Werewolves?

[Papa John]

These guys are all the rage on tv and fiction, though virtually
everything told about them is spurious.

The concept is thought to originate in the early ages before
actual civilization, probably in agrarian communities (farmers)
and describes the ravening hunter-gatherers who, when low
on game would raid such communities to steal food. Probably
didn't happen all that often, since hunters wouldn't have cared
for grain and berries.

Later stories, dating from the dark ages, described individual
attacks by feral humans, very seldom happening because
justice usually involved capture and imprisonment of the
culprit, and rashes of such attacks didn't usually last long.
Such individuals were mostly lunatics.

There were a couple of descriptions in old grammeries (books
intended for witches and magicians) of rituals to convert oneself
to a werewolf, mostly on the pattern of stripping naked and
peeing a circle around one's clothes. There are a couple of
descriptions of priests cursing individuals to be werewolves,
though I can't for the life of me see taking an individual who is
already more powerful than others (in werewolf form) and making
them *supernaturally* strong!

Killing a werewolf pretty much just involved shooting them. No
silver necessary, just a good gun. There is a tale out of the
Black Forest about a berger who shot a wolf on a moonlight
stroll only to return home and find his beautiful young wife
dying of the same wound.

There are no old records of passing lycanthropy to another with
a bite. Cases were individual, however acquired.

With all this history, the werewolf isn't very interesting. So of
course, when writers decided to write on the subject, they added
details just to make things more fun. Fiction in the late 1700's
up to present day has had all these details added. I've no idea
where they got the idea of a *silver* bullet, and some stories
add blessings for potency. Great way for the church to claim
involvement, but it was common knowledge in Europe that
there was no necessity.

So the werewolf isn't all that interesting without the frills, but
it might be fun to list those.
Love,
Papa John
jmay...@cox.net
"If it don't hurt it ain't Rock & Roll"