myths. Early cultures throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa formed totem clans and often worshipped minor deities that were half-human, half-animal.
Warriors went into battle wearing the skins of wild animals, hoping that the ferocity and strength of the beasts would magically rub off on them. In the Northern European tribes, the fierce animal of choice was the wolf or the bear.
In ancient Scandinavia, the Norse words ulfhedhnar (“wolf-clothed”) and ber-werker refer to the wolf or bear skins worn by the fierce Viking warriors when they went “berserk,” or war-mad, and fought with the fury of vicious animals against opponents. In the Slavonic languages, the werewolf is called vlukodlak, which translates to “wolf-haired” or “wolf-skinned,” once again suggesting the magical transference desired from wearing the skin of a brave animal into battle.
The prefix were in Old English means “man,” so coupled with wolf, it designates a creature that can alter its appearance from human to beast and become a “man wolf.” In French, the werewolf is known as loup garou; in Spanish, hombre lobo; Italian, lupo manaro; Portuguese lobizon or lobo home; Polish, wilkolak; Russian, olkolka or volkulaku; in Greek, brukolakas.
Although ritual dances and the wearing of wolf skins remain a part of the heritage of many Native American tribes, in early Europe the shamans began to create a magic and a sorcery that seemed more efficient than the old ways of achieving trance states and seemingly being transformed into wolves. By at least 850 B.C.E., the Greeks were fond of relating accounts of shape-shifters and sorcerers who would turn people into animals. A millennium later, circa 930, those who deliberately sought to become werewolves were generally evil sorcerers who sought the ability to shape-shift into the form of a wolf so that they might more effectively rob or attack their victims. Through incantations, potions, or spells, these wicked men took delight in their savage strength and their ability to strike fear into the hearts of all whom they encountered. Those who became werewolves against their will were individuals who had somehow run afoul of an evil sorcerer who had placed a curse of lupine transformation upon them.
Stories of werewolves have horrified people in European communities for centuries (Fortean Picture Library).
According to a number of ancient magical texts, one of the methods by which a sorcerer might willingly become a werewolf was to disrobe and to rub completely over one’s naked body an ointment made of the fat of a freshly killed animal and a special mixture of herbs. The person who wished to accomplish the lupine transformation should also wear a belt made of human or wolf skin around the waist, then cover his body with the pelt of a wolf. To accelerate the process of shape-shifting, the apprentice werewolf should drink beer mixed with blood and recite an ancient magical incantation.
To the people of the Middle Ages, there was little question that such creatures as werewolves truly existed. Switzerland can lay claim to the first official execution of werewolves, when in 1407, several individuals so accused were tortured and burned in Basel.
The Inquisitors in France have the dubious distinction of recording the most cases of werewolfism in all of Europe—30,000 between 1520 and 1630. The werewolf trials began at Poligny in 1521 when, after enduring the torture chamber, three men admitted to consorting with she-wolves and demons in order to gain the power to transform themselves into wolves—then they confessed to having killed and devoured many small children over a 19-year period. They were summarily burned at the stake.
The famous case of Gilles Garnier, who was executed as a werewolf at Dole, France, in 1573, provides grim details of attacks on numerous children, in which Garnier used his hands and teeth to kill and to cannibalize his young victims. In view of the heinous crimes and Garnier’s confession that he was a werewolf, the court was quick to decree that he should be executed and his body burned and reduced to ashes.
The infamous werewolf Peter Stubbe of Cologne revealed that he possessed a magic belt that could instantly transform him into a wolf. To return to human form, he had but to remove the belt. Although the authorities never found his magical werewolf belt, they beheaded him for his crimes in 1589.
In his book Discours des Sorciers (1610), Henri Boguet, an eminent judge of Saint-Claude in the Jura Mountains, recounts his official investigation of a family of werewolves and his observation of them while they were in prison in 1584. According to his testimony, the members of the Gandillon family walked on all fours and howled like wolves. Their eyes turned red and gleaming; their hair sprouted; their teeth became long and sharp; and their fingernails turned horny and claw-like.
At the time of the Inquisition and the reign of demonic terror in Europe, many judges and learned men believed that an individual who had made a pact with Satan could become both a vampire and a werewolf. In Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, the Count is capable of transforming himself into a bat and a wolf. The popular stage version of the novel, which preceded the classic motion picture, dealt with this metamorphosis by having a German Shepherd run across the stage at the proper time when Dracula was in werewolf mode. Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 version of Dracula references the vampire’s ability to become a werewolf with Gary Oldman as Dracula.
Although in principle I am loathe to agree with the judges of the Inquisition on anything, I will have to state that my opinion that it is the same ancient multidimensional spirit parasites who create Real Vampires that can possess individuals and create Real Werewolves. It is also soon apparent to the serious researcher that victims of these paraphysical invaders exist today as in centuries past and that they seek to enlist innocent men and women into their ranks not necessarily by drinking their blood or devouring their flesh, but by stealing their souls.
In many Native American traditions, the werewolf, were coyote, or whatever form the therianthrope or demon may assume is known as a “Skin Walker.” My good friend, Priscilla Garduno Wolf, an Apache Medicine woman from New Mexico, told me of her encounter with such an entity which occurred when she was a teenager. Sister Wolf related the following story.
It was a beautiful day, and I was ready for the prom. I caught a ride with a friend, Molly, and the night went very well. However, at the end of the prom, Molly told me to catch a ride home with someone else; she was going to Alamosa with her boyfriend. I asked several people, but no one offered to take me home. I lived three miles from the school, and at that time all the roads were dirt.
I had no choice but to walk home in my formal, holding my heels in my hands. The moon was shining, but it was still very dark. I wasn’t scared until I got close to the area where people claimed the Wolf Boy was buried. Grandpa said that the old people buried him there in the 1500s. Nearby, there was this huge tree that my grandfather had named the Skin Walker tree, because of sightings of Skin Walkers in that area.
I wanted to walk back to my grandmother’s home, but I was scared that the Wolf Boy would appear to me, so I continued walking east toward my mother’s home. When I crossed the old bridge, I heard a noise coming from under it. I looked back, and I saw what appeared to be a calf walking toward me. I started to run, and it began to run, following me.
It was about 300 feet to my mom’s home, and I took off running fast. The animal stood up on its hind legs and almost
