INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and myhical monsters from around the world.
These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.
I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.
Happy Halloween! It’s the spookiest day of the year - I hope your trick or treat costumes are ready and your pumpkin spice lattes are coursing through your veins ready for the big day. I love this holiday and throughout the month of October, I make it my mission to dress spooky to work every time I go in, I’ll upload all of my outfits to twitter for you to judge.
I’m also having a costume party at work and I’m going as the spider-baby head toy from Toy Story and taking advantage of my now shaved head.
DESCRIPTION:
Anyway, enough about that - we’re going to focus on an especially spooky monster for this especially spooky time of year, and we’re doing the sworn enemy of the monster from last year - which was the Vampire, and looking at the wonderful Werewolf from European mythology this week!
So Werewolves, how do we even begin to describe a monster so iconic, just like vampires, they can come in various guises - so we’re gonna go over their most popular in this segment.
The most common description of a Werewolf is that of a human who has the ability to shapeshift into a wolf like form, sometimes at will, other times involuntarily during the full moon. In their human form, they would usually have characteristics of their wolf form, such as a unibrow, curved fingernails and excessive hair, they are usually associated with the typical tall, dark and handsome. It’s said that they are mostly male too whilst we’re on the subject, but some cultures do note that women can transform too.
In their wolf form, there are numerous descriptions, such as a large wolf humanoid, up to 9ft tall with hair all over their body, long, sharp canine teeth, red eyes, a long tail and claws and a lupine shaped face, with a snout and pointed ears. They do also have large paws rather than hands and feet, and are a scary sight to see. However, in other tellings, they can actually just fully transform into a wolf, but can communicate whilst transformed to humans.
Unfortunately though, especially for werewolves who cannot control when they transform, the process is extremely painful. Their bodies change from man, breaking bones and usually shedding their human skin to reveal thick layers of hair underneath to get to their final wolf-man form. After they had transformed, to come back to their humanoid state, it would be equally painful - leaving the person with little memory of their antics, weak and debilitated from the night. They often also suffer from insomnia, anxiety, depression and antisocial disorders, to keep them away from the people they hunt once a month.
It’s said that werewolves eat the buried corpses of people, not long after death - but certainly wouldn’t turn away a fresh corpse, or take out a still living victim, including humans, wild animals and livestock. They have intense animalistic urges, even as humans, and will tend to eat more than usual people in a frenzied manner too, which is another way you can spot one.
For all intents and purposes though, I’ll be focusing on the wolf man transformation, rather than the man to wolf version of this monster for the rest of the podcast.
In terms of powers, werewolves are particularly agile - they were able to use the same skills of their lupine brethren to jump about, run at incredible speeds for long amounts of time, and attack with increasing ferocity when needed. They also had immense tracking skills, and were able to hunt down injured or dead prey with insane precision too. If they get into a fight, they’re incredibly strong and violent, and if they’re injured, they have a rapid healing ability to fix things up pretty quick. But in terms of powers, that’s about it, they just have the skills of a wolf, but much more amplified and dangerous. They are also considered immortal, so you’re really quite screwed if you bump into one unprepared.
But Erin, how do I kill one if I stumble upon it? Well, that bit is a little more complicated. Firstly, you can injure a werewolf like you would hurt either a man or a wolf with a weapon - however, they would usually heal it pretty quick, depending on the wound and how long they have left in their wolf form in the night. If they are injured badly, when transforming back to their human form, they will still have the injury, but also their healing factor. Gross fact here as well is that if you cut a werewolf in human form, you would find thick hair under the surface - which is pretty gross. But on this, if you cut off a werewolf’s limb, it would immediately transform back to the human form - and it definitely would not grow back.
Their biggest weakness is silver, which werewolf hunters would make their bullets from to hunt these monsters, due to its symbolism of purity and a religious metal. However, this one is actually debated, as it’s never been found in folklore and only in modern media, but it’s so prevalent within that, that it's been immortalised into the Werewolf mythology. Another really is that most will only have 12 hours or so of moonlight, and when they’ve returned to their human form, they would be weak, and easy to attack.
Okay, you’ve sold me on being a Werewolf, how do I sign up? It’s debated whether becoming a werewolf is either a curse, or a disease. In early folklore around these monsters, you would just need to put on a wolfskin belt whilst completely naked outside, another is that you could rub a magic salve on yourself and bathe in the moonlight. Or there’s drinking rainwater out of the footprint of a wolf or werewolf or drinking from enchanted streams for example. In different cultures, they have different ways including in mainland Europe, it was believed that they could become a werewolf if they slept outside on a summer night in the moonlight on either a Friday or Wednesday. In Brazil, if you had seven daughters and your eight child was a son, they would be a werewolf from birth.
My favourite and the most popular within the modern world is the idea that it can be transmitted through a bite or scratch from an existing werewolf, as a form of contagion. However, this is super rare within the actual folklore - again, it’s one that’s come in through media, which I think is pretty cool. You would have an unhealable wound, and on your first full moon, you would transform into your wolfy self for the first time.
Can you cure it once you’ve got it though? Some cultures say you can, in Ancient Greece and Rome, it was believed you could literally sweat it out - so they would make you do intense physical exercise. In medieval Europea, there were actually three ways you could cure someone, using the flower wolfsbane, which is incredibly poisonous to humans by the way, in a potion - not sure how many people were cured, but maybe cured is dead? Another was through surgery, again killed the patient, and lastly exorcism, which as we all know from the Crucible or the Exorcist, doesn’t usually work either. In Denmark, they believed you could scold a werewolf enough to get it to stop being a werewolf, in Germany, you could shout their name three times whilst transformed and in most European countries, you could convert to Christianity, although again, not sure how much that would work either.
Honestly, the easiest option was usually to cull them - and I think that’s what they mostly did.
ORIGIN:
Now onto etymology, as it’s a general European monster, there are a few meanings to the name Werewolf. It’s believed the English comes from the Old English ‘werewulf’ which comes from the Dutch ‘weerwolf’ and German ‘werwolf’ - differences there are mostly the spelling (explain spellings). They all literally translate into man-wolf. However, the Irish called them ‘luchthonn’ meaning wolf-coat, the Norse ‘ulfheonar’ meaning wolf-skinned and in Sanskrit ‘vrka jina’ meaning wolf skin - all linking to perhaps that transformation method of the wolf skin belt, but also maybe the skin ripping transformation.
However, there is another word for Werewolf that I’ve been hiding this whole time! You’ve probably heard of it, especially if you’re a fan of the Underworld film series - and that’s Lycanthrope. This comes from the Greek word ‘lykanthropia’ which again means wolfman, with lykos meaning wolf and anthropos for man like anthropology means the study of human, but was mostly used to describe a medical condition that still exists to this day - lycanthropy, when someone believes that they are a wolf. Lycan is used very often when talking about werewolves - and it’s actually the inspiration behind the Latin word for Wolf, which is Lupus. The latin name for a wolf is Canis lupus, and that my friends, is why we call JK Rowling unoriginal - because Lupin is literally another word for Lupus, and Remus is also, another word for wolf. His name is Wolf Wolf people - she's just not good.
Now enough about lupus and lupins, let’s talk origins and history. The origins of Werewolves is debated within folklore circles, but what we do know is that they are mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh - which like Beowulf - see what I did there - is one of the oldest known written works in history. The story is that Gilgamesh, our hero in this tale, refuses to love the goddess Ishtar as she had a track record for being a really bad girlfriend, including turning one of her suitors, a shepherd into a wolf - therefore making him an outcast to his friends and family, and unable to go near his farm and livestock. We’re not 100% sure on the date that the Epic of Gilgamesh was written, but we know that it was in Ancient Mesopotamia in around 2nd millennium BC or between 2000 BC and 1001 BC - which is a ridiculously long time ago considering we’re now in 2022 AD.
Later on though, a little closer to our times at least, the Roman poet Ovid wrote Metamorphosis in 8 AD which told the tale of King Lycaon of Arcadia, in Greece (again, Lycan in the name there) who was hosting a stranger for dinner. He had suspicions that the stranger was a god in disguise, and so devised a plan to expose him - by feeding him human flesh. Turns out it was the Roman God King Jupiter, who cursed him for xenia, which is being a bad host basically, and turned him into a wolf man for his crimes. Xenia was taken very seriously in ancient civilisations, there are loads of examples throughout Greek and Roman mythology for crimes involving this.
In other folklore though, it’s very common to be transformed into carnivorous creatures, such as in Russia it was bears, Japanese foxes, China tigers and Africa hyenas or crocodiles for punishment. This definitely indicates that fear is a big player on what you’d be turned into, especially as you’d scare anyone you’d come into contact with, with no supernatural intervention at all, you might even be scared of yourself and with werewolves, you have that immensely painful transition to look forward to every month too.
These monsters were probably most prevalent in the middle ages throughout Europe though, especially in the bigger countries such as France, Germany and Italy, as well as Britain. Werewolves were mentioned in ordinances from as early as 1016 from King Cnut who ruled over Denmark and England at the time saying ‘the madly audacious werewolf do not too widely devastate, nor bite too many of the spiritual flock’. However, later on in history it gets considerably worse. From the 14th to the 16th century, superstitions were at their peak in Europe, with the infamous Witch Hunts sprawling across rural countryside, and the Werewolf was no stranger at this time.
In France in 1764, there was a werewolf-like creature called the Beast of Gévaudan tearing up livestock and people in the area, killing between 60 and 100 adults within the span of 3 years. These attacks were originally blamed on werewolves, as the description of the monster was of a canine beast, who ripped out the throats of its victims. It was so intense that the French monarchy ended up getting involved and sent wolf hunters after the monster to no avail. It ended up being concluded that it was most likely an actual wolf problem, as they really were a serious problem throughout Europe at the time with tens of thousands of deaths in the 18th century alone. This monster will most likely get his own episode down the line, but that’s a nice summary.
My favourite story though is of the Bedburg Werewolf, or Peter Stubbe - who lived in Bedburg, Germany in the 15th century and apparently turned into a wolf at night. He was blamed for loads of killings, which again, was most likely by actual wolves by hunters who apparently saw him transform, and he was actually executed after confessing under torture that he killed people and ate their bodies. He also said he had a magical belt, but it was, of course, never found. It really riled up the public of the time in Germany though, and only added to the werewolf fear that they had.
Unfortunately, this added to the horrible actual real life werewolf trials that happened during the same time across Europe, the first one happening in Switzerland. Of course, most people here remember the witch hunts of the 1500-1600’s throughout our continent, but there were actual werewolf trials too. It was such a common belief, that men who were suspected were cut to check for that gross hair underneath their skin - and they were almost flayed alive to check other parts of their bodies. There were 30,000 recorded cases of lycanthropy in France between 1520 and 1630, but one man called Gilles Garnier was burnt at the stake in 1573 for this. Another was of course Peter Stubbe, and the other most famous case was of Jean Grenier, who claimed he had murdered people whilst using a wolf skin belt - and he was ruled insane and confined to a monastery for the rest of his life in 1603.
There are some reasons as to why people may be considered to be a werewolf in folklore ways, but there are real health issues that can link to the creation of this myth too. Such as Hypertrichosis, which is a genetic disorder that makes people grow hair all over their body and even face - there’s a very famous family with this condition in Mexico, with 19 members of the family being affected. Another of course is Rabies, which is equally transmitted through biting and creates hallucinations in humans as well as animalistic behaviour. There’s also the option of Ergot poisoning, which was what was responsible for the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts and can infect grain, and causes hallucinations. There’s also of course the idea that it might just be mass hysteria - it happens, especially in middle ages Europe.
Alongside this there is actually a mental health condition that we mentioned earlier, lycanthropy, which is where a patient believes they’re a wolf or some other animal. It’s mostly when people have a history of delusions to do with reincarnation, and the idea that they could be reincarnated as a predatory, powerful beast.
Lastly though, this leads us nicely onto the last potential cause which is porphyria, and if you listened to last year's episode, you would know that this is the condition most linked with the historic rival of the Werewolf - the Vampire. This disease, which is still around now, causes sun allergies and a sudden burst of growth in hair, and causes delusions. Of course, whilst we’re on the subject - vampires and werewolves are always linked as enemies, however, nothing in folklore states that they ever interacted with each other. But in modern media, it’s often portrayed that Werewolves are slaves of Vampires, but Vampires are incredibly afraid of the Werewolf turning against them, as they would certainly have a fair fight on their hands.
QUIZ BREAK
Now onto our Halloween special segment, and wouldn’t be a special without a special part in the middle now would it? This episode, we’re going to do a little trivia on Werewolves! I’ll read out these questions, and then I’ll post them in polls on Twitter so that I can see your answers!
Now some of these have not been covered in the podcast, and are general knowledge or modern media questions - so it will be tricky!
Ready? Let’s go!
What is the scientific name for a Werewolf?
a. A misanthrope
b. A philanthrope
c. A lycanthrope
d. A synanthrope
In Twilight, which character is a Werewolf?
a. Edward
b. Jacob
c. Charlie
d. Jasper
Which metal are werewolves vulnerable to?
a. Gold
b. Iron
c. Silver
d. Copper
What disease do we think the idea of werewolves comes from?
a. Hypertrichosis
b. Porphyria
c. Rabies
d. All of the Above
Which country in Europe had the first werewolf trials? (Switzerland)
Which epic poem mentions werewolves? (Epic of Gilgamesh)
In Ovid’s Metamorphosis, what was the name of the king transformed into a wolf by Zeus? (Lycaon)
What sport does Scott Howard play in the 1985 film Teen Wolf? (Basketball)
What is the Latin name for a Grey Wolf? (Canis Lupus)
In 1992, a poll in which country found that 80% of the respondents believed that werewolves existed?
UKUSIcelandRussiaAnd that’s it! I hope you enjoyed that and I’ll have the questions up by the end of today so you can show off your werewolf knowledge!!
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Now onto modern media, obviously there are loads this week, so I hope you’re ready for a whole load of werewolf recommendations.
For art, of course do have a look over independent stuff for some really cool and badass art. However, there are some cool portraits including Werewolves, such as Sammlung von Nach richten zur Zeit geschichte aus den Jahren by Johann Jakob Wick between 1560–1587, Lycaon Changed into a Wolf by Hendrick Goltzius from 1589, Woodcut of a werewolf attack by Lucas Cranach der Ältere from 1512 or Júpiter y Licaón by Jan Cossiers from sometime in the 17th Century.
In movies we have; The Werewolf (1956 & 1913), Werewolf of London, Werewolf of Woodstock, Werewolves on Wheels, Underworld, Twilight, American Werewolf in London, Harry Potter, Hotel Transylvania, Werewolves of the Third Reich, Scooby Doo Ghoul School, Alvin and the Chipmunks meet the Wolfman, Wolfwalkers, 100% Wolf, Bad Moon, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf, Bloodthirsty, Big Fish, Cursed, Ginger Snaps, Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror, Werewolf: The Beasts Among Us, Deadtime Stories, The Company of Wolves, Bubba the Redneck Werewolf, Dog Soldiers, Good Manners, The Werewolf of Washington, Grindhouse, The Curse of the Werewolf, Howl, House on the Bare Mountain, Horrors of War, Werewolf By Night, The Wolf Man, The Howling, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Teen Wolf, Jack & Diane, Full Moon High, The Matrix Reloaded, Wolfman, Monster Brawl, Never Cry Werewolf, Nosferatu, Red Riding Hood, Into the Woods, Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt, Wolf, The Monster Squad, Ladyhawke, Silver Bullet, The Forest Hills, Skinwalkers, Trick ’r’ Treat, Van Helsing, Werewolf & Wolves.
For TV, we have; True Blood, Teen Wolf, Grimm, Supernatural, Rosario + Vampire, CatDog, Adventure Time, Animaniacs, Ben 10, Codename: Kids Next Door, Ducktales, Fangface, Gargoyles, Freakazoid, Monster High, Johnny Bravo, Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Frankenhole, Love, Death and Robots, OK K.O! Let’s Be Heroes, Scooby Doo, Big Wolf on Campus, The Simpsons, Tom and Jerry Tales, Ugly Americans, The Smurfs, The Real Ghostbusters, PJ Masks, Popeye, Pet Alien, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Darkwing Duck, Danny Phantom, Being Human, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, Doctor Who, The Dresden Files, X-Files, Kamen Rider Kiva, The Order, The Munsters, Lil Horrors, Sanctuary, Power Rangers, Vampire Diaries, What We Do in the Shadows, Wizards of Waverly Place, Young Dracula & Wolfblood.
In video games, we have ones such as; Wylde Flowers, Killer Instinct, Harry Potter game series, Bloodborne, Castlevania, Altered Beast, The Adventures of Lomax, BlazBlue, City of Heroes, The Darkside Detective, Love of Magic, Mutant Football League, Darkstalkers, Darkest Dungeon, Diablo 2, Disgaea, Dwarf Fortress, Elder Scrolls, Sonic Unleashed, Megaman Starforce, Dead Realm, Moonrise, Enter the Matrix, Fable, Fighters Destiny, Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Golden Sun, Kingdom Hearts 10, League of Legends, Nocturne, Legendary: The Box, The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, The Quarry, Wolf Among Us, Sable Man, Shantae, The Sims, Shadow Caster, Soul Calibur, World of Warcraft, Touhou Project, Wolf Team, Terraria, Werewolf: The Last Warrior, The Wolf and the Waves & Suikoden 2.
My book recommendation this week is Banshees, Werewolves, Vampires And Other Creatures Of The Night: Facts, Fictions, and First-Hand Accounts by Varla Ventura for a great read over these wonderful monsters mentioned and accounts of them in real life. Or you can have a look at them specifically in European folklore here with White Devil: The Werewolf in European Culture by Matthew Beresford.
DO I THINK THEY EXISTED?
Now it’s time for, do I think they existed? 28.40
I’m gonna say no, sorry everyone - but it’s a little too far-fetched for me. The idea that a person could transform and literally rip their skin off to become a wolf man, is just a bit crazy. Although as always I can see that the medical conditions we talked about can definitely make sense, however, it’s just a bit crazy.
I didn’t know anything about the werewolf trials in Europe, so actually reading about these was super interesting to me, I just can’t believe that people really thought they were a thing, especially with a name like werewolf - but we all come from something right?
To be honest though, I’m a kid of the noughties so Twilight was in and I was obsessed. Now I was team Edward, don’t get me wrong, but the werewolves in that were absolutely hysterical and they could telepathically talk to people and would transform into full wolves, but the CGI was so bad. I miss those days, and I guess beforehand it was Van Helsing and Underworld that I first got exposure to this monster, and they do a pretty good job of portraying how I think this monster would interact and transform.
But what do you think? Did Werewolves roam the Earth once and do they still? Let me know on Twitter!
OUTRO:
What a wonderful monster to cover for Halloween, I hope you all enjoyed it! I know I did - I’ll be posting the quiz on twitter where you can take part and I’ll post the answers in the thread in a week’s time. It’s a really fun way to end October as we move onto more seasonal monsters as we always do in the colder months.
Next week, we’re heading over to Mexico and looking at a semi-deity which is a little different for us, but is definitely exciting. Get your candles and offerings ready for the legendary Santa Muerte next Thursday!
For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.
Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.
But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.