Once Were Wolf

As mentioned ad nauseum, the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has had an enormous impact in my life, particularly the concept of "turning".

After Dr. J, the next huge turn character was Lawrence Talbot played by Lon Chaney Junior. who transformed into the Wolfman through no fault of his own. Whereas Dr. J can be seen as a study in addiction and the duality of human nature, Larry Talbot was an innocent victim infected by the bite of a werewolf and turning primal.

When Talbot transforms into the Wolf Man, he appears as a humanoid creature with fur covering his body. He stands upright on two legs, but his posture is more hunched and animalistic than a human's. His arms are also covered in fur and end in clawed hands.

The Wolf Man's face is one of the most distinctive features of his character. He has a broad, wolf-like snout with sharp teeth and a fur-covered nose. His eyes are angry and piecing, and his eyebrows are thick and furrowed. His ears are pointed and slightly raised on top of his head, his hair is shaggy and unkempt and yes Warren Zevon his hair does look good in the back.

He even becomes a hero of sort when he battles with the Frankenstein monster in Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.

The next great werewolf of my youth was Tony Rivers, the character played by Michael Landon of all people in I Was A Teenage Werewolf which I saw just prior to becoming a teenager and may well be a factor in my growing a beard. He too had great hair in the back and I wanted a jacket like his. Rivers also was innocent and became a werewolf under the hypnosis of an evil doctor.

When Tony transforms into a werewolf, his appearance changes gradually over the course of several scenes. At first, his face contorts into an animalistic snarl, with his eyes becoming more intense and his teeth appearing longer and sharper, his hands and feet elongate, and his fingers and toes become clawed.

I always wondered what happened to his shoes.

Finally, Tony's entire body begins to sprout hair, with fur covering his arms and legs, and his clothing tearing apart as he grows in size. His face becomes completely wolf-like, with a snout, pointed ears, and yellow eyes.Somehow his jacket survives.

All the transformations seemed painless. The struggle was more external than internal. The change kinda looked like fun.

The next great "turn" occurred in  An American Werewolf in London (1981) - when another innocent tourist is attacked by a werewolf in the moors. David Kessler, played by David Naughton, painfully transforms into a werewolf, with his bones cracking and twisting, and his skin stretching and tearing.

This transformation is excruciating as David experiences intense pain and feeling as if his body is being torn limb from limb and his mind is ripped open with horrendous flashbacks while David's sense of aggression and hunger multiplies inexorably against his will while he is tormented by the ghost of his decomposing friend/victim even as Van Morrison plays Moondance in the background of a not glorious night.

Definitely not fun

Werewolf movies have disappeared of late and I miss them although they've already had their impact on my psyche and it remains true that more hospital visits take place when the moon is full.

Whoops, that bit about hospital visits on the full moon is baloney although my sister in law who is a nurse, insists that it's true.

 

Mountain wolves themselves have gotten a bad name and have been hunted to near extinction. In reality, wolves are shy creatures and avoid contact with humans unless they are cornered .

They have been known to chew a leg off when the leg is ensnared in a wolf trap. Some wolves seem to take delight in shitting on a wolf trap when they detect one.

So how did all this fun begin? Werewolf legends have been a part of European folklore for centuries.

In French folklore, werewolves were believed to be humans who had made a deal with the devil or who had been cursed by a witch. They would transform into wolves on the nights of the full moon and roam the countryside in search of prey.

During the Middle Ages, werewolf trials and executions were carried out in several parts of Europe, in the 16th century, a notorious werewolf panic broke out in the town of Dole in eastern France, where several people were accused of being werewolves and were put on trial and executed. The werewolf legends and stories continue to be a part of French folklore and popular culture, and they have inspired numerous books, movies, and television shows including those mentioned above.The werewolf panic began in 1573, when a number of people  began reporting sightings of a large, wolf-like creature that was attacking livestock and even people. The rumors quickly spread, and many people in the town began to believe that the creature was actually a werewolf.

Several of the accused were eventually convicted and were burned at the stake, while others were imprisoned or banished from the town. The werewolf panic in Dole continued for several years, and dozens of people were accused and punished for their alleged involvement in witchcraft and lycanthropy.

Wolves were vigorously hunted down and slaughtered

As a result, wolves nearly became extinct in France.

Nobody missed them.

Today, the werewolf panic is seen as a tragic example of mass hysteria . The episode is also an important reminder of the importance of skepticism and critical thinking in the face of rumors and sensationalized stories.

We picked up on the idea in America in a town called Salem when our skepticism faded in the midst of gossip and bias.

Oh well.

We're a lot smarter now.

Aren't we?

Nobody cries wolf anymore.

Do we?