Werewolf

1. Werewolf Info Taken From http://www.pantheon.org/articles/w/werewolf.html

2. There are two categories of werewolf cases; 'false' or Lycanthropic Disorder cases and genuine werewolf cases.

3. LYCANTHROPIC DISORDER • (Greek) lykanthropos - lykos wolf; anthropos human being; Wolfman. • Lycanthropic Disorder is a mental condition in which the subject believes that he or she is a werewolf. • The subject does not actually change shape, but is nevertheless capable of being as dangerous as an actual werewolf • Most cases of supposed werewolfry are really the works of Lycanthropic Disorder victims.

4. MAN TO BEAST • In popular folklore, a man who is transformed, or who transforms himself, into a wolf in nature and appearance under the influence of a full moon. • The werewolf is only active at night and during that period, he devours infants and corpses. • According to legend, werewolves can be killed by silver objects such as silver arrows and silver bullets. • When a werewolf dies he is returned to his human form.

5. WEREWOLVES & IMMORTALITY • Werewolves are immune from aging and from most physical diseases due to the constant regeneration of their physical tissue. • They can, therefore, be virtually immortal. • However, they can be killed by any wound that destroys the heart or the brain, • or any form of death that causes brain or heart damage • (such as hanging or other oxygen-deprivation methods).

6. BECOMING A WEREWOLF • There are several ways to become a werewolf. • Being givin the power of shape shifting through sorcery, • being cursed by someone who you have wronged in some way (called Lycaeonia curse), • being bitten by a werewolf, • and being born to a werewolf. • In each case, the blood becomes tainted or cursed.

7. DAMNATION • A person who becomes a werewolf against his will (birth, curse, or bite) is not completely damned until he tastes of human blood. • Once he does, his soul is eternally damned and nothing may redeem him. • Even without tasting of human blood, however, • as long as the taint lays upon the immortal soul, • it cannot enter Heaven, • and will remain chained to the mortal plane upon death. • Spirit or Ghost

8. In the dark Middle Ages, the Church stigmatized the wolf as the personification of evil and a servant of Satan himself. • The Church courts managed to put so much pressure on • schizophrenics, • epileptics • and the mentally disabled, • that they testified to be werewolves and admitted to receive their orders directly from Satan. • After 1270 it was even considered heretical not to believe in the existence of werewolves.

9. The charge of being a werewolf disappeared from European courts around the 17th century • But only for the lack of evidence. • The belief in werewolves, however, did not completely disappear. • In Europe after 1600, it was generally believed that if there were no werewolves, • then at least the wolf was a creature of evil. • This resulted in an unjustified and negative image of the wolf; an image that most people still have today.