Legend of Werewolves: Origins of the Lycanthrope

While the origins of werewolves remain unclear, some scholars point to The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is the oldest surviving prose in Western literature, and tells of a character named Gilgamesh jilting a potential lover after she turned her previous lover into a wolf.

Greek Mythology and Nordic Folklore

Werewolves again reappear in ancient Greek mythology, in particular the Legend of Lycaon, who angered Zeus when he served him the remains of a sacrificed boy, resulting in Zeus turning Lycaon and his sons into wolves.

Wolves also make an appearance in Nordic folklore, where the Saga of the Volsungs tells of a father and son who discover wolf pelts that turn people into wolves for ten days straight. Instead of cloaking other people, they cloak themselves in the pelts, before setting off on a killing spree in a nearby forest.

To further perpetuate the legend of werewolves, in 1521, after confessing to the murder of multiple children, Frenchmen Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun claimed to have an ointment that turned them into vicious wolves. Another serial killer hiding behind the skirts of a werewolf was Giles Garnier, known as the “Werewolf of Dole,” who not only killed children but ate them too. Like his werewolf compatriots before Garnier, all three men were burned at the stake, which in French folklore was the only way to kill a werewolf.

Lycanthropy Beliefs

Some werewolf legends maintain that humans shape-shifted into wolves because of a curse, while other legends employed an enchanted sash or cloak made from wolf pelts. Other stories maintain that a person can only turn into werewolves during a full moon. Over the course of centuries, people have used werewolves and other anthropomorphic beasts to explain the unexplainable.

In more recent times, however, most scholars believe that werewolves are little more than horror icons, made famous by such pop culture films like Hollywood’s 1941 and 2010 remake of The Wolf Man. Even so, werewolf sightings continue to be reported on an annual basis, creating ongoing nightmares for believers everywhere.