Witchcraft and Werewolves
In Medieval Times, Lycanthropy and Witches Were Intertwined
Belief in were-animals was universal throughout Europe. In the Middle Ages, different countries had names for the creature and believed witches could shape-shift.
Centuries ago, people believed witches could transform into wolves. They roamed European lands, killing people and animals. Another belief was lycanthropes were demons or the devil. Legends exist about witches arriving at Sabbats astride these beasts. Pagans were considered witches.
Hollywood popularized the mistaken notion that they attack only during the nighttime full moon. Accounts have recorded daytime attacks and others happening during the moon’s other phases.
European Names
- Andorra: home llop
- Bulgaria: varkolak, vulkodlak
- Croatia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia: vukodlak
- Denmark/Sweden: varulv
- England: werewolf
- Estonia: libahunt
- France: lubins, lupins, loup-garous
- Galicia: lobisûn
- Germany: werewolf
- Greece: lycanthropos
- Ireland: faoladh, conriocht
- Italy: lupo mannaro
- Latvia: vilkatis, vilkacis
- Lithuania: vilkolakis, vilkatlakis
- Poland: wilkolak
- Portugal: lobisomem
- Romania: varcolac
- Russia: oboroten', vurdalak
- Scotland: werewolf, wulver
- Spain: hombre lobo
- Ukraine: vovkulak(a),vovkun, pereverten'
How Witches Shapeshift into Werewolves
Witches were believed to be in league with the devil and because of this, they could become wolves. Ways of transforming into a werewolf included:
- Removing clothing and donning a belt made of wolf skin or the entire pelt. Removing the hide restored the werewolf to human shape.
- Rubbing one’s body with magic salve
- Drinking water from a wolf’s footprint, enchanted streams or special formula
- Eating a specific plant
- Repeating an incantation
Killing the Werewolf
The most common and best known method is to shoot a silver bullet through its heart. Destroying the heart and/or brain are the other methods.
One well documented case of a wolf-like creature believed to be a werewolf is the Beast of Gevaudan, a huge lupine that terrorized this town in south central France in the late 1700s, attacking and killing people and animals. After all efforts to kill it failed, the King rounded up hunters. One of them remembered werewolf legends and placed a silver bullet in this rifle. He shot the creature through the heart, ending the beast’s reign of terror.
Contemporary Lycanthropy Speculations
Some lycanthropes averred they were wolves and that the fur grew inside their body. James VI of Scotland, who persecuted witches with fervor, believed "warwoolfes" were victims of delusion caused by extreme melancholia.
Although people no longer believe witches shapeshifted into werewolves, there are theories to explain the werewolf phenomenon.
Ergot is a fungus that replaces rye in wet growing seasons preceded by very cold winters. Its toxin usually affects part of or whole towns, resulting in hallucinations, mass hysteria and/or paranoia and sometimes, convulsions and death. The hallucinogenic, LSD, can be produced from ergot.
Ergot poisoning has been theorized as a cause of lycanthropy in a person and others believing they had sighted a werewolf. This theory isn’t totally satisfactory because legends of animal transformations are universal. Rye isn’t native to all countries with were-animal beliefs.
It is possible that ointments used by witches for shapeshifting and self-suggestion created delusions of being wolves, but this doesn’t explain others seeing them as werewolves.
Other theories include:
- Clinical lycanthropy: one has the delusional belief that s/he transforms into another animal, not limited to a wolf.
- Congenital erythropoietic porphyria: symptoms include hairy hands and face, reddish tinted teeth and inadequately healing skin. There is also photosensitivity, so those afflicted only venture out at night.
- Hypertrichosis: excessive hair growth on the entire body
- Porphyria: a chemical disorder with symptoms that include delusions
- Rabies
Related articles:
Beast of Gevaudan - Werewolf or a Huge Wolf Like Beast?
North Berwick Witches' Persecution
Werewolves: Legends, Cases, Theories
Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Witches & Witchcraft, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, (Facts on File, Inc., 1999)
A Natural History of Unnatural Things, Daniel Cohen, (The McCall Publishing Company, 1971)
