Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is The Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time. I need not describe for you the horrors of the werewolf, for this particular monster lurks everywhere. It waits in the folkloric dark, it leaps off the cinematic screen. The werewolf is the human who became a wolf, and yet is neither a cannibal and murderer.
The be steal nature of man overriding the safeguards of society and culture. You are all too familiar with this monster already, and you're also quite familiar with the most popular versions of the curse itself. In some werewolf stories, the curse may be the result of past crimes or the viral bite of another werewolf. In many cases, the full moon is to blame for drawing out the wolf
form and drowning the countryside in blood. Other times, the transformation might be the result of a potion or rain water consumed from the footprint of an animal. Other times, however, the curse of the werewolf depends on a curious leather strap. Consider the boxing wolf, a particular variety of werewolf native
to the Schomberg region of Germany. As Brad Steiger relates in The Werewolf Book, if one makes a pact with the devil, the devil provides a leather strap that, when worn around the waist, transforms the individual into a mighty, murderous wolf. There are other variations of the tail for other reasons that don't involve the direct presence of the devil. Sometimes a king is tricked into wearing the strap. Other times a child discovers the cursed strap of a parent
and wears it. In at least one tale, as they're counted by Michael Sumpson in The Werewolf in nineteenth century Denmark, the strap is used defensively. Leave it in front of your door, and should someone try to enter in the night, the mere act of stepping over the cursed object will transform them into a were wolf. Now, personally, I have questions regarding how this protects you in your home. It seems like you would not want to transform potential trespassers
into were wolves. But we have to trust the wisdom
of this previous age. Now, the notion of the transformative strap might seem counterintuitive, but it connects quite strongly to global traditions of where wolves where creatures and monstrous transformations in general, because in some cases the strap of the boxing wolf is said to be made of wolf leather, and numerous tales from around the world speak of humans donning the hide of an animal and using it to magically transform into the creature, or otherwise being overtaken by
the beastial nature in the pelt. In some cases, this vile garment must be hidden during the day and then worn at night. Far from a simple monster, the werewolf resonates with numerous complex properties of the human condition and human history, animosity towards and fear of wolves, accounts of fur clad invaders, the recognition of our animal nature's, the
reality of psychopathy, and the fear of the unknown. It is probably best not to accept anything from the Devil should you have the chance to meet him, but certainly refuse any straps he might offer you. You may find it very difficult to take back off again. Tune into additional episodes of the Monster Fact each week incept him or in October. As always, you can email us at Contact at Stuff to Blow Your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of I heart Radio.
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