“AN American Werewolf,” “The Howling,” and “Van Helsing” are some movies feeding on the hairy, mythical creature known as (play soundtrack from “The Howling”) werewolves.
The word “wer” comes from the old English meaning man and wolf, a being that can change its looks when the moon is full.
Should we be afraid of werewolves? Let’s find out first if being a moonlight transformer can be acquired.
In ancient Greece, according to folklorist Carol Rose, people believed that anyone could become a werewolf by happenstance. If a person eats the meat of a wolf cleverly mixed with that of a human, he could become a monster permanently. I thought eating botcha (meat taken from an animal that has died of disease) did that.
Perhaps our real fear is turning into a werewolf without the help of a diabolical chef, a werewolf himself, who wants to recruit members into his fraternity. We become evil when we allow unconcern, greed and violence to dwell in our heart. It turns us into savage killers that prefer to rip off and scatter the blood of our victims before getting down to the day’s business.
Should we be afraid of werewolves? A town gossip said you could tell someone is a werewolf by how he looks. If his eyebrows meet at a point over the nose, he is one. I thought it means he is the jealous type, based on a local belief.
They hate vegetables, which describes most of us. Your grandma was right. Eat your veggies and no one will accuse you of being a werewolf. And watch his smile. If his teeth are pointy—uh-oh, many of us have pointy cuspids or canines. End of description.
Perhaps our fear of werewolves stems from our fear of becoming monsters ourselves or having to deal with the werewolf type of people, and having diseases caused by unhealthy diet.
Should we fear them? What does medical science say about them?
One condition is called hypertrichosis, which causes a person to grow unusually long hair on the face and body. Another illness is porphyria, an extreme sensitivity to light. At a time when the cause of these ailments was unknown, the “patient” was said to be a patent case of werewolfism.
Lycanthropy, another illness, is a rare psychiatric syndrome that involves a delusion by the person that he can transform into, has transformed into, or is a non-human animal so he could scare off snoopy neighbors.
Fear werewolves? Maybe not. Before we start judging others, let’s look at ourselves and cast out any nascent werewolfism starting to form in us.