26th October: Howl at the Moon Day

It's Howl at the Moon Day, so in honour of that, and in time for Halloween in a few days' time, here are ten things you may not know about werewolves:

1. How do you become one? The common method in modern literature is to be bitten by a werewolf, but in the ancient legends, this is hardly mentioned at all. Instead, werewolves are created by: eating a mixture of wolf and human meat; eating wolf brains; being cursed; being conceived under a new moon or by two parents who are werewolves; eating certain herbs; sleeping under the full moon on Friday; drinking water that has been touched by a wolf; drinking water from a wolf’s pawprint; making a pact with the devil or wearing a wolfskin belt.
2. In some countries, they believe that the seventh child, in particular a seventh son, will become a werewolf. A seventh son in Portugal was often named Bento (Portuguese for Benedict) which means blessed, which would prevent him becoming a werewolf.
3. The word werewolf means "man wolf" as "wer" is an old word for man. Wolves are not the only creatures people could turn into. There are were-foxes, were-Dogs, were-Tigers, were-Snakes, were-Hares, were-bears and were-crocodiles; not forgetting the were-Rabbit of Wallace and Gromit fame.
4. The legend of the werewolf has been around a long time. There are werewolf tales dating back to Ancient Greece. Herodotus, in his Histories,wrote about the Neuri tribe who were transformed into wolves once every year for several days, and then changed back to their human shape.
5. Most fictional werewolves tend to be depicted as men, but in Armenian lore, there are female werewolves. They are women who have committed deadly sins and are condemned to live as wolves for seven years. They will be ordered by a spirit to wear a wolf skin which causes the transformation. They will eat their children, then their relatives' children and finally strangers' children. Locked doors spring open when such a creature approaches so bolting the door to keep her away from the kids is ineffective.
6. Some of the legends may have originated from medical conditions which mimic the appearance or behaviour of a werewolf. These include hypertrichosis, which creates unusually long hair on the face and body; and porphyria: extreme sensitivity to light (thus encouraging its victims to only go out at night), seizures and anxiety. There is also a recognised medical condition called lycanthropy where a person believes they are an animal - not necessarily a werewolf, although in some cases people will make such a claim. Today, such people will be treated with drugs or therapy but in the middle ages they would not get off so lightly. In 1589, a German man named Peter Stubbe claimed to own a belt of wolfskin that allowed him to change into a wolf with a craving for human blood. He was decapitated on Halloween 1589, and his headless body burned at the stake.
7. The codename used by the Nazis for one of Hitler's headquarters was Werwolf (as it's spelled in German).
8. Although usually associated with curses and the devil, Christian saints have been known to turn people into wolves. St Thomas Aquinas said, "All angels, good and bad have the power of transmutating our bodies". St Patrick was said to have transformed the Welsh king Vereticus into a wolf; St. Natalis cursed a whole family whose members were doomed to be wolves for seven years. In 1692 a man named Thiess claimed, not only that he was a werewolf, but that werewolves were not evil but in fact were "the Hounds of God" - warriors who went down into hell to fight witches and demons to stop them stealing the abundance of the earth and carry it off to hell. When werewolves died, their souls were welcomed into heaven as reward for their service. Thiess got ten lashes for superstitious belief.
9. How to cure a werewolf. While some legends suggest it is a lifestyle people can choose and control, eg by putting on a wolfskin belt, for most it is a curse and they are unfortunate victims. So apart from the commonly quoted Silver bullet/dagger, how does one get rid of a werewolf? Unlike vampires, they have no problem with crucifixes and holy water, but they do have an aversion to the herb wolfsbane. Other cures include: surgery; exorcism; drinking vinegar; removal of the animal belt or skin; kneeling in one spot for a hundred years; striking three times on the forehead with a knife; having at least three drops of Blood drawn; throwing an Iron object over or at the werewolf, to make it reveal its human form. Some of the so called cures were so brutal that the "werewolf" wouldn't survive to become "normal."
10. How to recognise a werewolf. Listed below are some of the signs which can indicate that someone is a werewolf:

• Red hair
• Eyebrows that meet in the middle
• Broad hands with unusually long ring fingers and reddish, almond shaped fingernails
• Hair on the palms of their hands or under the skin and bristles under the tongue.
• In the hours before they change werewolves gain acute hearing, animal strength, and a heightened sense of smell. Their skin also darkens during this time.
• They are thirsty, pale and tired looking the day after a full moon.
• Werewolves have long swinging strides like that of a prowling wolf.
• Werewolves have extra glands that emit nasty smells such as stale hay and horse manure.
• Unusually early sexual attraction to the opposite sex (ie by about the age of seven).
• They keep large pets which often disappear and are replaced by new ones.
• A tendency to hang around graveyards, mortuaries and fatal accidents.
• Bluish-red blood and deep purple urine.