The Complete Idiot's Guide to Werewolves (5 page)

 

Over the last few centuries, witnesses have been seeing some sort of very large creature in the area, which many people claim to be the Wendigo. Descriptions vary, but it is commonly said to be about 15 feet tall, often covered in fur, with what appear to be rather large moose antlers protruded from its head. Some local lore claims that to lay eyes on a Wendigo is a bad omen and that afterward a death always occurs in the region it was sighted. Other lore claims that the Wendigo is the protector of the forests, and its wrath is reserved for those who harm the forest or do not pay nature the proper respect.

 

Chapter 3

Werewolves in the Old Country

Whereas Native Americans viewed lycanthropy as a form of spiritual or magical power, most European cultures primarily viewed it as a curse. In European werewolf lore, tales of lycanthropy are often associated with murder, tragedy, infidelity, witchcraft, curses, and the demonic. Lycanthropy was rarely portrayed as a power one should desire or pursue (except by the Norse), but as something to be avoided.

King Lycoan, according to most versions of his myth, was once a ruler of the Greek Arcadians. Lycoan is thought by many to be the first werewolf, and some werewolf enthusiasts claim that his myth tells of the origins of lycanthropy. The truth of such claims is, of course, debatable. However, his myth is definitely of significance to the body of werewolf lore. It is an example of the tragedies that befell a king who was so evil that, because of his savage behavior, the gods stripped him of his humanity.

According to Greek myth, there was a period long ago, during the times of the earliest race of men, when humanity was for the most part ignored by the gods. During this forgotten period, humans were left to their own devices without the slightest aid from divine intervention. Some humans still chose to make sacrifices and appealed to the gods for help. Other humans, primarily those with more evil dispositions, took advantage of the opportunity to commit terrible blasphemies and crimes against nature and the gods. This led to a period of untold horrors and cruelty, when most people found themselves ruled by the evilest of despots. The worst among them was a man named King Lycoan, who maintained a bloody reign over his subjects. He was bloodthirsty, twisted, psychotic, immoral, and thought nothing of taking human lives. What was worse, however, was that Lycoan considered himself above the gods.

 

Eventually, the terrible blasphemies of certain humans caught the attention of Zeus, lord of the Olympians and God of Thunder. He came down from Olympus and assumed the form of a man. It didn’t take long for him to hear of Lycoan’s terrible deeds, which led him to visit Lycoan’s kingdom in Arcadia. When he arrived, the Thunder God revealed his true form to the Arcadians, who all began to bow and worship him. The arrogant king, however, doubted the power of Zeus and plotted against him. Lycoan feigned homage, inviting Zeus to stay in the palace and attend a feast in his honor. Lycoan’s true plan, however, was to slit Zeus’s throat that night as he slept.

 

After a recent victory, Lycoan had taken a hostage from the Molossians. He had the prisoner brought to him, slit the poor man’s throat, and cooked his flesh. When Zeus sat down at the banquet table, Lycoan presented him with a plate of cooked human flesh. Zeus, the all-knowing god, immediately knew what had been placed before him. He was disgusted by what Lycoan has done. Enraged by this blasphemy, he brought Lycoan’s entire home crashing down. Everyone within its walls was killed—all but Lycoan. Zeus had an even worse fate in store for Lycoan.

The king fled from the presence of Zeus. As he ran, however, grey hair began to sprout all over his body. Zeus transformed him into a giant wolf (though some later versions claim he became half-man and half-wolf). For his violent and savage behavior, Zeus cursed Lycoan to live as a beast for the rest of his days.

According to the writings of a Greek physician and part-time travel writer by the name of Pausanias, the Arcadian people, the descendents of Lycoan, were required to hold ritual sacrifices to Zeus for many years. However, these sacrifices were in no way designed to appease the anger of the Thunder God. Apparently, they were only designed to keep Zeus’s wrath somewhat at bay. This ritual sacrifice was called
Lykaian
(also spelled
Lycaean
)
Zeus,
roughly meaning “The Lycoan to Zeus.”

 

First the Lykaians, presumably descendents of King Lycoan, were presented before an altar on Mount Lycoan. Once certain rituals and sacrifices were completed, Zeus would show that he had accepted the offering by inflicting the curse of Lycoan upon one of the present Lykaians. Unlike their terrible ancestor’s curse, however, there appears to have been a method for reversing the transformation. If the cursed individual, while a wolf, abstained from eating human flesh for no less than nine years to the day of the initial transformation, he or she would turn back into a human being.

Pliny the Elder, also known as Gaius Plinius Secundus, was a writer and Roman officer who lived from around 23 C.E. to 79 C.E. In his manuscript
Historia Naturalis,
Pliny wrote of the Anthus family, quoted from an encounter that had originally been documented by a man named Euanthes. The Anthus clan lived in Arcadia (the same home as the Lykaians), and they were the descendents of a man named Antaeus. According to one myth, Antaeus was eaten by his father’s horses, which had gone mad from hunger. However, it is uncertain if this myth had anything to do with the Anthus family’s cyclical lycanthropic rites.

According to Pliny’s tale, the male members of the Anthus family drew lots every nine years. Whoever was chosen by these lots was sent away to a nearby lake to perform a ritual that would transform him into a wolf. In this ritual, the chosen individual would first hang his clothes on the branches of an ash tree. He would then swim to the other side of the lake. By the time he reached the other side, he would be completely transformed into a wolf.