Werewolves: A Symbol of Power and Anger and Their Parallel to Humans©
By: Robin Lukas
(point5bat@yahoo.com)
Copyright 2004
“Wolf-madness,
is a disease, in which men run barking and howling about graves and
fields in the night, lying hid for the most part all day, and will not
be persuaded but that they are Wolves, or some such beasts” From A
Lycanthropy Reader, page 47.
In earlier centuries, werewolves were viewed as either evil servants of
the devil or sick individuals. The word “werewolf” brings to mind
several images, many horrific and violent. However, the actual
werewolf explains a deluded human wishing to connect to something and
to provide an excuse for “inhuman” actions. Lycanthropy,
according to Brian Frost, author of The Essential Guide to Werewolf
Literature, describes it as “an authentic form of insanity in which the
afflicted person imagines himself to be transformed, whereas a genuine
werewolf can actually shift his shape” (8). Humans encourage the
violent and sadistic view of werewolves because it makes humans appear
better in comparison. Stories of lycanthropy in the early
centuries spoke of an evil creature that became a ruthless
killer. Contemporary works changed that image, giving the
werewolf emotions and the ability to identify more with humans.
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause is about a teenage
werewolf girl, Vivian, who suffers because her pack is unstable, and
who struggles with finding her place in the human world. Bitten
by Kelly Armstrong introduces Elena, who is a werewolf woman dealing
with the difficult task of accepting her werewolf side. Naked
Brunch by Sparkle Hayter describes Annie, a woman who finds out she is
a werewolf and tries to understand that part of herself.
Throughout these novels, werewolves’ instincts involve anger and
violence, which result from being rejected from human society.
However, the violence that people condemn so easily parallels the same
violence within humans. Werewolves need to belong to a pack or
unit just as people do. Werewolves are used as a symbol of
violence and power, features that humans have but are afraid of and
that make it difficult to belong. For this reason, humans use
werewolves as symbols in literature. Violence and power cause
problems in terms of being accepted and belonging. The outcomes
of these novels show that even werewolves need to belong symbolizing
that humans also need to belong despite the violence in their nature.
A werewolf’s instincts are anger and violence, which were once the same
instincts of humans. While Homo sapiens are animals, their
heightened awareness of the world around them allowed these mortals to
create ideas, stories, and a more detailed social structure.
Humans then created the werewolf in the sense that they used it to
explain some “different” people. Werewolf is simply a word that
describes humans who are either mentally disturbed in a certain way or
who want to follow their fundamental urges in ways that would prevent
them being part of the group.
In Blood and Chocolate, Vivian is very violent and deals with her
unstable pack by looking to humans for friends. Her first
instinct when dealing with others is usually vicious. This is
because she is not completely human and knows how humans view her
kind. With other werewolves, she still has the same violent
tendencies, because wolves, according to Brad Steiger in The Werewolf
Book, have a similar social structure to humans. So she must
always make sure she does not drop to a lower ranking. When she
is at school with humans, she finds one human she is particularly
attracted to, Aiden. There is a girl who considers Aiden hers,
and Vivian, of course, does not like that at all. “I’ll put a few
more runs in those tights, honey, if you look at me like that again,
Vivian promised silently” (Klause 23). This first reaction to a
threat, in her opinion, is quite similar to how wolves react when
competing violently for mates. Most of the time, Vivian is not
even consciously aware of how fierce her reactions are, such as when
she thinks Aiden is in danger, “without even thinking, she lengthened
her nails, and the muscles of her limbs clenched with power”
(98). Although many explanations of her natural responses are
about her personality, others are because of her shaky situation with
her family or pack.
The instability of her pack makes Vivian feel a little lost, so she
must try to find acceptance in places where werewolves usually do not
go. Her pack is leaderless and is unsure what to do for the
future, and this combination leads to constant bickering. “Vivian
felt a pang of loneliness. This is all that’s left of us, she
thought. And no one I feel close to. Not even Mom
anymore. She curled up smaller in her armchair” (Klause
32). So, she turns to humans to make up for her lost
relationships with her pack. All creatures need a sense of
belonging; therefore, it makes sense that she would turn to another
species for companionship if her own would not do. Vivian’s
perception of loneliness is quite like any teenager’s, which allows the
reader to identify with, “He had phoned, and she wasn’t an
outsider anymore – untouchable and strange, perhaps invisible”
(29). Even though she stays around other high school teenagers
for a while, there is something always missing in these relationships.
As a werewolf, Vivian has trouble feeling that she belongs with
humans. She knows she can never truly fit in with the other
kids. Vivian must always hide part of herself, especially her
vicious tendencies, even from her boyfriend Aiden. “She began to
have second thoughts. What if I can’t act normal with one of
them? What if he tries to kiss me and I bite him?” (Klause
44). Vivian feels slightly more comfortable around Aiden than
around his friends, because she fears rejection from them.
Therefore, when she is offered to hang out with them, “Vivian
hesitated. She wouldn’t have Aiden to hide behind. What if
she didn’t know how to join in? What if she made a fool of
herself? But this is what you wanted,
you coward, she told herself” (130). Vivian just wants to find where she belongs.
Other novels, such as Bitten, portray the werewolf as a powerful
creature who needs to fit in and uses its anger to deal with the
struggle of trying to belong in both worlds. As in Blood and
Chocolate, in Bitten, Elena’s first reaction to fear and threats is
anger, which always leads to violence. When Elena feels
threatened, her response is extreme and her fierce nature cannot even
be controlled when there is a chance to hunt. In her wolf form,
Elena tries to contain herself when she smells fear from an alone
security guard. “Yet if he runs, I won’t be able to stop
myself. That’s a temptation I can’t fight. If he runs, I
will chase. If I chase, either he’ll kill me or I’ll kill him”
(Armstrong 5). Her temptation can be so overpowering that she
won’t stop till she is killed or she kills something else. With
Elena, the urge to be completely animal is continuous. Especially
when Elena becomes: “More afraid than [she had] ever been . . . [She]
glanced down and saw [her] fingers retracting into my hands, hair
sprouting from the backs. [She] hadn’t done anything to
precipitate a Change . . . The fear was doing it” (237-238).
Hunting is very important to her as well. It is a chance to
release all human laws and enjoy the fierceness of her animal
side. “As I clung to the stag’s underbelly, I ripped and sliced,
dancing on my hind legs to keep out of hoof’s reach. When I’d
torn a gaping hole, I released my grip and clamped down farther
up. Entrails began to slide from the first hole and the smell
nearly drove me mad” (173). The enjoyment she receives from this
act can only be experienced in her wolf form, for when she is human,
guilt of destroying life surfaces. Being a werewolf and her
memories of being human causes this confliction of needs.
Naked Brunch presents the werewolf in an unorthodox manner, which adds
to the humanizing of the werewolf to allow the reader to identify with
it. In this novel, werewolves kill only evil humans, since they
can smell their souls. This creature’s job in one way is to
purify the human race. In addition, each werewolf also contains a
human in him or her as well. The individual allows him or her to
be a werewolf in order to express his or her other side. Annie,
from Naked Brunch, uses being a werewolf to release all her hidden
anger and hostility. She is a very nice person, who never loses
her temper, until she is a werewolf when she can then do whatever she
wants. Annie’s body wants to be free of the social order and let
loose her inner beast. “She felt a growing agitation and
energy. She felt like she was about to break out of her skin,
like it might just split, and everything inside her would go flying”
(Hayter 48-49). This internal pain and agitation is apparent with
Elena from Bitten and Vivian from Blood and Chocolate when they to want
to change.
Human society rejects werewolves because of their violent
natures. People have a tendency to shy away in fear from what
they do not understand. The ferocity of werewolves scares them
because most were taught to behave in a non-violent manner, something
that is considered the “polite thing to do.” Viewing werewolves
as killing machines, people believe that werewolves have no sense of
morals and compassion. For this reason, most humans fear being
close to them, fearing these creatures may turn on them, and humans
reject them as lovers.
Vivian, from Blood and Chocolate, wishes to reveal her other form to
Aiden, her human boyfriend, so that he would accept her for who she is,
not just her glossed over human side that allows her to fit in with
human society. She feels a great struggle between who she is and
who she is supposed to act like. “She shuddered with pain, and
tears outlined her downy face. She had never known a time when
she hadn’t wanted the change, hadn’t enjoyed the change, but now she
was nauseated from holding it back. He couldn’t see her like
this. She couldn’t betray her people” (Klause 66).
Acceptance grows to be necessary when one changes into a teenager, yet
when one is a teenager and a werewolf, acceptance becomes even more
vital. Therefore, when rejection occurs, the pain can be even
more devastating. When she finally does reveal herself to her
boyfriend, he fears her greatly when she changes into her wolf form in
front of him, which pushes her to a realization about who she is.
Vivian finally was able to open up to someone, making herself
vulnerable, and she was pushed away in an excruciating manner.
The pain of rejection from him forces her to realize that she could
never belong with a human. “He flung a mug at her head.
No! She howled as it smashed on the wall behind her. He
hated her. He loathed her. She brought him pain. She
didn’t belong here. She didn’t belong anywhere” (169). This
sort of dismissal shows up in much werewolf literature.
Humans and their society reject Elena because the word werewolf is
ingrained in humans’ minds as something dangerous. Elena cannot
reveal herself to her human lover because she wants to be human so
badly, so by pretending she is human, she could fit in. In order
to pretend being human, she must constantly be thinking of how to alter
her actions from her instincts. “By refusing to return what
seemed to be a very important call, I’d appear callous, uncaring.
A human would call back. The kind of woman I wanted to be would
call back” (Armstrong 22). Being considered abnormal hurts Elena,
and this pain builds into anger, which will then turn into rage.
I should be home in bed, not prowling downtown Toronto at
four A.M. A normal woman wouldn’t be here. It’s yet another
reminder that I’m not normal. Not normal. I look down the
darkened street and I can read a billet on a telephone post fifty feet
off. Not normal. I catch a whiff of fresh bread from a
bakery starting production miles away. Not normal . . . Not
normal. Not normal. I chant the words in my head,
flagellating myself with them. The anger only grows (8-9).
Elena usually feels she would do anything to be who she used to be.
To Elena, cutting herself off from the werewolf pack makes her feel
more human. By believing that ignoring something can make it go
away, she leaves her pack. “I’d been part of the pack from the
time I was turned. A year ago I’d left. I’d cut myself off
and I wasn’t going back. Given the choice between human and
werewolf, I’d chosen to be human” (18). This disconnection from
the pack still leaves her needing to belong somewhere, so she tries to
fit in with the humans. Elena does not consider being a werewolf
a blessing or an advantage as Vivian does in Blood and Chocolate.
“I am cursed to live between worlds. On the one side, there is
normalcy. On the other, there is a place where I can be what I am
with no fear of reprisals, where I can commit murder itself and
scarcely raise the eyebrows of those around me, where I am even
encouraged to do so to protect the sanctity of that world. But I
left and I can’t return. I won’t return” (Armstrong 8).
Elena believes being a werewolf is something bad because it separates
her from other people. Becoming a werewolf allowed her an outlet
for all her rage, yet she still wants to be a part of a human community
in some sort of way. “I kept that part of me – the werewolf part
– hidden, hoping I’d eventually slough it off like dead skin.
With Philip, I had the chance to reinvent myself to become the kind of
person he thought I was. Which of course, was exactly the kind of
person I wanted to be” (17). Elena believes herself to be a
monster, yet a human is much worse in other ways.
Werewolves are seen as evil things, yet it is Elena’s opinion that it
is the humans’ fault for horrible things. Humans in the world see
werewolves in this light for they are “associated almost exclusively
with the lurid, the sensational, the incredible, the criminal, the
irrational” according to Charlotte Otten, editor of A Lycanthropy
Reader. She also believes that a “simulated werewolf is a
primitive psychological mechanism to escape the real violence in
contemporary society” (1). Both real and fictional humans do very
horrible things, yet most would like to think that they are good
people. So in order to continue to believe that, they create a
werewolf to represent their violent intentions in order to break away
from the community. Elena would completely agree with
Otten. “Show me the animal that kills for the thrill of watching
something die. Why does the stereotype of the animalistic killer
persist? Because humans like it. It neatly explains things
for them, moving humans to the top of evolutionary ladder and putting
killers down among mythological man-beast monsters like werewolves”
(Armstrong 20). Throughout all of these werewolf novels, none of
the creatures has ever killed for pleasure or for sport, yet humans
always do.
Werewolves appear violent to humans because of their methods of
killing, yet humans used to be the same way. Wolves played an
important role in the survival of man in prehistoric times.
Man was utterly dependant on the animals . . . He would
have seen packs of wolves at work before, envying them their warm fur
coats and stamina, and the ease with which the pack could pull down
even the largest of victims . . . gave man the ideal opportunity to
study techniques of stalking, circling, ambush, and chasing more
efficient than his own. A singular metamorphosis had been
achieved (Douglas 28-29).
Men learned from wolves how to hunt and survive from going from
vegetarian to meat eaters. It was only until later that humans
“determined” that wolves were savages, however, the entire species
could have died off if it weren’t for these animals. This
upheaval of change to man can be thought of as damaging.
Man was not always carnivorous or aggressive, but in order
to survive the onset of the Ice Age he had to turn to meat as a new
source of food. Thereafter men wore animal skins and hunted in
packs, changing from peace loving vegetarians to savage, wolf like
killers. According to Eisler, the deep emotional upheaval this
caused left indelible scars on man’s subconscious, super individual,
ancestral memory and is reflected in the surviving atavistic beliefs
surrounding lycanthropy (Frost 37).
When humans had to eat meat for the first time, it most certainly would
have changed their perspective. Soon after, some even went as far
as to eat their own kind.
Cannibalism, although seen to many as a horrific sin, can also be
looked at as an act of power over another human. Many agree that
“There may be a great empowerment in eating the flesh of one’s
enemies. How better to gain the strength of a mighty foe than to
eat his flesh and absorb his prowess? And how better for a
werewolf to achieve the strength of a dozen men than to eat a dozen
men?” (Steiger 47). When one looks at cannibalism in that
perspective, it makes sense why some people ate other people.
Eating animals gives human energy, so to some, the question on how
could humans give other humans energy comes up. In one sense it
does. Humans are made of proteins and fats, just like any other
animal. The other part comes from the spiritual sense of lording
over another human. This want of power can be seen throughout all
parts of the werewolf legend.
The transformation into a wolf was symbolic of many things, and many
humans used drugs to achieve such a feeling of violent
empowerment. “The shape-changing can indicate the need to acquire
strength and courage from an animal noted for both those traits and can
prove a stimulant to the heroic” (Otten 138). Most humans at one
point or another in their life feel the necessity to demonstrate their
vigor, and some of them act like animals to get this point
across. Animals are seen as strong because of their ability to
survive on their own without the need of others. For some people,
the need to show their strength makes them use drugs to get this
feeling of empowerment. “Drug-induced transformations probably
provided welcome release from normal ego boundaries, bringing
lycanthropes into states of incredible power – a physical and
psychological power out of the range of normal, rational human
experience” (Otten 26-27). In Adam Douglas’s, The Beast Within,
the description of a case of lycanthropy is presented. A
49-year-old American woman became obsessed with transformation into a
wolf. She soon began to act on her impulses, violently and
sexually. Doctors at McLean Hospital concluded, “that the strong
internal conflicts aroused by the woman’s compulsive thoughts of
illicit sexual activity were expressed in her werewolf delusions”
(12). This woman envisioned transformation of herself into a
werewolf in order to release these conflicts inside of her. In
Blood and Chocolate, Vivian can be seen as in the same way, for her
descriptions of her transformations as a release from the confinement
of the human body and the mind. “She felt the momentary pain of
the spine’s crunch and then the sweet release . . . Vivian stretch and
pawed at the ground, she sniffed the glorious air. She felt as if
her tail could sweep the stars from the sky” (30-31). Elena in
Bitten also describes her transformation as a way to rid oneself of the
weaknesses of the human body and relish the strengths of the
animal. Naked Brunch’s Annie as well depicts transformation into
a werewolf as a liberating experience. The 49-year-old American
woman, Vivian, Elena, and Annie also were all looking for a mate of
some sort, showing that even though they become powerful beings, they
still need to be around others of their own kind.
Werewolves need to belong somewhere within a unit or group of
others. For although werewolves are part wolf, they also still
have human inside of them. Both parts are social beings by
nature. Many people associate the wolf with loneliness and
aloofness, yet wolves are incredibly social beings. When only
humans surround a werewolf, the creature naturally wants to socialize
with these humans, however if a human knows that it is a werewolf, he
or she becomes fearful.
Humans are afraid of werewolves and this rejection hurts the
werewolves. In both Bitten and Blood and Chocolate, the main
werewolf characters willingly or accidentally reveal themselves in wolf
form to their lovers. In Blood and Chocolate, Vivian is hurt
deeply when her wolf form horrifies Aiden, the boy she loved.
Vivian made a decision to show Aiden what she really is so that he
would accept her. Yet, his fear makes him reject all of her and
she runs away from him in deep misery. “She dove into the tall
grass and rolled there, clutching herself as if to crush the pain, but
her misery broke loose and she shrieked her curses at the sky.
She raged at herself and the boy, and cruel hot tears. ‘I am
beautiful!’ she screamed hoarsely. ‘Why can’t he see that?’
She ripped at the grass, dug holes in the earth, and flung soil into
the night” (207). Her pain is much more apparent and deep than
Elena’s, for Elena already understood how all humans will always feel
about their kind. Elena accidentally changes in front of her
lover and understands when she sees “the fear in his eyes” and she
“then and knew it never would have worked between [them]. No
matter how close [she] got to any human, if they ever learned the truth
about [her], there would always be fear. You couldn’t get past
that” (339). Elena’s acceptance of the situation allows her to
get past it more quickly, whereas Vivian suffers internally for a long
time before she finds her werewolf mate.
Werewolves choose to stay with their own kind because they can then be
accepted for who they are. Vivian, Elena, and Annie all realize
this by the end of the novels. Vivian understands that she cannot
live in the human world, for she would not be able to be herself
completely around others. She then stays with her werewolf
lover. Elena decides to stay with her werewolf pack for she has
finally accepted both sides of herself. She says: “Everything I’d
chased in the human world was here. I wanted stability? I
had it in a place and people who would always welcome me, no matter
what I did. I wanted family? I had it in my pack, loyalty
and love beyond the simple labels of mother, father, sister, brother”
(336). Annie goes to Alaska with Jim so that they can both live
as natural werewolves and not try to fake human lives. All of
these fictional characters can be related to true stories of
lycanthropy, for the characters use being a werewolf to belong with
others like themselves.
Recent cases of lycanthropy show signs mostly of a troubled mind
wanting to connect to something that represents what they want to be
like. For example, the 49-year-old American woman envisioned she
transformed into a wolf at times, for her internal conflicts and wants
of sexual fulfillment drove her to that state. In another case,
Mr. X, a 28-year-old male murdered a man and also violently assaulted
his girlfriend because he believed himself to be a werewolf. His
obsession with blood and sadistic sexual desires made him receive
psychiatric help. But why do these individuals choose the wolf to
transform into? What is it about the wolf that these people
identify with? According to Brad Steiger, author of The Werewolf
Book, “the wolf is an ideal candidate for the beast” that people turn
into during emotional outburst because “being a canny predator with
wide geographical distribution” (ix). However, the human psych
goes much deeper than that, and Steiger only explains why the animal
was chosen. Sabine Baring-Gould, author of The Book of
Werewolves, states his opinion of the mental aspect of one relating to
an animal.
It was not merely a fancied external resemblance between
the beast and man, but it was the perception of skill, pursuits,
desires, sufferings, and griefs like his own, in the animal creation,
which led man to detect within the beast something analogous to the
soul with in himself; and this, not withstanding the points of contrast
existing between them, elicited in his mind so strong a sympathy that,
without a great stretch of imagination, he invested the beast with his
own attributes, and with the full powers of his own
understanding. He regarded it as actuated by the same motives, as
subject to the same laws of honor, as moved by the same prejudices, and
the higher the beast was in the scale, the more he regarded it as an
equal (119).
Baring-Gould goes further with this idea of humans relating to animals
by explaining how many conceive that there is a likeness within the
animal that they share. “The oneness which the uncultivated mind
believes to exist between the soul of man and the soul of beast.
The same sentiments actuated both man and brute, and if their actions
are unlike, it is because of the difference in their formation.
The soul within is identical, but the external accidents of body are
unlike” (122). Something about wolves and what they represent
allow some individuals to feel a bond or closeness with them because
they can identify with a few similarities that they perceive to be
true.
Certain people admire wolves to the point that they wish to become one
because they are able to identify with this animal. Wolves are
seen as fierce and violent creatures that live in a society where it is
acceptable to act on ones instincts. Humans reject the instincts
that were once their own, so these werewolves are forced to stay with
their own kind, where they can be accepted for who they are.
Throughout the books Blood and Chocolate, Bitten, and Naked Brunch, the
major theme is acceptance of werewolves and of themselves as
werewolves. All three main female werewolf characters want to be
accepted for both sides of them, human and wolf, so that they may act
on the reflexes, even if they may be violent. This can be seen as
a correlation with humans wanting to connect with something in order to
feel that they belong. Acceptance is a vital part of life to both
the wolf and to humans, and the creation of a combination of the two
beings creates an even greater need to belong. This need is what
drives some people to their lycanthropy state, for it allows them to
act how they want.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Kelly. Bitten. New York: Viking Penguin, 2001.
Baring-Gould, Sabine. The Book of Were-Wolves. Doylestown, PA: Wildside Press, 1865.
Douglas, Adam. The Beast Within: A History of the Werewolf. New York: Avon Books, 1992.
Frost, Brian J. The Essential Guide to Werewolf Literature. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.
Hayter, Sparkle. Naked Brunch. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003.
Klause, Annette Curtis. Blood and Chocolate. New York: Bantam Double Day Dell Books for Young Readers, 1997.
Otten, Charlotte F, ed. A Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in
Western Culture. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1986.
Steiger, Brad. The Werewolf Book: The Encyclopedia of Shape-Shifting Beings. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1999.
Woodward, Ian. The Werewolf Delusion. London: Paddington Press Ltd, 1979.
Additional History and Information on the Science of Lycanthropy
The origin of werewolves came from misunderstood diseases and old
traditions. Especially in the middle ages, people would see
others acting abnormal or looking strange and assume a superstitious
explanation. Geographically, cultures would vary. In many
cultures, warriors would dress in animal skins to invoke the spirit of
that animal in order to fight better, such as the Celtic-Germanic
figure, as noted by Adam Douglas, author of The Beast Within, that “the
berserk rages of the wolf-coats helped win battles” (102). This
relates to how many humans want to become animals in order to show
strength. By dressing like a wolf, the warriors felt
psychologically stronger which then affected their overall
performance. In other cultures and in more recent times, humans
might act like animals for the same affect, since dressing as an animal
is usually not socially accepted to most.
Many diseases have symptoms that are the same as the signs of a
werewolf. Imagine if one was walking down a dark road, and he or
she sees a person with a misshapen body, teeth colored with a reddish
hue, and erupted blisters on the face and hands. One could see
how shocked that person could be, mistake this person as a werewolf,
for would a werewolf have red teeth from drinking blood? Yet,
these symptoms describe a person with porphyria. Prophyria is a
rare metabolic disease that results in severe photosensitivity, skin
lesions, mutilation to face and body, and reddish brown teeth and urine
(Otten 195). “The red teeth, the passage of red urine, the
nocturnal wanderings, the mutilation of face and hands, the deranged
behavior: what could these suggest to a primitive, fear-ridden, and
relatively isolated community?” (Otten 196). When knowing about
that disease, anyone can see how the mistake of seeing a werewolf was
made.
Another disease that could have its victim be mistaken as a werewolf is
hypertrichosis, a condition in which there is excessive hairiness,
covering most of the body and the entire face (Steiger xii).
Rabies, a disease passed through saliva, could also be mistaken as a
werewolf. “Dryness of the tongue, inordinate thirst, an
abhorrence of water, foaming at the mouth, super human strength,
violent tendencies – these are some of the symptoms common to both the
werewolf and the victim of rabies canina in human beings” (Woodward
162). There is a legend saying one can become a werewolf by
drinking the water left in a wolf’s footprint. Rabies can be
transferred if the wolf had rabies and left some saliva, blood, or
urine in the footprint.
Schizophrenia was misinterpreted as a symptom of lycanthropy, for the
people with the disease would behave strangely to other people.
According to Charlotte Otten, “many contemporary psychiatrists when
faced with the description of the recorded cases of the 16th and 17th
centuries, would undoubtedly focus on the severe withdrawal, bizarre
behavior and delusions, impaired impulse control, and habit
deterioration to support a diagnosis of schizophrenia” (38-39).
Information was limited on these mind diseases, so it is easy to see
how these superstitious people misunderstood these sick individuals as
werewolves.
Ergot poisoning is a popular theory of how some of the werewolf cases
originated. Rye bread was contaminated by ergot, a fungal
parasite that induces LSD-type hallucinations. Ground into the
bread, this fungus caused some of the eaters of the bread to imagine
that they were either werewolves or seeing werewolves.