Show Notes

• Reference: The Epic of Gilgamesh (~2100 BCE)
  
  
• The earliest known tale of shapeshifting as divine punishment
  
  
• A cursed lover turned into a wolf by the goddess Ishtar
  
  

• Reference: Ovid’s Metamorphoses
  
  
• King Lycaon tests Zeus by serving him human flesh
  
  
• Zeus transforms Lycaon into a wolf as divine retribution
  
  

• Reference: Saga of the Volsungs
  
  
• A father and son wear cursed wolf pelts
  
  
• Their transformation leads to madness and murder
  
  

• A Christian-infused legend of a cursed wolf clan
  
  
• The story of a speaking wolf seeking last rites from a priest
  
  
• Chronicled by Gerald of Wales in the 12th century
  
  

• Making a pact with the Devil
  
  
• Using a magical belt to become a wolf
  
  
• Practicing black magic
  
  
• Killing and eating at least 14 children—including his own son
  
  
• Committing incest with his daughter
  
  

• Claimed mysterious men gave them a magical ointment to become wolves
  
  
• Confessed to attacking and eating people (including children)
  🔥 Burned at the stake
  
  

• Accused of transforming into wolves and cats by Satan’s power
  
  
• His own sons made the accusation
  
  
• Claimed to receive a magical belt from the Devil
  
  

• 80-year-old man who claimed to be a “Hound of God”
  
  
• Said he entered Hell as a wolf to battle witches & protect the harvest
  
  
• 🚫 No pact with the Devil → sentenced to flogging, not death
  
  

• 18-year-old said he was bitten by Satan, enabling his wolf form
  
  
• No murders proven, but executed for alleged magic use
  
  

• No concept of serial killers—supernatural explanations filled the gap
  
  
• Confessions = Torture, fear, delusion
  
  
• Victims = Often marginalized, misunderstood, or mentally ill
  
  
• Werewolves became symbols of:
  
  
  • Uncontrolled hunger
    
    
  • Savagery and paganism
    
    
  • The “beast within”
    
    

• The Little Ice Age → famine and food shortages
  
  
• Plagues and disease
  
  
• War and religious upheaval
  🧨 Scapegoats were needed—so society hunted the “werewolf” to restore order
  
  

• Werewolves began appearing in woodcuts, pamphlets, religious art
  
  
• Grotesque imagery: mid-transformation, eating children, clawing at human skin
  
  
• Literature: appeared in demonology and cautionary tales
  ⚠️ Message: Stray from God, become no better than a beast
  
  

• Shamans who can transform into animals (not cursed—empowered)
  
  
• Common forms:
  
  
  • Wolves/dogs – protection, guidance
    
    
  • Jaguars – underworld, night
    
    
  • Owls – messengers
    
    
  • Eagles – warriors, sun
    
    
• Based on your tonal (birth animal spirit)
  
  
• Naguals walk a moral line:
  
  
  • 🛡️ Some are community protectors
    
    
  • 🕯️ Others accused of sorcery during Spanish colonization
    
    
• Colonizers = rebranded nagualism as diabolic witchcraft
  
  
• Still believed today in rural Mexico and Central America
  
  

• Kitsune = fox spirits; clever, seductive, magical
  
  
• Ōkami = “Great spirits,” divine wolf guardians
  
  
  • Protected travelers
    
    
  • Honored in mountain shrines
    
    
  • Associated with fertility, crops, family lineage
    
    
• 🐺 Japanese wolves (now extinct) seen as sacred, not evil
  
  
• Rare darker tales: possession by wolf spirits → madness or exile
  🌓 Duality: Wolf as guardian & wild outcast
  
  

• Rakshasas: demons who transform into tigers/wolves—agents of chaos
  
  
• Yogis/Sages: shift forms for spiritual transcendence
  
  

• Shamans transform into animals (bears/seals)
  
  
• Purpose: healing, hunting, spirit connection
  
  

• Common forms: hyenas, lions, leopards
  
  
  • “Werehyenas” in Ethiopia and Somalia → seen as cursed or evil
    
    
• Wolves rarely appear (not native), so local predators filled the mythic role
  
  

• The full moon has long been tied to madness, magic, and transformation.
  
  
  • “Lunatic” comes from luna, Latin for moon.
    
    
• In werewolf lore, it triggers the beast within—symbolizing:
  
  
  • Loss of control
    
    
  • Repressed instincts
    
    
  • Inevitable transformation (a ticking celestial clock)
    
    
• 2022 study (Australian Journal of Parapsychology):
  
  
  • Found increased reports of hauntings during full/new moons.
    
    
  • Controlled for belief bias—many observers were skeptics.
    
    
• Some scientists point to geomagnetic field shifts as a possible cause.
  
  
• Whether myth or science, the full moon still represents something powerful and mysterious.
  
  

• Gothic fiction introduced werewolves alongside vampires and ghosts.
  
  
• Frederick Marryat’s “The Werewolf” (1831):
  
  
• “The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains”:
  
  

• Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould’s nonfiction deep dive into werewolf legends.
  
  
• Sources included:
  
  
  • Trial transcripts
    
    
  • European folklore
    
    
  • First-person confessions
    
    
• Balanced belief and skepticism—both gruesome and philosophical.
  
  
• Influenced later horror writers and psychological takes on the werewolf.
  
  

• Victorian society was all about appearances—literature used monsters as loopholes.
  
  
• The werewolf became a metaphor for:
  
  
  • Repressed sexuality (especially male desire)
    
    
  • Dual identities (respectable by day, monstrous by night)
    
    
  • Fear of the “Other” (foreign, wild, diseased)
    
    
• Transformation = metaphor for forbidden urges made visible.
  
  
• Similar to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde—not werewolf, but spiritually aligned.
  
  

• Some literature portrayed the werewolf as:
  
  
  • Cursed, not evil
    
    
  • Misunderstood and suffering
    
    
• Introduced the sympathetic monster trope.
  
  
• Laid the groundwork for modern antihero werewolves.
  
  

• By the 1900s, the werewolf became:
  
  
  • A psychological symbol (Freud’s “id”)
    
    
  • A pop culture figure in pulp fiction and later, film.
    
    
• Early stories asked deeper questions:
  
  
  • Who are we in the dark?
    
    
  • What parts of us are we hiding?
    
    

• Set the standard:
  
  
  • Transformation under full moon
    
    
  • Silver bullet weakness
    
    
  • Tragic, sympathetic monster
    
    
• Lon Chaney Jr.'s Larry Talbot didn’t want to kill—he begged for release.
  
  
• The werewolf became part of pop culture: toys, radio, sequels.
  
  

• Groundbreaking for:
  
  
  • Body horror transformation (Oscar-winning makeup)
    
    
  • Mix of horror and dark comedy
    
    
  • Emotional themes: guilt, identity crisis
    
    

• 🩸 The Howling (1981)
  
  
• 🌕 Ginger Snaps (2000)
  
  
• 🧛 Underworld
  
  
• 💔 Twilight
  
  

• 🐺 Teen Wolf (MTV):
  
  
• 🧛 Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  
  
• 🩸 Penny Dreadful:
  
  

• 🎮 Skyrim:
  
  
• 🎮 The Witcher:
  
  

• 1940s – The inner monster, man vs. self.
  
  
• 1980s – Transformation, body horror, chaotic identity.
  
  
• 2000s – Allegories of adolescence, trauma, queerness.
  
  
• Streaming Era – Deep dives into identity, morality, and belonging.