From: sandler@duck.ee.udel.edu (Sandman)
Subject: Re: Questions about werewolves
Keywords: wolf,man,coffee,tea,milk,beer
Organization: Lab Rats
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 16:11:31 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.063014.10864@athena.mit.edu> hetyei@athena.mit.edu (Gabor Hetyei) writes:
>Hi, 
>
> I am thrilled having discovered this group! It's only a few weeks ago

I am thrilled that you have found the group too.

Let me set some pointers down here:
a) Werewolves legends have been in existance in many cultures and from
many different sources in each of these cultures.  To say this is a WW and
not a that is like saying a European dragon in a dragon and not
an American Indian dragon or Oriental Dragon would be a misnomer.

b) every author does whatever he wants.  The author might know any
given WW story and choose to make up his own rules.

c) lycanthrope from the greek lukos-wolf anthropos-man: a Werewolf.  NOT
ANY POLYMORPHATIC CREATURE
lycanthropy: the assumption of the worm and characteristics of a wolf held
to be possible by witchcraft or magic

>1.) When does the transformation take place?
big source of differences- some stories only change on a full moon; some
have can change anytime but are forced to change at a full moon; some
say the WW can learn control and not be forced to change; some say there
is a plant <wolfaphasia> that blooms right before a full moon <only found
in the remotist of african jungles or occasionally in unkept graveyards> that
if a WW breaks a bloom off and punctures himself with it he will not change
that night (note it blooms only a few secs [30 or so] before the full moon
comes out); some say forced to change on a full moon but by pissing on 
crossroad [and perhaps saying a chant] can change anytime.  Some change when
injured in human form [or enraged]


>2.) Is it true that if a werewolf is seen by a human during the change 
>(s)he stays in wolf form forever? One story I read claims this, but in

Depends on your author; I had not ever heard this but it sounds like something
that could exist in legend....

>3.) What is wolfsbane for? There is an old gipsy rhyme stating that even
>a pious man who has never been a wolf before, might become one when the
>moon is full, and the wolfsbane blooms. On the other hand , in some
>stories wolfsbane seems to have exactly the opposite role, i.e.,
>protection against werewolves.  

wolfs.bane \`wu.lfs-.ba-n\ n : ACONITUM; esp: a highly variable yellow-flowered
Eurasian herb (Aconitum lycoctonum)

Almost all legends I have read it is a protection and a sensing device for
WW (WW won't go near the stuff) only in recent stories I have read has it
been blamed as either a cause or a cure.

PS holy silver will turn cold with a shiver of lycanthropy when a WW is near

>4.) How about other protections against werewolves, besides silver or
>church-blessed items? In one story I read, a hero sacrifices himself in
In some church blessed doesn't matter.  I have seldom heared of pagan
rituals that if tried, didn't work.  Mostly you just kill the thing with silver
weapons (regular weapons do damage but they heal in a matter of time-units)
(common time units: seconds, mins, hours, days, lunar cycles)

>5.) What are the ways , the werewolf can choose his/her victim? The most
Two types 
They choose: whoever they want. 
Gets choosen for them: either they see a sign (pentagram on hand) this, I
believe is mostly for the personal horror of the WW, 
or they might kill the one they love most, 
or various other ways...

>6.) Provided that the answer to question 1. is that different werewolves may
[WW forced to kill eachother...]
No.  WW are often seen in packs (around the same time a band of gypsies are
in town) if that were the case there would be many fewer WW.  But then again
stories differ <sounds like you found a goofy story source>  In modern stories
you get good wolf bad wolf setups where one kill the other and gothic horror
you might get a WW have a glimps of memory and protect the woman he loves
and end-up killing and being killed by a second WW (multi-WW stories are
really not that common.  one WW is horrific enough)

>7.) What happens when a werewolf fails in the hunt of his/her victim. In

In some they die in most they don't.  In many they purposefully cage themself
up to avoid hurting people...(even old stories of a heavily boarded gypsy
wagon that the kind folks beg the tax man not to open to searche until 
morning.)

>8.) How about the state of the human conscience during and after the
>hunt? In the movie , the guy did not seem to remember anything he did in
>wolf form. In some other stories not only it is possible for the human
>to remember the acts of the wolf, but there seems even to be some
>control of the human on the wolf -- eg. (s)he never attacks some special
>friend...   
Depends on the story. gothic horror they don't remeber until later when
they get flashbacks of the kill and then they start remembering....but that
is why it is horror.

>9.) It seems to be clear that lycantrophy is like AIDS-- it spreads with
>each blood-contact. Is it really like AIDS, i.e. does it spread also via
>sexual contact? Is it a rule that the offspring of a werewolf becomes
>werewolf or not?
Can WW have ofspring?
Thinking of it as a virus you could say that but what if it is a curse
based on magic?  I like to think of it as a curse (it stops me from
blaming myself :^>) where whoever gets injured, but not killed by
a WW attack........

>10.) I left my most complicated question to the end. In the movie I saw,
>one of the both Americans is killed by the wolf, the other turns into
>werewolf. The dead friend returns to the other and tells that he has to
>remain "undead" (some sort of limbo state) unless "the bloodline of the wolf
>is severed". In the movie this means that the friend turned werewolf has

The only other references I have seen to this is that the ghosts of the 
victims (of the current wolf not all of the people killed by WW lines) haunt
the WW throughout his days....the change into a wolf part might have been
a volintary thing with this added a a curse later.

I have also read in various places that WW once they reach maturity cease to
age...eg imortal... stories vary..
Newsgroups: alt.horror.werewolves