Halloweenology - The Werewolves of Halloween
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Werewolves

A werewolf in folklore and mythology is a person who changes into a wolf, either by purposefully using magic or by being placed under a curse. The transformation was associated with the full moon. A werewolf can be killed if shot by a silver bullet. Historical legends describe a wide variety of methods for becoming a werewolf. One of the simplest was the removal of clothing and putting on a belt made of wolf skin, probably a substitute for the assumption of an entire animal skin which also is frequently described. In other cases the body is rubbed with a magic salve. To drink water out of the footprint of the animal in question or to drink from certain enchanted streams were also considered effectual modes of accomplishing metamorphosis. It is also said that when a woman gives birth to six female children, the seventh will be a male and a werewolf. In Galician, Portuguese and Brazilian folklore, it is the seventh of the sons. This belief was so extended in Northern Argentina, that seventh sons were abandoned, ceded in adoption or killed. Various methods also existed for removing the beast-shape. To kneel in one spot for a hundred years, to be reproached with being a werewolf, to be saluted with the sign of the cross, or addressed thrice by baptismal name, to be struck three blows on the forehead with a knife, or to have at least three drops of blood drawn have also been mentioned as possible cures. Many European folk tales include throwing an iron object over or at the werewolf, to make it reveal its human form.

Werewolves belong to packs. When the werewolves are in their human form they are like any other human. A werewolf is a person who transforms into a wolf. Werewolves in wolf form look like enormous wolves. They can travel at fast speeds and they are really Awesome!

"In European folklore," says the Encyclopedia Britannica, "a man who turns into a wolf at night and devours animals, people or corpses, but returns to human form by day. Some werewolves change shape at will; others, in whom the condition is hereditary or acquired by having been bitten by a werewolf, change shape involuntarily, under the influence of a full moon. If he is wounded in wolf form, the wounds will show in his human form and may lead to his detection. Belief in werewolves is found throughout the world. The psychiatric condition in which a person believes he is a wolf is called lycanthropy."

How does one become a werewolf? According to "Werewolf Facts," you can become infected if you:

-Eat the brain of a werewolf.
-Drink from a place where werewolves have drank from.
-Wear or smell the plant wolfbane.
-Are bitten by a Werewolf.
-Were born on Christmas Eve.

As with witches, finding a werewolf largely seems to be a matter of looking hard enough. Some of the warning signs, according to the world's myths, are:

* Red hair
* Born on the 25th of December
* Eyebrows join in the middle
* Index and middle fingers are of the same length
* Love of rare or raw meat
* Hairs on the palms of the hands
* Hair on the inside of the skin (that seems like a tough one to check!)
* Will change back to a human if you throw a piece of iron or steel over its head when in animal form.