The Forgotten History Of Werewolves Proves They Are The Scariest Of All Supernatural Monsters

In early werewolf legends, the moon had no place in regulating transformation. The moon is closely tied to werewolf lore in the modern age, but even as recently as 1941 - in the film The Wolf Man - the moon was left out of the myth. The first film to feature the moon’s transformative effect was the less famous Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman in 1943. The origin of the lunar effect can be traced back to the 17th-century Italian superstition of turning into a wolf if one slept outside on a Wednesday or Friday, especially if the moon was full.

The concept of human misbehavior, or “lunacy,” during full moons was a separate belief that was later applied to the wolf myth. Modern police and emergency room staff swear that they see more emergencies on nights with a full moon, though studies have disproven this. Early lore around the timing and frequency of a werewolf's transformations is different from story to story, but the lunar cycle didn't play into any of them. The connection between females (witches) and werewolves likely influenced the moon cycle lore, as it relates so similarly to menstruation cycles.

The historical lore on how to spot a werewolf in human form varied. In what is now Poland, they believed that a child born with a birthmark on their head possessed shapeshifting abilities. In Western Europe, it was believed that a unibrow, long fingernails, or low ears were sure signs of lycanthropy. One way to test if a person was secretly a werewolf was to slice open their skin and reveal the fur beneath. One Irish folktale perpetuated this theory. In the story, a curse of lyncathropy befalls a husband and wife. A traveler they come across cuts open the wife's hide and finds an old woman inside.

A werewolf was supposedly weak and debilitated after returning to their human form, and so Slavic peasants would be on the lookout for tired townspeople the night after a suspected werewolf attack. When in werewolf form, Swedes believed a werewolf would lack a tail. It was said, a werewolf might even run on three legs and hold up their fourth leg to look like a tail to fool people.

In the majority of werewolf legends, the werewolves are said to maintain their human eyes, which was one of the most haunting things about them. The modern appearance of werewolves is due in part to American makeup artist Rick Baker. He created the costumes and makeup for the werewolves in the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London and Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" music video. 

In Eastern Europe, vampiric and lycan lore are closely tied together. In a region with harsh winters, little daylight in its woodlands, and treacherous wildlife, it is no wonder tales of the two supernatural foes developed so closely. In this region, the language for vampires and werewolves evolved from a common term: the Slavic "Vukodlak." In that area, these "wolf's fur" creatures were thought to be autonomous real creatures, not supernatural agents of the devil.

These early "werewolves" were similar to vampires. They were motivated to grow their population via biting, were sensitive to sunlight, could move at superhuman speeds, and were said to have shapeshifting abilities. Like vampires, these creatures transformed into animals and their preferred form were the wolf (not a bat as pop culture would later depict). Even in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Count Dracula's character notes that werewolves descended from his Szekely racial bloodline, which was why he could transform into a wolf.

These early vampire-werewolf hybrid creatures were considered “undead.” In some lore, the werewolves would be human corpses by day and wolves by night - like vampires in their daytime coffins. Modern werewolves aren't often depicted as having the charm of vampires, but in Slavic lore they would sometimes appear in the form of beautiful women and seduce men before killing them in wolf form.

In the 16th, 17th, and early 18th centuries, women were put to death for witchcraft by the tens of thousands throughout Europe and America. A lesser-known chapter of the witch panic is the wolf trials that took place. In every wave of witch executions, there were several individuals tried as werewolves. Under torture, many of the accused confessed. Of course, confessions only caused further damage as these testimonies legitimized the next wave of panic.

One of the most famous wolf trials was that of Peter Stubbe who lived in 16th century Germany. His crimes were so horrific that when he confessed to being a werewolf, his fellow villagers welcomed the explanation. Stubbe had raped and killed members of his family and had cannibalized his son. In Eastern and Western Europe, werewolf mythology was linked with witchcraft. In some legends, werewolves were the creation of witches. In others they were sorcerers or witches themselves, electing to transform into an animal to attack the peasantry. In Fennoscandian lore, werewolves were old witches with poisonous claws who paralyzed children. Most physical descriptions of werewolves across cultures don’t involve tails; this was how a person could tell they were witches in wolf form.

The selkie myth of Scotland and Ireland tells of seals who can shed their skin and walk on land as women. The legend states that if a man captured a selkie’s seal skin, he could keep her as his wife. In Western Europe, a similar version of this story developed with wolves, although it is hard to determine which came first. Legend has it that when a man wanted to turn into his werewolf form, he would put on an entire skin.

The magical pelt would have to be removed at daylight and hidden. The werewolf would be indebted to anyone who found their pelt or would be cursed to die. In Norway and Iceland, there are several accounts of warriors who wore magical pelts that would give them wolf-like abilities in battle.

Before a full moon came to be known as the sign a werewolf would be shapeshifting soon; there were earlier superstitions surrounding werewolves. Puddle water was a common fear. If a person drank the water from a puddle made by a wolf’s paw print, it was said they would become a wolf themselves. In Ancient Greece, people believed that consuming a combination of wolf and human flesh would turn a person into a wolf/human hybrid that was irreversible. In Hungarian folklore, a person would be cursed with lycanthropy if they walked beneath the arch of a birch tree three times. The perhaps silliest belief around transformation was a furry belt or girdle strapped that induced a werewolf state. These girdles were used to prove a person's guilt in werewolf trials and are also mentioned in a story by The Brothers Grimm.

In the 1935 film Werewolf of London, the titular werewolf is a botanist whose condition is brought on by the consumption of a Tibetan plant. The transference of lycanthropy via a bite did not enter the mythology until the 19th century when werewolves were more of a literary element than a (supposedly) real danger. Lycanthropy was not considered contagious for most of its mythic history. It was werewolves' link with vampires in Dracula that helped perpetuate the notion of biting.