THE MYSTERY OF WEREWOLVES  

        The werewolves are also known as lycanthropes (from Greek lykanthropos, lykos = wolf, anthropos = man), they have been in the peoples' legends since the ancient times. In primitive societies and at Longobards' times, the skill of temporarily change ones shape into an animal one was regarded as shamans and warrioriors' characteristical powers. So are defined those men who can turn into wolves for unknown and often obscure reasons thus becoming very wild and dangerous. In 16th century many cases of lycanthropia took place in France, most of them remained unsolved so they couldn't be attributed to simple wolves, rather to unknown beings. In the same period Gilles Garnier was a lonely man who killed and ate children who were far from home. A kind of “Hannibal” of his times. Charged of lycanthropia and witchcraft, he was burnt alive in Dole, France, on 28th January 1573. Garnier came from an area infested with wolves where other four people prosecuted for lycanthropia also came from. Was it perhaps that there had been a sort of epidemy that leaded some people to behave as beasts? A sort of rabies?

        German Peter Stubbe claimed he had received a bewitched belt from the devil and that he could turn into a wolf whenever he wanted. He was tortured, beheaded and burnt on 28th October 1589 for killing at least 13 children in the previous years, included his own son and two pregnant women. Also many witches in that period were prosecuted and accused of being able to change themselves into werewolves during their sabbath. In 1588 a hunter managed to cut the paw of one of those wolves and to keep it. After coming to his village, he showed it to everybody but in his bag inexplicably there was a woman's hand with a ring instead of the paw. A nobleman who was thereby passing recognized the ring, run home and found his wife who was curing a wound. She was lacking of a hand. She was charged of lycantrhopia and burnt on the stake. In reality licanthropia is in the most of cases a mental illness; the sick people believe to be wolves, howl and search for human flesh to devour. Other cases similar to the described ones have been frequent in other areas of the world and sometimes such people have been considered as sick and in need of cures rather than deserving to be burnt. Most of cases were psychopath serial killers. Similar things happened in other areas of the world but because of other animals: the jaguar in South America, the hyena and the crocodile in Africa, the tiger in India and the badger in Japan.

Translated by Harika