Skinwalker

## History

And Zeus said in a thunderous voice: “From now on, you will forever turn into a wolf. A wolf among wolves. This will be your punishment. Death would be too little punishment for you!” The words of Zeus were addressed to Lycaon, the Arcadian king, a tyrant and atheist, who, in order to laugh at Zeus, fed him a dish of human flesh. The roast was prepared from the body of a seven-year-old son who had been killed with his own hands. This is the ancient Greek legend about the origin of werewolves. But in antiquity, the wolf was not at all a symbol of evil, into which it later turned in Christian teaching. Romulus and Remus, fed by a she-wolf, became the founders of Rome. And the Capitoline she-wolf in Italy is still revered as an image of selfless motherhood.

Also, the companions of Odin, the Great God of northern mythology, have always been the faithful wolves Jerry and Frekka. The qualities of a wolf cause a certain charm in a person. His speed, mobility, cruelty, courage, absolutely fine hearing, as well as prudence, courage and a penchant for family life. The image of the wolf served as the basis for the creation of numerous European legends about werewolves. During the Inquisition, the wolf, as a "competitor" of man, became an image of evil. The werewolf trials were - like the witch trials - a terrible farce! The verdict was considered established de facto almost always from the beginning of the process. The accused, who did not recognize his guilt, was tortured until he gave the expected answers to the court.

The “evidence” was the confession of the defendant in receiving gifts from Satan (ointment for turning into a werewolf). It was during the Middle Ages that the wildest stories about werewolves circulated. Under torture, people slandered themselves and loved ones in the way that the church wanted. The first werewolf trial took place in 1521, followed by numerous others. So, in 1541, accused of murders, a peasant claimed that he was a werewolf and a wolf skin was hidden inside his body. The judges, to test the claim, ordered that his arms and legs be cut off. Nothing was found, an acquittal was issued, but the peasant had already died from blood loss. In France alone, between 1520 and 1630, the Inquisition “revealed” over 30,000 werewolves. The vast majority of those accused were executed.

**Lycanthropy**

“...trouble begins with the bite of an animal. After a long time, the first symptoms appear in the victim: the unfortunate are afraid of daylight, also of water immersion and begin to beat like crazy, bite and spin. On their actually motionless faces, muscle spasms draw in the lips and expose the tongue and teeth, foam comes out of the mouth, and terrible, guttural sounds are made by these tortured creatures, ”this is how the physician Joseph Claudius Rougemont describes in 1798 the behavior of patients with “Hundswuth” - today known as the name "Lykanthropie&" - lycanthropy.

The term "lycanthropy" has Greek roots: "lycos" - "wolf" and "anthropos" - "man". Today it is officially used in psychiatry to refer to a form of insanity in which a person imagines himself to be an animal. Numerous examples of lycanthropy are known in psychiatry, cases of people who feel like supposed wolves, cats, dogs, etc. A classic example is the case of a Japanese girl in 1921 in the Austrian town of Wiesenschaft. The girl became obsessed with the image of the fox, then her behavior became completely consistent with the behavior of the fox. Children born sick showed signs of wolf lycanthropy.

Previously, science has completely rejected the possibility of the existence of lycanthrope werewolves. However, then the views of medicine changed significantly - it recognizes the existence of werewolves, understanding as such not only people suffering from mental disorders, but also recognizing scientifically confirmed facts of a purely physical nature. In Mexico, in Guadalajara, there is a center for biomedical research dealing with lycanthropy. Dr. Lewis Figuera has been studying the Mexican Asievo family (more than 30 people) for many years. All of them suffer from a rare genetic disease that is inherited and causes a strong change in human appearance. The surface of their body, including the face, palms and feet, is covered with thick hair (even in women). Some family members have thicker coats than others. Their posture also underwent noticeable deviations from the norm.

According to Dr. Figuera, this disease is caused by a genetic mutation that is inherited (Asievo has been entering into only internatal marriages for many years) through the X chromosomes of the parents. In the course of research, it was found that this mutation arose among members of this family in the Middle Ages, but until recently it did not manifest itself. Now the Asievo family lives in the mountain town of Zacatecas in northern Mexico. The locals treat them with hostility, like lepers. Doctors from the biomedical research center cannot cure this disease, which they call "lycanthropy syndrome". But sooner or later they will be able to isolate the lycanthropy gene and give the future descendants of the Asievo family a full life.

## origin

The debate on the origin of the lycanthropes has been going on for hundreds of years and sees a clash of very diverse theories that involve theologians, anthropologists, investigators, doctors, occultists and wolf specialists. Although wolf attacks, berserkers, symptoms of disease, psychiatric disorders and drug abuse largely explain lycanthrope legends, there remains some mystery in their universality, and in the fact that belief in the physical metamorphosis and possession remains widespread. Anthropologist Robert Eisler draws attention to the fact that many Indo-European tribal names as well as some modern surnames mean "wolf" or "wolf-man". The argument is that the European transition from fruit-picking to hunting was a conscious process, accompanied by an emotional upheaval that remains etched in the subconscious of mankind. We find traces of this upheaval through the belief in lycanthropes17. Man has always been fascinated by the wolf, pack animal and main predator in the regions of Europe18. The wolf symbolically embodies the dark side of the human species, the cruelty of man left to his own devices, and of man free from the constraints that civilization tries to impose on him18. Later, the theoreticians of the Anglo-Saxon pessimistic school magnified this carnivorous energy of “human nature18”.

## External Links

* Werewolf
* Clinical lycanthropy