"Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and Autumn moon is bright."
The Wolfman - 1941
"In arrogance man knows nothing of what exists. There exists on this earth such as we dare not imagine; life as certain as our death, life that will prey on us as surely as we prey on this earth.
Wolfen - 1981
"You hear him howling around your kitchen door
You better not let him in
Little old lady got mutilated late last night
Werewolves of London again"
Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon 1978
It was 1978 when Warren Zevon's song Werewolves in London hit the radio airwaves. I was 11 and I was consumed with all things supernatural. Ouija boards, ghost stories, witches, demons. Werewolves. I bought the record and put it on repeat, howling along with the chorus everytime. Still do that.
After Zevon's megahit, werewolves invaded the world. They were everywhere. An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, Wolfen, Teen Wolf, Silver Bullet. And who hasn't learned the dance from Michael Jackson's iconic werewolf/zombie music video, Thriller?
The werewolf has been so adopted by pop culture, that it may seem it was born from it to begin with.
Not true but we can thank 20th century movies for our most accepted ideas about werewolves including transformation only takes place on a full moon and silver bullets are wolfman's cryptonite.
These myths were not part of the werewolf's lineage and cultures around the world have their own legends going back thousands of years.
Depending on where you are and the superstitious beliefs that pervade your surrounds, the werewolf has been known by many names, each with their own characteristics that define the legend,
Werwulf
Lycanthrope
Varcaluc or Volkolak
Loup-Garous
Rougarou
Lupo-Mannero
P'an Hu
The Werewolf of the Past
The lair of werewolf lore is deep and murky at times. The stories wax and wane like the moon and old tales get mixed up with new embellishments.
For our tale of how a Werewolf took up residence in my hometown of East Haddam, Connecticut, we look to Northern and Central Europe during the dark ages. It is a landscape of pagan practices, religious zealots, paranoid superstitions, plague, a condemning church, and a very real predatory wolf problem. Imagine a world lit only by fire and the conclusions its inhabitants would come to.
It was the perfect brew for a horror story.
Imagine one night, you are a traveller in a new land. The locals invite you to join a village celebration out in the woods. There, you are given some wine and after a few sips things get strange. Before you, a fire is lit and naked figures come out of the inky darkness. A drum starts to beat, like a heart. You feel it beneath your feet and in your blood. Your pulse quickens and your vision takes in colors you have never seen before. Your head swoons at the sight of the figures moving in from the treeline. Soon, they are chanting. Moving slowly around the circle. As they do, their bodies morph. Transform. Where there was a man's head, there is now a wolf's face. Large fangs where a mouth just was. Fur seems to grow from every pore and replaces skin. They stand bent over but on two legs. Blood appears, spilling through their claws and is rubbed over their gaping jaws and teeth. They move in a circle around the fire, bellowing out deep growls and long howls. You are lost in their increasing frenzy, feeling swept up in the primal energy invading you, surrounding you.
You are now one of them. Predator. Powerful. Wolf.
This shamanistic practice of shape-shfiting has been in practice worldwide since the dawn of humans. The rituals vary but typically include wearing animal skins to absorb the characteristics and powers of an animal. Often, the use of hallucinogenic plants aids the spiritual tranformation.
Geography always plays into shaman rites. Wolves and bears were dominant in eurpean forests and tribal clans such as the Celts and their Nordic neighbors, the Berserkirs, used their skins and skulls to embrace the animal's power.
After the rise of the church, paganistic practices were deeply offensive to those who followed doctrine. Anyone could be accused of being a witch, heretic or a heathen usually with dire consequences. Europe witnessed the worst of this hysteria with church sanctioned inquisitions and witch hunts. Each would bring torture and execution to countless innocents over a period of a five hundred dismal years.
It was not only heathens and witches the church was after. There were also at least 300 people accused of and executed for "werewolfery" between 15th and 17th centuries. The charges were lycanthropy, wolf-riding, wolf-charming (the ability to control wolves to attack at will),and the serial killing of women, children, and livestock while in wolf form.
It was believed that one could be cursed a werewolf by different actions. Consorting with witches was but just one avenue of doom. Have you attended church on a regular basis? No? Better check your teeth. Drink from a water source that wolves also drink from? Uh-oh - is that a tail? Did you get bitten recently by a wolf? Oh no! Now you have fur growing down your back.
One of the most famous accusations of werewolfery belongs to a German farmer named Peter Stubbe. He was a brutal serial killer tried and convicted of being a sorcerer and a werewolf. He was put to death on October 31st, 1589 after he was tortured for his crimes.
The last werewolf trial was held in 1663, just 360 years ago.
Court documents from these trials often mention use of an ointment that when rubbed into the skin it would aid in wolf transformation. This ointment was thought to be the same concoction that helped witches fly on their broomsticks while worshipping the devil. They were likely melded compounds of belladonna, wolfsbane and other hallucinogenic plants that would certainly cause weird visions to anyone who ingested them. It has also been determined that the grain Rye, if it had gone off, was ladened with Ergot. Ergot poisoning included symptoms such as hallucinations, convulsions, bizarre behavior, and frothing at the mouth.
Maybe the same thing you ingested while frolicking in the woods that night, the night you saw men become wolves. The night you became one too.
Add to this bizarre cauldron the reports of a monstrous wolf-like creature terrorizing a small French village in the 1700s. It would come to be known as "The Beast of Gevaudan" and it was responsible for killing a hundred villagers before it was dispatched.
Stories of rogue killer wolves, the wolf predation problem, and the prevalent werewolf superstitions of the time created a deep hatred of the animal.
Tragically, most European wolves were exterminated by the early 20th century.
Werewolves, not so much.
The Werewolf Today
Sightings of something wolfey continue to be reported all over the world. One of our favorite stories occurred in Wisconsin and has been dubbed the The Beast of Bray Road, first reported in 1936. This wolf/man hybrid creature was spotted again in the 1980s by credible witnesses and reported on extensively by Linda Godfrey, a local Elkhorn reporter.
Here in New England, we also have werewolf lore, especially around Massachussets where the belief in witches was prevalent. Werewolves were seen protecting the homes of suspected witches and in the past twenty years, large canine like fanged monsters have been reported in Maine and Massachussetts. Werewolf beliefs also pepper native tales throughout the region.
As we approach present day, the term Werewolf seems removed from the language of reporting these sightings, but another term has surfaced.
Dogman.
Unlike a werewolf who is a human cursed to transform, the "Dogman" exists in hybrid wolf/man form at all times. Accounts of the creature usually share several characteristics including the pointed ears, long muzzle, fangs, claws, standing on canine type legs and is atleast 7 - 8 feet tall.
Witnesses claim Dogman is aggressive, territorial and "terrifying to behold." Dozens of books, podcasts, and documentaries cover this modern day legend that carries on where the werewolf left off.
If you are following along our East Haddam Mystery Tour map, we have our own town werewolf roaming about (actually quite a few now, I think they are breeding).
The one I am most familiar with is on private property, so please respect it's distance. He is highly territorial and gets agitated when strangers approach. You can see him from the road, but only when the moon is full and winter has laid the trees bare.
As you drive along the southern end of Palmer Martin Road, he is watching from the bushes.
He's hungry.
Listen for his howl. It is long and mournful and rolls across the surrounding fields.
There! See him? Just atop that hill? A lantern flickers in the night casting a glow upon his matted gray fur. His fangs drip with his latest kill, his taloned fingers ready to scratch those who dare come too close.
You wouldn't want to incur the curse of the Werewolf too, would you?
I didn't think so.
For more legends and lore of the Connecticut River Valley, check out my other blog posts on riverlore.org.
Happy Howling! Awoooooooooooo!
Pamela