concept "werewolf" familiar to almost all nations. For modern man this word is associated with another "horror" and is the embodiment of something magical.

For a huge number of years, official science tried to attribute werewolves to pure fiction, but it turned out that this was impossible to do. After all, the fact remains: stories about strange creatures collected in different parts of our planet coincide in an inexplicable way. The similarity of appearance, characters, behavior, habits of werewolves in the legends of different peoples cannot be an ordinary accident.

Legends say that a "shifter" is a person who can turn into a beast in a few moments, and then after some time return to his usual appearance. Werewolves are phenomenally strong, virtually invulnerable (they can only be dealt with with silver or obsidian), and obsessed with killing.

The transformation of an ordinary person into a monster often occurs out of control, during a full moon. What is real, in the end, modern experts have found in the nightmarish fictions of ancient and medieval authors?

Legends about werewolves, one might say, are a ubiquitous and very ancient phenomenon. They are present in almost all cultures. European peoples believed that such unique abilities were possessed by sorcerers who, for their own needs, took the form of a wolf. Werewolves were also called ordinary people who were turned into wolves by magical spells.

It is interesting that similar beliefs also existed on other continents, only in Africa the leopard appears instead of the wolf, in India the tiger, and in South America- jaguar. In Greece, however, they also believed that people can only turn into wolves.

One of the legends even tells about a special island that was located in Arcadia, in the middle of a dense swamp. A special group of human wolves allegedly lived on it, to which anyone who had passed the initiation ceremony could join. The inhabitants of Hellas even considered epileptic seizures as one of the manifestations of lycanthropy.

Especially many legends about people who can turn into wolves exist in Bavaria. True, these stories are so closely intertwined with stories about vampires, and the appearances of both versions of the “evil spirits” are so similar (both have long teeth and claws) that it is sometimes very difficult to separate a werewolf from a ghoul.

However, the "shifters", according to the Bavarians, have very narrow pupils, and these creatures often stare intently into the faces of ordinary people. In addition, in northern Germany, for some reason, there was a belief that saying the word "wolf" in December provokes a werewolf attack on people.

The Danes had an unshakable belief that a werewolf could be recognized by the shape of the eyebrows. And the Irish believed that werewolfism was something akin to a disease and therefore could affect entire families.

Beings with anomalous abilities in Ireland were described specifically. For example, the most famous legend about a werewolf from Meath says that the "shifter" invited to his house ... a priest. The padre had to take care of the owner's sick wolf wife.

Over time, the concept of "werewolf" has narrowed. So they began to call a person who knows how to turn into a wolf. Why in this animal? If you carefully analyze the old legends, a certain pattern will become clear: stories about the excesses of mysterious creatures appeared at a time when wolves, having bred, began to pose a real threat to people's lives.

In the Middle Ages, there was a belief that you could become a werewolf at the behest of a sorcerer or witch. Naturally, there was no shortage of "recipes" on how to get rid of this scourge. The residents of Central and Eastern Europe were especially zealous. Here, in the XV-XVII centuries, a real cruel "witch hunt" unfolded.

The unfortunate, suspected of witchcraft, were brutally tortured, and then burned at the stake, drowned, wheeled or hanged. At the same time, the werewolves "made up the company" of another exposed witch. As they say, “all this would be funny, whenever it was so sad”: according to official documents, in the 16th century, the French parliament passed a law on the extermination of “shifters”.

As a result, from 1520 to 1630, more than 30,000 people were killed in the country on charges of witchcraft and werewolf...

Even after three centuries, the fear of "wolves" has not disappeared. French peasants from remote areas of the country were afraid to leave their homes at night: they feared an attack by Loup Garou (the French name for a werewolf). By the way, the inhabitants of Brittany and Normandy still believe that a person can become a wolf.

Perhaps such a strong belief will not seem surprising if you look through old documents. In 1521, a traveler passing through the French border town of Poligny was attacked by a wolf. Fighting off the mad beast, the man inflicted several wounds on the predator with a sword.

The wolf began to retreat to the lair. The traveler pursuing him came out to the hut of a certain Michael Werdung at the very moment when his wife was dressing the wounds inflicted by the sword on the owner of the house. Werdung was arrested on charges of werewolves and taken to the city. Naturally, under torture, the detainee could not remain silent for a long time.

He admitted that he rubbed his body with a special ointment, with which he turned into a beast, and then hunted people. The cannibal was burned at the stake after the trial.

Somewhat later, in the Auvergne, the case of a werewolf woman was considered (the authorities were informed about her by the husband of the “wolf”), on whose account there were several human lives. During one of her “hunts”, the “shifter” lost her hand; the severed limb was presented to the court as evidence. After being tortured and confessing to a number of crimes, the woman was burned. There is a fair amount of such evidence.

AT Eastern Europe, in Germany and France for a long time they believed that a werewolf could simply change his skin, turning it inside out with a side supposedly covered with thick fur. In order to return to human form, it is enough for the monster to do the same operation again. Because of this superstition, thousands of people were literally cut to pieces by "truth seekers" who tried to turn their skin "fur out."

In Slavic mythology, a werewolf was called a vovkulak (wolf lak, volkolak). He had a specific character; here there was clearly a mixture of folklore features and elements of Christian demonology. Among the Slavs, unlike the peoples of Europe, in ancient times the werewolf was a character ... positive.

Our ancestors considered the fact of "throwing" into the beast an absolutely normal phenomenon; in addition, such practices, according to the assurances of the ancients, were quite common in the Slavic territory. In any case, Herodotus, without much surprise, stated the fact that the Neur tribe (apparently living on the territory of modern Belarus) annually changes its appearance for several days, turning into a large pack of wolves.

And if we recall the heroic epic of our ancestors, then in it main character quite often he was a werewolf and was described as a being of divine origin. Moreover, the "range" of the possibilities of such heroes was surprisingly wide.

Heroes at the most critical moment could turn into a tour, a bear, a wolf or a lynx to help cope with superior enemy forces; into an ermine or a marten - to get into the camp of the enemy, find out secrets or play dirty tricks in someone else's warehouse and spoil weapons; in a falcon - to survey the surroundings and quickly get to the right place.

However, with the adoption of Christianity as the official state religion, everything changed radically. The former deities were given the status of demons; it is natural that the heroes with extraordinary abilities and "changeling" assistants either urgently "lost" their unusual qualities, or turned into monsters, a collision with which threatens a person with torment and death.

True, despite this, stories about werewolves, from time to time changing their human appearance to a wolf or bear skin, did not lose their popularity and continued to occupy a prominent place in folklore.

One of the varieties of legends about werewolves are stories about children who were brought up in a pack of wolves and therefore adopted all the habits and habits of wild animals. Unfortunately, such stories are based on a very real basis.

One of the earliest described cases of feeding babies by wolves is the story of Romulus and Remus. And in the XIV century in Hesse, in the forests near the city, a strange creature appeared. When in 1344 the "beast" was caught, it turned out that it was an eight-year-old boy, completely feral and behaving completely like a wolf.

Around the same time, another Mowgli was found in the forests of Bavaria. Unfortunately, for this foundling, the circumstances were almost hopeless: the boy was already more than 12 years old, and he spent at least 10 of them in a wolf den.

Wild children do not look like the cute Mowgli from the cartoon. They are covered with scars, sores, do not care about their hygiene, growl and bite.

"Wild" people were found in different countries, but largest number they were found in India. From 1843 to 1933, 16 wolf children (of both sexes), several baby panthers, leopards, monkeys and even an antelope boy were caught here.

It is difficult to say why animals take some "human cubs" under their protection and raise them as their own offspring. However, those Mowglis that survived in the jungle perfectly adapted to wild life (even their teeth changed!), clearly repeated the habits of their adoptive parents and practically lost their human appearance.

Forcibly torn off from their already familiar life, they quickly died in the human world ... The wolf boy Dean became the only one in this sense: he “lasted” among people for 20 years and during this time with great difficulty learned to stand upright, dress, use dishes and understand others.

Of course, feral children cannot be considered werewolves in any way. However, the existence of such "semi-humans" influenced the formation of legends about the terrible "shifters". After all, the appearance of Mowgli is indeed terrible for an ordinary person: the “savages” are dirty, covered with scratches and sores, with long tangled hair, with broken teeth; mouth stained with blood from eaten raw meat.

Their nails are long, sharp and strong, so they resemble the claws of a predator.

Mowgli take the poses characteristic of animals, copy the behavior of the other members of "their" flock, emit absolutely animal growls and howls, and are also distinguished by special ferocity.

The fact that real werewolves still exist, parapsychologists have been talking for a long time. Naturally, representatives official science strongly disagree with this statement. For centuries, all attempts to logically explain the phenomenon of "shifters" in enlightened circles were considered outright nonsense.

However, some circumstances forced specialists to treat the "fabulous" problem with great attention. Relatively recently, they started talking about the fact that a rather rare disease, lycanthropy, may lie at the heart of all stories about werewolves.

This attack was named after the king of Arcadia, Lycaon, mentioned in Greek mythology. The legend says that this ruler was distinguished by utter cruelty, made human sacrifices to the gods, and even tried to “treat” Zeus, who came to visit him, with the body of a just slaughtered child.

For all the atrocities, the gods turned Lycaon into a wolf. At the same time, the king retained some signs of his natural appearance, understood everything that was happening to him, and even tried to speak.

So, doctors dubbed lycanthropy special form insanity, in which the patient begins to believe that he has turned into an animal (most often a wolf). In addition, it turned out that even in ancient times they knew about this phenomenon.

AT Ancient Greece this disease was called "wolf madness." And Marcellus Sidst in 125 BC. e. described a man stricken with lycanthropy, while pointing out that the victim of the disease is seized by madness, which is accompanied not only by wolf ferocity, but also by bouts of truly brutal hunger.

Finally, modern Aesculapius drew attention to the evidence of their ancient colleagues, as well as to the amazing "survivability" and widespread stories about werewolves.

In 1963, the work "On Porphyria and the Etiology of Werewolves" was presented to the Royal Society of Medicine. Its author, Dr. Lee Illis from Hampshire, during his research processed a huge amount of documentary evidence and chronicles, as well as about 80 cases of similar diseases described and studied by certified doctors.

As a result, he gave a number of arguments to explain the outbreaks of lycanthropy in Europe and other parts of the world in different time. According to the doctor, all the appearances of werewolves have a reliable medical justification.

Lee Illis stated: “I believe that the so-called werewolves (werewolves) of the past, at least in most cases, suffered from congenital porphyria. The proof of this lies in the correspondence between the symptoms of this rare disease and the description of werewolves in the multitude of testimonies that have come down to us."

The author of the work pointed out that porphyria is the result of a rare type of genetic disorder. They, in particular, lead to the fact that the unfortunate victim of the disease begins to develop a special skin sensitivity to light (especially sunlight).

This phenomenon is called vesicular erythema and leads to the fact that the patient, under the influence of light, begins to become covered with inflamed spots. Usually, skin lesions are accompanied by excruciating pains, as a result of which people not only lose their human appearance, but also lose their minds.

Moreover, the matter does not end with one skin irritation. Inflammations quickly turn into deep ulcers, which then move to cartilage and bones. The patient's eyelids, nose, ears and fingers are gradually destroyed. Sometimes the skin of the victim of a hormonal rebellion becomes dark spots, and the teeth become red or red-brown due to the porphyrin deposited in the enamel. As a result, the patient, of course, does not turn into a wolf, but becomes a creature that is very far from a person in his physical and mental understanding.

In general, the condition of those suffering from porphyria, as outlined medically by Dr. Illis in his original work, corresponds exactly to that of a werewolf. Judge for yourself: the patient prefers to leave the house at night - daylight causes unbearable pain in him; mental manifestations of the disease gradually increase, passing from mild hysteria to manic-depressive psychosis; inflammation on the exposed parts of the body and face resemble abrasions and bites, typical of the "changeling". The unfortunate beard is long and neglected - due to acute inflammation of the skin, it is not cut or shaved, and the distorted features of the patient's face sometimes resemble a terrible mask.

All these classic signs of a legendary werewolf are attested by many medieval judges.

The doctor indicates that porphyria has several varieties. All of them are based on gene "failures" and arise as a result of metabolic disorders.

But the type of disease (congenital porphyria) that led to the birth of the myth of werewolves is, fortunately, extremely rare.

However, Illis not only did not exclude the variant of heredity, but in some cases called it natural. After all, the development of porphyria is influenced by both genetic abnormalities and the characteristics of the climate of each locality, foods and methods of nutrition.

This seems to explain the fact that in Western Europe"wolf madness" was such a frequent occurrence and sometimes covered entire villages (especially many such cases were registered in Sweden and Switzerland). But in Ceylon they have never heard of such a disease. Legends about werewolves are not recorded here either.

Nowadays, lycanthrope attacks on people also occur. True, infrequently. Since 1990, 46 people have become victims of porphyria patients in Brazil, Spain and the UK. According to the United States, there are about a thousand people in their country suffering from this rare and terrible genetic disease.

The discovery of Lee Illis laid the foundation for research on the problem that mankind has faced since ancient times. Moreover, the version of the English doctor did not clarify all the issues related to werewolves. In particular, all sources mentioned that the "shifter" could at the right time (most often, after a few hours) regain its human form.

Illis wrote that "the reverse transformation" is theoretically possible, but ... unlikely. The scientist also failed to explain why werewolves are so affected by the rapid growth of the moon.

By the way, in those rare cases when the appearance of a “shifter” is not associated with a full moon, it is observed in special places described as “black earth”, “black rocks”, “black stones” (where minerals or rock dark, almost black). Why? Medicine cannot yet answer this question. So the riddle of the wolf man has not been fully solved to this day ...

For many centuries, the word "zooanthropy" has been around. This is not the supposed ability of a human being to transform into an animal through witchcraft, but pathology. Over time, more and more people consider themselves animals, they think that they can behave like animals, gaining all their abilities. Pathology aside, the question is: Has this ever happened? Did wolf people, or lycanthropes, inherit zooanthropic magic?

ANIMAL INSIDE US

It seems that the wolfman is the perfect synthesis of the transformation of a man into an animal. But there are not only wolf people, there are facts confirming the existence of coyote people, hyenas and even bears.

When the so-called wolf people first appeared in history is unknown. Experts believe that in reality we are talking about totemic forms of manifestation of primitive shamanic magic. Herodotus said that both the Greeks and the Scythians considered the inhabitants of the shores of the Black Sea to be magicians, who had the ability to turn into wolves on certain days of the year, and at the request of acquiring a human appearance. Were there people who really knew how to do it?

WOLVES AND WIZARDS

Beginning in the 15th century, lycanthropy gradually gained some popularity in rural settings. It is believed that magicians and sorcerers had the ability to conclude agreements with evil spirits, and through these entities they managed to turn into wolf people. Especially often this happened on a full moon. On this occasion, the demonologist Lancret, one of the most famous of his time, stated: “The devil takes more pleasure in turning into a wolf than into another animal, because the wolf is a predator and causes more harm than other animals. And also because the wolf is the mortal enemy of the lamb, in the form of which Jesus was portrayed.

With the support of the church, wolf people began to be hunted in the same way as witches. Even the rulers of major European countries believed in the existence of those who suffered from the so-called wolf disease. Let's not go far: King Sigismund of Hungary, at one time the ruler of the Roman Empire, did everything possible and impossible for the church to recognize the existence of wolf people. And at the Ecumenical Council in 1414, it was recognized that lycanthropes really exist. Thanks to this recognition, the hunters of the church set to work: in France alone in the years 1520-1630, more than 30 thousand cases of clashes with wolf people were recorded. It is worth recalling some terrible cases related to that time.

GARNIER THE EATER

In 1573, a group of peasants seized Gilles Garnier, who confessed to having eaten more than a dozen children. He died at the stake after he said that on the night with the growing moon, as well as on the full moon, he felt a strong rage inside him. He felt like his body was thirsty for blood, and the only way out was, according to him, to hunt people.

ROLLET: FOUND WITH HUMAN FEATHER

In 1598, the peasants found the corpse of a young man in a sown field, which was devoured by wolves. Seeing the peasants, the wolves tried to run away to the nearest forest. The peasants chased the predators and eventually found a naked man squatting among the foliage. He was stained with blood, and in his hands were pieces of human flesh. The killer was the demented Jacques Rollet, who claimed to have the ability to transform into a wolf. Only the fact that he was declared insane saved him from death at the stake.

GRENIER THE YOUNG WOLF

In 1790, the mentally retarded Jean Grenier was 13 years old. There was clearly something suspicious in his face: there were pronounced canine features, his cheekbones were very outlined, his fangs were pointed, and, moreover, he considered himself a wolf man. One day, he warned several girls that he passionately wanted their blood and flesh, and when the sun went down, he would come to eat them. Unfortunately, he fulfilled his promise and attacked one of the girls, but she managed to escape, although she was badly injured. Grenier was captured, and during the trial, he said that he had only freed the wolf that was inside him. He claimed that he had the ability to turn into a wolf due to an encounter with the devil in the forest, where he signed a pact with him and received the skin of a wolf.

In court, the young lycanthrope confessed that he committed many crimes in the guise of a wolf.

edited news VENDETTA - 27-07-2012, 13:13

Do you have a pale face, do you sleep like a dead man, and do you have unibrows? Maybe you are a werewolf! In the fact that a person turns into a wolf, people believed in ancient times and continue to believe until now ...

It would seem that stories about werewolves should have faded into oblivion over time. But this is absolutely not true. Volkolak is also present in modern culture, he became the hero of literature and cinema. The famous film "Wolf" in 1994 with Nicholson to this day excites the imagination and generates fear. Moreover, for many people this is not fantasy at all!

When a survey was conducted in Tuscany in the 80s of the last century, it turned out that almost all respondents - regardless of age and education! They believe that a person turns into a wolf, and vice versa. Moreover, many of the respondents said that they themselves witnessed such unusual metamorphoses.

Wolves, snakes, horses, foxes...

The belief that a person can turn into various living creatures, including wolves, has deep roots. The myths of Ancient Greece speak of the transformation of Harmony and Kadmos into snakes. Odysseus, under the influence of magic, became a horse, Iphigenia - a cow, and Callisto - a bear. In Abyssinia, to this day, people believe that blacksmiths turn into hyenas and suck the blood out of people. In Siberia and Altai, according to folk beliefs, people can turn into foxes and bears, and in Malaysia - into tigers. The Scandinavian god of war and magic Odin and his warriors had the gift of turning into wolves.

But the most famous history This is the story of King Nebuchadnezzar. It was the result of delusions of a sick imagination or witchcraft spells, but the legendary ruler felt himself wild beast, left the palace and wandered through the forest. His hair covered him like the feathers of an eagle, and his claws grew like those of birds - something like this was said about this man-beast, invested with power, in bible book Daniel.

Interestingly, back in the first half of the 19th century, in some southern regions of Europe, it was believed that everyone who was conceived during the full moon becomes a werewolf. In Romania, some believe to this day that a person conceived on Christmas or Easter night turns into a werewolf. And it was in these days that the church recommended sexual abstinence, since it was believed that children were overtaken by "punishment for the sins of their parents."

From the time of Virgil to the present day, there has been a belief in Italy that wolves cast spells on people: whoever they looked at became dumb. However, for Italians, the wolf is already a magical animal. Protective properties are attributed to his teeth, they are worn as amulets. Often powdered wolf bones are added to herbal medicines prepared to treat various diseases.

But the same Italians also demonstrate common sense, because they always believed that wolf people could be “not real”, but just victims of lycanthropy. What it is? With this rare mental disorder the patient imagines that he is a wolf (or other animal), runs away from home, wanders through forests and roads, attacks animals and people.

How is lycanthropy treated? In the folk piggy bank there is a recipe for this case. It is believed that the lycanthrope is still in the role of a wolf man (another animal) until he dives into the water. Therefore, in front of the houses of the unfortunate, affected by this disease, there was always a barrel of water, immersion in which restored human soul.

How to recognize a werewolf?

In the Slavic lands, they also willingly believed that a person has the ability to turn into a wolf or other animal. There are many chilling stories about the so-called Volkolaks. It was said that such a metamorphosis could happen due to spells cast by a witch, or putting on a wolf skin. The inhabitants of Lower Brittany are still convinced that werewolves, putting on a wolf skin, turn into animals, thirsting for blood and wandering at night in the forest, attacking people they meet. With the onset of dawn, they take off their wolf skin and return home.

So, how to recognize a werewolf in a person? Folk beliefs have an answer to this as well. Volkolak gives out a pale face, dry skin and a deep sound sleep. They also recognize him by the fact that after a night spent in the forest, he will shiver from the cold all the next day, even in the heat. In Denmark, it is believed that children who have fused eyebrows over their noses will become wolf people in adulthood. Well, one can only sympathize with such kids. Fortunately, tweezers can solve this problem...

We can say that France became the birthplace of werewolves, since it was in those parts that the most stories about the transformation of a person into a wolf circulated. For example, the story of Bisclaveret, a wild beast devouring people in Brittany. The history of Auvernia from 1588 has been preserved in the chronicles. During the hunt, one of the hunters chopped off and took a wolf's paw during a night fight. The animal ran away. And in the morning the paw turned into a woman's hand with a ring on her finger. She was immediately identified, and a group of interested persons went to a noble lady, to whom she was supposed to belong. On the spot, it turned out that the woman had no right hand. She was accused of being a werewolf and burned at the stake.

Love conquers the curse

It is noteworthy that in folk stories there are very few women who turn into she-wolves. One of these stories (of Polish origin) has survived to this day. It tells the story of a young man who spent the night at a mill in order to catch a werewolf that lives in it. When he took off his skin, he turned into beautiful girl. The young man immediately fell in love with her. He hid her skin and soon took the ex-wolf as his wife. A few years later, the wife found a wolf skin, put it on and again became a werewolf. To return the human soul and appearance, it had to be recognized in a wolf pack. The loving husband had no problems with this. And then the wife forever ceased to be a werewolf.

When do people most often turn into wolves?

Of course, during the full moon, but there are other days that have exceptional power. In some areas of France, it is believed that this specific transformation occurs at a magical time - on the night of Good (Good) Friday, on the night of May 1 (Walpurgis Night), on the night of St. John (April 23-24), on the night of before All Saints' Day, as well as every night from Christmas until February 2.

Werewolves have their own holiday!

He was noted in Ancient Rome. For women and animals, these rites were designed to ensure fertility, fertility, and they were supposed to protect shepherds and a flock of sheep from the attack of wolves. The celebrations were held in a sacred cave on the Palatine Hill. Priests dressed in wolf and sheep skins, first they hit women with leather belts, and then they played scenes in honor of the faun Lupercus, who protected the sheep from wolves. Over time, this holiday was associated with the belief that a person can turn into a wolf.

Eventually, the "wolf" rituals faded into oblivion, but belief in this strange transformation has survived in many places in Europe today.