Lycanthropy: The Werewolf Disease

They’re things that have lived and ruled the moonlit nights of old. They are creatures that we fear of encountering and ones that we fear of becoming. Werewolves. Werewolves have been one of the most well-known and feared creatures in the imaginations of man. In history, sightings of these creatures have varied as Monstrous wolves, ferocious men, or a mix of both. But today they have been seen not only on the Hollywood silver screen, but in the minds of man. 

                                              From:                  Underworld: Evolution

The Myths of Werewolves goes back to the Stone Age where cave paintings were drawn of men turning into wolves.

 The first real story of man becoming a “Lycan” was in ancient grease.  The Greek god Zeus came to earth, disguised as a drifter. He went to the kingdom of King Lycaon and sat with the king for dinner. The king had been committing a vile sin by eating human flesh. The King suspected that the drifter was actually Zeus and decided to try tricking him into eating flesh, to make a god sin. When the plate of human meat was placed in front of Zeus, Zeus immediately realized what it was and reviled his identity to the King. Zeus was furious, he destroyed Lycaon’s kingdom and turn the King into a Wolf in return for his monstrous feasting.  Even though this is a myth, it may have started a belief that man could become an animal.

Lycanthropy is a psychiatric syndrome in which that a person believes he turns into a wolf or other animal. The causes of this syndrome are not clear. In some cases, it’s a way that a man’s sub-concuss unleashes his darkest urges. In others, it may be a man’s relation with animals that makes him think he is one of them. In fact, the phrase lunatic comes from the idea that the lunar power of the moon would drive people insane.

There are also cases were certain fungi have been the cause of the delusion. In the medieval ages, the bread given to the peasants would not be the best quality around and would often be stale and molded. The peasants took what they could get, but the bread given them sickness, delusions and in some circumstances, a werewolf complex.

The cause of so many deaths in the medieval ages can also be the explanation for most cases of Lycanthropy today. Some men want to be wolves.  In fact, the Idea of becoming something powerful, unknown, dark, is an alluring idea. It’s the power of fear.

A long time ago there where a series of deaths reported in a small village, Women and children’s bodies were found torn to peaces, raped, and defiled. Eventually they found their killer in his house with the bones of some of his victims. He was taken and tortured by the church until he confessed that he was the murder. He told them that he bought a dark lotion from a witch that turned him into a wolf when he applied it to his skin.

Today we can guess that the lotion made him only think he was a wolf. Certain flowers had been known to cause delusions including becoming an animal. In some cultures, using these flowers to mentally become an animal is religious factor to grow closer to nature.

The Werewolf continues to plague the mind, but when you think about it, we all carry a wolf inside us. The idea when someone has done you wrong, when you vulnerably, when anger engulfs the mind. The wolf inside you wants to pounce, it wants to attack, somewhere in the back of your mind, it may even want to kill. With any hope you have control of that monster, its inside us all, but whether we are its pet or its master is our choice. So, even if it isn’t a full moon, beware the werewolf inside your mind, because a beast within is more frightening than one in the movies.

Facts of Werewolves and Lycanthropy can be found on such websites as www.werewolves.com