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In folklore, a werewolf [a] (from Old English werwulf 'man-wolf'), or occasionally lycanthrope [b] (from Ancient Greek λυκάνθρωπος, lykánthrōpos, 'wolf-human'), is an individual who can shape-shift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction, often a bite or the occasional ...
Clinical lycanthropy is a rare psychiatric syndrome that involves a delusion that the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is a non-human animal. [1] Its name is associated with the mythical condition of lycanthropy , a supernatural affliction in which humans are said to physically shapeshift into wolves. [ 2 ]
The Slavic languages share a term for "werewolf" derived from the Common Slavic vuko-dlak, meaning "wolf-furr". The wolf as a mythological creature plays an important role in Balkan and Serbian mythology and cults. [34] [35] In the Slavic and old Serbian religion and mythology, the wolf was used as a totem. [36]
The werewolf trials. While most people know of the witch trials that took place in Europe and in the American colonies (including Salem, Massachusetts) during the 1500's and 1600's, few are aware ...
The authorities associated lycanthropy with magic and magic with Satan, and the legal courts integrated the cases of werewolves in the witchcraft category. [22] In Mechelen, Thomas Baetens (1642) and Augustijn de Moor (1649) were accused of being werewolves in connection to their wives standing trial for witchcraft.
This coincides with the French Catholic loup-garou stories, according to which the method for turning into a werewolf is to break Lent seven years in a row. [citation needed] A common blood sucking legend says that the rougarou is under the spell for 101 days. After that time, the curse is transferred from person to person when the rougarou ...
Thiess claimed to be a werewolf, although he asserted that in doing so he served God rather than the Devil, in contrast to common werewolf beliefs of the time. Thiess of Kaltenbrunn (Kniedini) , also spelled Thies , and commonly referred to as the Livonian werewolf , was a Livonian man who was put on trial for heresy in Jürgensburg , Swedish ...
1722 German woodcut of a werewolf transforming. Popular shapeshifting creatures in folklore are werewolves and vampires (mostly of European, Canadian, and Native American/early American origin), ichchhadhari naag (shape-shifting cobra) of India, shapeshifting fox spirits of East Asia such as the huli jing of China, the obake of Japan, the Navajo skin-walkers, and gods, goddesses and demons and ...