster often occurs uncontrollably during the full moon. What real, in the end, did modern experts find in the nightmarish fictions of ancient and medieval authors?
Legends about werewolves, one might say, are a ubiquitous and very ancient phenomenon. They are present in almost all cultures. European peoples believed that such unique abilities were possessed by sorcerers who, for their needs, took on the image of a wolf. Werewolves were also called ordinary people turned into wolves by magic spells.
It is interesting that similar beliefs also existed on other continents, only in Africa there is a leopard instead of a wolf, in India - a tiger, and in South America - a jaguar. In Greece, however, they also believed that people could only turn into wolves.
One of the legends even talks about a special island that was located in Arcadia, in the middle of a remote swamp. A special group of human wolves allegedly lived on it, which could be joined by anyone who had undergone an initiation ceremony. The inhabitants of Hellas even considered epileptic seizures to be one of the manifestations of lycanthropy.
There are especially many legends about people who can turn into wolves in Bavaria. True, these stories are so closely intertwined with stories about vampires, and the appearance of both versions of the “evil spirits” are so similar (both have long teeth and claws) that it is sometimes very difficult to separate a werewolf from a ghoul.
However, “changelings,” according to the Bavarians, have very narrow pupils, and these creatures often peer intently into the faces of ordinary people. In addition, in northern Germany for some reason there was a belief that saying the word “wolf” in December provokes a werewolf attack on people.
The Danes were unshakably confident that a werewolf could be recognized based on the shape of the eyebrows. And the Irish believed that werewolf was something akin to a disease and therefore could affect entire families.
Creatures with anomalous abilities in Ireland were described specifically. For example, the most famous legend about the werewolf from Meath says that the “changeling” invited... a priest into his house. The padre had to take care of his owner's sick wolf wife.
Over time, the concept of “werewolf” has narrowed. This is how they began to call a person who can turn into a wolf. Why this particular beast? If you carefully analyze the old legends, a certain pattern will become clear: stories about the atrocities of mysterious creatures appeared at a time when wolves, having multiplied, began to pose a real threat to human life.
In the Middle Ages, there was a belief that you could become a werewolf at the will of a sorcerer or witch. Naturally, there was no shortage of “recipes” on how to get rid of this scourge. Residents of Central and Eastern Europe were especially zealous. Here, in the 15th-17th centuries, a real cruel “witch hunt” unfolded.
The unfortunate people suspected of witchcraft were brutally tortured and then burned at the stake, drowned, wheeled or hanged. At the same time, the werewolves “kept company” with another exposed witch. As they say, “all this would be funny if it weren’t so sad”: according to official documents, in the 16th century the French parliament passed a law on the extermination of “shifters.”
As a result, from 1520 to 1630, more than 30,000 people were killed in the country on charges of witchcraft and werewolf...
Even after three centuries, the fear of the “wolf people” has not disappeared. French peasants from remote areas of the country were afraid to leave their houses at night: they feared an attack by Loup-Garou (the French name for a werewolf). By the way, the inhabitants of Brittany and Normandy still believe that a person can become a wolf.
Perhaps such a strong belief will not seem surprising if you leaf through ancient documents. In 1521, a traveler passing through the French border town of Poligny was attacked by a wolf. Fighting off the maddened beast, the man inflicted several wounds on the predator with a sword.
The wolf began to retreat to the lair. The traveler who was pursuing him came to the hut of a certain Michael Verdung at the very moment when his wife was bandaging the wounds inflicted by a sword on the owner of the house. Werdung was arrested on charges of werewolf and taken to the city. Naturally, under torture the detainee could not remain silent for long.
He admitted that he rubbed his body with a special ointment, with the help of which he turned into a beast, and then hunted people. The cannibal was burned at the stake after the trial.
Somewhat later, in Auvergne, the case of a female werewolf was considered (the husband of the “she-wolf” reported her to the authorities), who had several human lives to her name. During one of her “hunts,” the “changeling” lost her hand; the severed limb was presented to the court as evidence. After torture and confession to committing a number of crimes, the woman was burned. There is a fair amount of similar evidence.
In Eastern Europe, Germany and France, it has long been believed that a werewolf can simply change his skin, turning it inside out with the side supposedly covered with thick fur. In order to return to human form, the monster only needs to perform the same operation again. Because of this superstition, thousands of people were literally cut into pieces by “truth seekers” who tried to turn their skin “fur out.”
IN Slavic mythology the werewolf was called vovkulak (wolf-lak, werewolf). He had a specific character; here there was clearly a mixture of folklore traits and elements of Christian demonology. Among the Slavs, unlike the peoples of Europe, in ancient times the werewolf was a character... positive.
Our ancestors considered the fact of “throwing” into an animal an absolutely normal phenomenon; Moreover, such practices, according to the ancients, were quite common on Slavic territory. In any case, Herodotus, without much surprise, stated the fact that the tribe of Neuroi (apparently living on the territory of modern Belarus) annually changes its appearance for several days, turning into a large pack of wolves.
And if we recall the heroic epic of our ancestors, then in it main character Quite often he was a werewolf and was described as a creature of divine origin. Moreover, the “range” of possibilities for such heroes was surprisingly wide.
At the most critical moment, heroes could turn into a tour, a bear, a wolf or a lynx to help cope with the superior forces of the enemy; into an ermine or a marten - to get into the enemy’s camp, find out secrets or cause mischief in someone else’s warehouse and damage weapons; in the falcon - to survey the surroundings and quickly get to the right place.
However, with the adoption of Christianity as the official state religion, everything changed radically. The former deities received the status of demons; Naturally, heroes and “changeling” helpers with extraordinary abilities either urgently “lost” their unusual qualities or turned into monsters, a collision with which threatens a person with agony and death.
True, despite this, stories about werewolves, who from time to time change their human form into wolf or bear skin, did not lose their popularity and continued to occupy a prominent place in folklore.
One of the varieties of legends about werewolves are stories about children who were raised in a wolf pack and therefore adopted all the habits and habits of wild animals. Unfortunately, such stories are created on a very real basis.
One of the earliest described cases of wolves feeding babies is the story of Romulus and Remus. And in the 14th century in Hesse, in the forests near the city, a strange creature appeared. When the “beast” was caught in 1344, it turned out that it was an eight-year-old boy, completely wild and behaving completely like a wolf.
Around the same years, another Mowgli was found in the forests of Bavaria. Unfortunately, the circumstances for this foundling were almost hopeless: the boy was already more than 12 years old, and he spent at least 10 of them in the wolf’s den.
Feral children are not like the cute Mowgli from the cartoon. They are covered with scars, sores, do not care about their hygiene, growl and bite.
“Wild” people were found in different countries, but the largest number of them were discovered in India. From 1843 to 1933, 16 wolf children (of both sexes), several baby panthers, leopards, monkeys and even an antelope boy were captured here.
It is difficult to say why animals take some “human cubs” under their protection and raise them as their own offspring. However, those Mowgli who survived in the jungle adapted perfectly to wild life (even their teeth changed!), clearly repeated the habits of their adoptive parents and practically lost their human appearance.
Forcibly torn away from their already familiar life, they quickly died in the human world... The wolf boy Dina became unique in this sense: he “lasted” among people for 20 years and during this time, with great difficulty, he learned to stand upright, dress, and use utensils and understand others.
Of course, feral children cannot be considered werewolves in any way. However, the existence of such “demi-humans” influenced the formation of legends about terrible “changelings”. After all, Mowgli’s appearance is indeed scary for an ordinary person: the “savages” are dirty, covered with scratches and sores, with tangled long hair, with broken teeth; his mouth is stained with blood from eating raw meat.
Their nails are long, sharp and strong, so they resemble the claws of a predator.
Mowgli takes on poses characteristic of animals, copying the behavior of the other members of “their” flock, uttering absolutely animalistic growls and howls, and are also particularly ferocious.
Parapsychologists have been talking about the fact that real werewolves do exist for a long time. Naturally, representatives of official science categorically disagreed with this statement. For centuries, all attempts to logically explain the phenomenon of “shifters” in enlightened circles were considered outright nonsense.
However, certain circumstances forced specialists to pay more attention to the “fairytale” problem. Relatively recently, people started talking about the fact that the basis of all stories about werewolves may lie quite rare disease- lycanthropy.
This misfortune was named after the king of Arcadia Lykaon, mentioned in Greek mythology. Legend says that this ruler was distinguished by utter cruelty, made human sacrifices to the gods and even tried to “treat” Zeus, who came to visit him, with the body of a just slaughtered child.
For all the atrocities, the gods turned Lycaon into a wolf. At the same time, the king retained some signs of his natural appearance, understood everything that was happening to him and even tried to speak.
So, doctors have dubbed lycanthropy a special form of insanity, in which the patient begins to believe that he has turned into an animal (most often a wolf). Moreover, it turned out that even in ancient times knew about this phenomenon.
IN Ancient Greece This disease was called “wolf madness.” And Marcellus Sidst in 125 BC. e. described a person affected by lycanthropy, pointing out that the victim of the disease is overcome by madness, which is accompanied not only by wolf ferocity, but also by attacks of truly brutal hunger.
Finally, modern aesculapians paid attention to the evidence of their ancient colleagues, as well as to the amazing “survivability” and widespread prevalence of stories about werewolves.
In 1963, a paper entitled “On Porphyria and the Etiology of Werewolves” was submitted to the Royal Society of Medicine. Its author, Dr. Lee Illis from Hampshire, during his research, processed a huge amount of documentary evidence and chronicles, as well as about 80 cases of similar diseases described and studied by certified doctors.
As a result, he presented a number of arguments to explain the outbreaks of lycanthropy in Europe and other parts of the world at different times. According to the doctor, all appearances of werewolves have a reliable medical basis.
Lee Illis stated: “I believe that the so-called werewolves of the past, at least in most cases, suffered from congenital porphyria. The proof of this lies in the correspondence between the symptoms of this rare disease and the description of werewolves in the many testimonies that have come down to us.
The author of the work indicated that porphyria is a consequence of a rare type of genetic disorder. They, in particular, lead to the fact that the unfortunate victim of the disease begins to develop a special skin sensitivity to light (especially sunlight).
This phenomenon is called vesicular erythema and leads to the fact that the patient begins to become covered with inflamed spots under the influence of light. Usually, skin lesions are accompanied by excruciating pain, as a result of which people not only lose their human appearance, but also lose their minds.
Moreover, the matter does not end with skin irritation. Inflammations quickly turn into deep ulcers, which then spread to cartilage and bones. The patient's eyelids, nose, ears and fingers are gradually destroyed. Sometimes the skin of a victim of a rebellion of the hormonal system becomes dark stained, and the teeth become red or red-brown due to porphyrin deposited in the enamel. As a result, the patient, of course, does not turn into a wolf, but becomes a creature very far from a person in his physical and mental understanding.
In general, the condition of porphyria sufferers, as described from a medical point of view by Dr. Illis in his original work, exactly corresponds to that of a werewolf. Judge for yourself: the patient prefers to leave the house at night - daylight causes him unbearable pain; mental manifestations of the disease gradually intensify, moving from mild hysteria to manic-depressive psychosis; inflammation on exposed parts of the body and face resemble abrasions and bites typical of a “changeling”. The unfortunate man's beard is long and neglected - due to acute inflammation of the skin, it is not cut or shaved, and the distorted features of the patient's face sometimes resemble a terrible mask.
All these classic signs of the legendary werewolf were attested by many medieval judges.
The doctor points out that porphyria has several varieties. All of them are based on gene “failures” and arise as a result of metabolic disorders.
But the type of disease (congenital porphyria) that led to the birth of the myth about werewolves is, fortunately, extremely rare.
However, Illis not only did not exclude the possibility of heredity, but in some cases called it natural. After all, the development of porphyria is influenced by both genetic deviations and the climate characteristics of each area, foods and methods of nutrition.
This seems to explain the fact that in Western Europe“Wolf madness” was such a frequent occurrence and sometimes covered entire villages (especially many such cases were recorded in Sweden and Switzerland). But in Ceylon they had never heard of such a disease. Legends about werewolves are also not recorded here.
Nowadays, attacks by lycanthropes on people also occur. True, not often. Since 1990, 46 people have died from porphyria in Brazil, Spain and the UK. According to the United States, in their country there are about a thousand people suffering from this rare and terrible genetic disease.
Lee Illis's discovery marked the beginning of research into a problem that humanity has faced since ancient times. Moreover, the English doctor’s version did not clarify all the issues related to werewolf. In particular, all sources mentioned that the “changeling” could, at the right moment (most often, after a few hours), regain its human appearance.
Illis wrote that “reverse transformation” is theoretically possible, but... unlikely. The scientist also failed to explain why werewolves are so affected by the rapid growth of the moon.
By the way, in those rare cases when the appearance of a “shifter” is not associated with the full moon, it is observed in special places described as “black earth”, “black rocks”, “black stones” (where minerals or rock of dark, almost black). Why? Medicine cannot yet answer this question. So the mystery of the wolf man has not been fully solved to this day...
Undoubtedly, everyone has heard stories and legends about a creature that, in the light of the sun, looks like a common person, and when the moon is full it turns into a monster. lycan, changeling - he has many names. But no matter what the wolf man is called, the question is different: does he really exist or is it all a figment of someone’s sick imagination?
The animal inside us
Each nation has its own traditions, beliefs, as well as wolf people, coyotes, hyenas and even bear people. Some worshiped the snake man, others revered the lion man, and some were afraid of the leopard men. Even at the dawn of civilization, warriors dressed in the skins of killed animals to gain their strength. However, it seems that it was the werewolf (wolf man) who became the ideal synthesis of the human transformation into an animal. Why wolf?
This wild beast was considered a mysterious and unknown creature for a very long time. The wolf is dangerous, voracious and unusually strong. Man has always been frightened by the ability of the beast to sneak up quietly and unnoticed. In addition, the wolf has the incredible ability to turn around at the sound with its entire body at once, which adds to its intimidation.
When the wolf people first appeared, history is silent. Experts come to the conclusion that we are talking about primitive magic of shamans and totem rituals. Herodotus mentioned that the Scythians and Greeks considered the inhabitants of the shores of the Black Sea to be magicians who could turn into wolves on certain days of the year. But is this really so?
Wolves and sorcerers
Lycanthropy (the so-called ability to turn into a wolf) began to gain popularity in the 15th century. People believed that village shamans made deals with the devil and evil spirits during the full moon and received “wolf essence” in exchange for the sold soul.
One of the most famous demonologists in the world, Lancre, argued that “a man who has turned into a wolf is none other than the devil himself, who in the guise of a ferocious beast roams the earth to cause pain and suffering.” In addition, the wolf is the archenemy of the lamb, which symbolized and represented Jesus.
The Church declared the same hunt for werewolves as for witches. And even the rulers of the largest European countries believed that there was a so-called “wolf disease”. For example, the Hungarian king Sigismund made considerable efforts to ensure that the church recognized in 1414 that wolf people really exist. This confession marked the beginning of a real persecution of werewolves throughout Europe. In France alone, between 1520 and 1630, more than 30 thousand cases of encounters with lycanthropes were recorded. It is worth remembering the most terrible cases of that time.
Garnier the Devourer
In 1573, Gilles Garnier was arrested for numerous murders of children, and he confessed that he was a lone wolf-man. According to him, one night while hunting, a spirit appeared to him and offered his help. The ghost gave Gilles a miraculous balm with which he could turn into a wolf. But it was worth doing this only on the full moon and at night. Only at this time all the fury and power of the beast was felt. Garnier told the court that he committed the murders of four children under the age of 14. In the skin of a wolf, he not only killed, but also ate the flesh of his victims. The killer's story was full of the most terrible and vile details.
Gilles Garnier was found guilty of "criminal acts that he committed after turning into a wolf, as well as witchcraft." The murderer was burned at the stake in January 1573.
Gandillon - a family of werewolves
In 1584, in a small mountain village near the city of Saint-Claude, a werewolf attacked a little girl. Her sixteen-year-old brother, who rushed to her aid, was torn to pieces. The villagers came running to the screams of the children and threw stones at the beast to death. Imagine everyone's amazement when the dead monster turned into a naked young girl. It was Perenette Gandillon.
As a result, the entire Gandillon family was arrested. Probably, with the help of some kind they introduced themselves into a state of werewolf psychosis. City Judge Boge, who heard the case, personally observed the family in prison and conducted an inquiry. In his work entitled “Witches' Tales,” he wrote that the Gandillon family are the real wolf people. They crawled on their hands and feet, howled at the moon and generally lost their human appearance: their eyes were bloodshot, their bodies were covered with thick hair, and instead of nails there were rough claws. By the way, lawyer Bogue was not one of the gullible. And his observations are confirmed by other official reports of lycanthropes infesting France.
Rolle - a man who turned into a wolf
This incident occurred in 1598. In a sown field, peasants found the corpse of a young man, near whom a wolf was wandering. People chased the animal, which was trying to escape into the thicket of the forest. They pursued him to huge thickets of juniper. The hunters decided that the animal was trapped. But instead of a wolf, a completely naked man sat in the bushes, covered in fresh blood, with a piece in his hands. It was Jacques Rollet.
During interrogation, he stated that he could turn into a wolf with the help of a witch's balm. Rolle also confessed to numerous murders that he committed along with his brother and sister in the guise of wolves. The only thing that saved him from execution was that the court declared him insane.
Man with a wolf's head
Thirteen-year-old Jean Grenier was mentally retarded. But that's not the point. And in his face. He had distinctly canine features: strongly defined cheekbones, pointed fangs and bloodshot eyes. Jean believed that he was a real wolf man.
One day he confessed to the girls that he wanted to eat them more than anything in the world, and when the sun went down, he would do it. Of course, they didn’t believe Jean and even laughed at him. But when the sun set, the boy fulfilled his promise. He attacked the girl and bit her very badly, but she managed to escape. Grenier was arrested. During his trial, the boy stated that there was a wolf inside him and he could release it when the sun went down. According to the young lycanthrope, he received his abilities from the devil himself.
Pathology
All these cases are undoubtedly terrible. Bloodthirsty murders, torn children to pieces... But if you take a closer look, it becomes clear that all the crimes were committed by people, to put it mildly, emotionally unstable.
Thus, in psychology there is the concept of “zootropy”. And this is not at all the ability of a person to turn into an animal with the help of magic, but a real pathology. And it lies in the fact that people consider themselves animals and think that if they behave in the same way, they will receive their abilities.
There is even a separate type of this pathology - werewolf psychosis (lycanthropy or lupinomania). When a person suffering from a mental disorder can actually believe that during the full moon he turns into a werewolf. The patient actually feels how fur grows on him, sees how his nails become sharper and longer, how his jaws increase and fangs grow. Such a “wolf man”, eager to shed blood, wanders the streets in search of his victim and can actually seriously bite, scratch, maim and even kill.
The power of thought
Some psychologists believe that werewolf psychosis can cause dramatic changes in the appearance of patients. Of course, there will be no loss of human qualities: the tail will not grow, the hands, although with claws, will not turn into paws, and the face will become more like the face of a monkey or a Neanderthal, but not like a wolf.
Scientists are simply amazed at the metamorphoses that can occur as a result of self-hypnosis and willpower. Wounds are healed, burns are blown away. So why is it impossible to become like a wolf through intense self-hypnosis?
In addition, if you listen to people who turned themselves into wolves, you can learn about certain rituals - a prelude to metamorphosis. For example, drink water from a wolf's footprint, eat the animal's brain, or spend the night in its hole.
Volkodlak, volkolak, volkulak, vovkulak, in Slavic mythology wolf man; werewolf; a sorcerer who can transform into a wolf and turn other people into wolves. Legends about the werewolf are common to all Slavic peoples. The idea of the werewolf combines features of a folklore image and borrowings from ideas about Christian demonology.
The exceptionally archaic nature of ideas about werewolves is evident from the fact that in other Indo-European traditions (in particular, the Hittite) the transformation of the groom into a wolf is associated with a common form of marriage - kidnapping (the forcible abduction of the bride).
The antiquity of this image is also confirmed by the chronicle of 1282, which tells about the werewolf, which “drives the clouds and eats away the moon” (the Slavs for a long time kept faith in the cloud-busters, who turned into wolves, rose to the sky and called for rain or dispersed clouds).
According to F. Buslaev, “the remnant of this legend has been preserved to this day in the proverb: “A gray wolf catches stars in the sky.” Unlike the mythology of the peoples of Europe, among the Slavs the werewolf was initially a positive character, and the fact of werewolfism was perceived in principle as a normal phenomenon. Unusual, yes, but by no means scary or terrible.
This is indirectly confirmed by the ancient Russian conspiracy recorded by Sakhorov:
“On the sea, on the ocean, on the island of Buyan, in a hollow clearing, the moon shines on an aspen stump, in a green forest, in a wide valley. A shaggy wolf walks near the stump, all the cattle are on his teeth, but the wolf does not enter the forest, and the wolf does not wander into the valley. Month, month - golden horns! Melt the bullets, dull the knives, wear out the clubs, send fear into the beasts of man and reptile, so that they do not take the gray wolf, do not tear the warm skin from it. My word is strong, stronger than sleep and heroic strength.”
Turning into a wolf was likened to one of the most revered and powerful animals endowed with supernatural powers. The name of this beast was so sacred that it could not be pronounced out loud, so instead of “wolf” they said “fierce”, and the men of some tribes were called “Lutichs”.
Since ancient times, the ability to transform into a wolf was attributed to “especially powerful” sorcerers and, apparently, formed a necessary part of certain rituals. “Turn around”, “turn around” (transform) often literally meant “turn over”, that is, to somersault, “throw over oneself” or over a conventional border.
“Turning around,” a person seemed to turn over with that side of his being that is connected to the highest powers of the world, to revered animals, birds, fish - “ancestors, relatives and patrons.”
In stories about werewolves, the line between man and beast is a narrow strip of a knife, rope, branch; in essence, it passes through the werewolf himself: he is both man and animal at the same time. The practice of werewolfism was so common among Slavic tribes that Herodotus describes the annual transformation of the Neuroi (a Slavic tribe supposedly living in Belarus) into wolves for a few days as a matter of course.
And the Slavic heroic epic, in general, characterizes the main character of the werewolf as a being of divine origin. At the birth of the Russian wolf hero Volga Vseslavovich:
And the moon brightened in the sky,
And in Kyiv a mighty hero was born,
How young Volkh Vseslavyevich is.
The damp earth began to tremble,
The glorious kingdom of the Indians collapsed,
And the blue sea swayed
For the sake of the birth of Bogatyrskov,
Volkha Vseslavyevich is young.
Similar disasters and natural phenomena accompanied the birth of elemental Slavic deities. Many researchers draw parallels (albeit very conditional), according to which Volkh is the Kiev prince Oleg, who was considered prophetic (another word for a werewolf was a word derived from the verb vedati - “to know”: Ukrainian vischun - “werewolf”, Old Czech vedi - “werewolves”, Slovenian vedomci, vedunci, vedarci - “werewolves”).
However, such a werewolf prince was the no less famous Vseslav of Polotsk (second half of the 11th century), who “... dressed up the princes of the city, and himself prowled the night like a wolf... The great Kherson scoured the path of a wolf...” (Tale of Igor's regiment).
Another Slavic werewolf, the hero of the Belarusian and Serbian epics, was the Fiery Wolf Serpent. His image also goes back to the common Slavic myth of the wolf hero. He is born from Fire Snake, is born in human form, “in a shirt” or with “wolf hair” - a sign of miraculous origin. Can turn into a wolf and other animals, including a bird; performs feats using the ability to transform himself (and his squad) into animals.
Many of the creatures of lower mythology also had a tendency towards werewolves; the goblin, for example, very often turned into a white wolf (white king) or into a wolf shepherd.
With the adoption of Christianity, all previous deities were overthrown and declared demons. This fate did not spare werewolves, who, from helping deities and heroic heroes, became terrible monsters of nightmares. Among Russian peasants of the 20th century, belief in werewolves is generally fading, although stories about werewolves - wolves and bears - are still popular in some regions of Russia.
SIGNS OF A WEREWOLF
The main sign of the werewolf, as well as the wolf hero, is the “wolf hair” (Serbo-Horvian. Vuchka dlaka, Slovenian. Volcja dlaka) noticeable from birth on the head (compare the identical Old Icelandic sign - vargshar, “wolf hair” of a werewolf).
You can also recognize a werewolf by the fact that their hind knees are turned forward, like a human’s, and not backward, like an animal’s. Forced werewolves do not harm people, except those who “spoiled” them. Those should not come into their sight.
When a werewolf comes to the water to drink, what is reflected there is not a wolf, but a human image.
Werewolf animals were distinguished by their unusual behavior, and less often by some features in their appearance (a white stripe on the wolf’s neck, white skin color, lack of a tail).
TRANSFORMATION METHODS
The very first known method of transformation was wrapping with the help of spells and rituals (“wisdoms”):
It was during this time that Volkh learned wisdom:
And I learned the first wisdom
Wrap yourself in a clear falcon,
Volkh studied another wisdom
Wrap yourself in a gray wolf
Volkh learned the third wisdom
Wrapping yourself in a bay aurochs means golden horns.
Throwing. The most common way. A person endowed with “supernatural” abilities becomes a wolf by “throwing over” (turning over) over a knife or ax stuck into a smooth stump or ground. They also threw themselves over a rocker, a stump, hoops, twelve knives, a rope, a tree branch, a fire on a stove, over the core of a fallen tree, or simply somersaulting “against the sun,” etc.
Ordinary people could become wolves by stepping over a thing enchanted by a sorcerer. Also, in order to turn a person into a wolf, a sorcerer or witch throws an animal skin, ribbon or belt over him (tying it).
Dressing in wolf skin. One of the most ancient ways transformation, was practiced by the Magi.
Transformation at weddings. It was believed that particularly strong sorcerers could “turn entire wedding trains into wolves.” To do this, the sorcerer takes as many belts and cloths as there are faces on the train, whispers a spell over these things, and whoever he then girds with such a belt becomes a wolf. Sometimes a witch digs up the road for a train traveling from the crown with a small ditch: as soon as the train runs into this depression, horses fall dead, and people run away in animal form, etc.
Transformation “according to the mother’s word.” The same as transformation due to a curse. Werewolves transformed by their mother's word must under no circumstances eat raw meat, otherwise they will remain wolves forever.
Children abducted by evil spirits become werewolves.
WAYS TO RETURN HUMAN APPEARANCE
Throw yourself over a magic object in the opposite direction.
Pull the magic ax out of the stump.
The wolf will become human after the time specified by the spell.
Cover the wolf with human clothing.
Some sorcerers impose special conditions for the return of human form: in the story, the soldier forces the deceased priest, who turned the wedding train into wolves, to show the way to their salvation; To do this, you need to gather werewolves: “I’ll give you a straw. Blow this tube and they will all come to you. I'll tear your clothes off your shroud. Smoke them with this - they will be people again.” (Pskov region).
Feed the werewolf "blessed food", i.e. such food that has been blessed.
Tie the werewolf with a belt with knots, tying which they whisper “Lord, have mercy.”
WAYS OF PROTECTION FROM WITCHES AND WEREWOLVES
The newlyweds and the wedding trains were always guarded by a specially invited sorcerer - a polite and groomsman, “the best man on the groom’s side,” in the south called a “wolf.”
You could protect yourself from a werewolf (first of all, from a werewolf-sorcerer) by hitting him with a backhand, crippling him (injuring a werewolf, shoeing a witch-horse).
The “snake ax” (an ax used to kill a snake) protected from werewolves.
If you steal the sorcerer's clothes or the object through which he turned around, the werewolf will not be able to take on human form.
To prevent a werewolf from becoming a ghoul after death, his heel tendons were cut, and his eyes (or mouth) were pinched with coins.
An image similar to a werewolf, a wolf-man, a werewolf, is in the beliefs of many peoples (English Beowulf, German Werewolf, etc.). Belief in wolves dates back to an era when it was possible to imagine a person in the form of a beast and when people, being in constant communication with animals, were able, according to the proverb, to howl like a wolf with wolves: strange as it may seem, the chroniclers actually attributed this art to to some persons.
So, in the Laurentian Chronicle we read: “...and as it was midnight, Bonyak got up and left the howl, and the wolf began to howl like a wolf, and the wolf rose up to him, and the wolves began to howl in great numbers.”
One way or another, the idea that under the skin of a wolf there can be a man or a woman reflected the belief in the kinship and unity of all living things: here the wolf is the “master” of the forest, animals and at the same time the “elder” relative, patron, ancestor of man, “strong » sorcerer, wolf-magician. Man, in turn, is a “transformed wolf” who (especially a sorcerer) draws strength from this kinship, and at critical moments in life can become a wolf again.
