Werewolf Trials in France

One of my claims to being fame-adjacent is that I was in college with Mark Rein-Hagen, creator of the World of Darkness series of role-playing games including Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse. The reason I bring this up is to point out that the World of Darkness was one of the first places in popular culture where the vampire and werewolf myths were combined into a single story. This trope has gone on to become a mainstay of modern paranormal fiction - vampires and werewolves are treated as part of a single unified myth, often as adversaries.

In real life, though, it should be pointed out that werewolves and vampires are separate myths and come from completely different parts of Europe. The vampire is myth is from Eastern Europe, which is why in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula is originally from Transylvania, a region in modern-day Romania. The werewolf myth is from Western Europe, particularly France. And I will say that I'm getting kind of sick of the whole "paranormal slush" genre that lumps vampires and werewolves together, and then brings in basically every other paranormal creature on the damn planet. It makes a good scenario for a role-playing game in which you want players to have a lot of options, but in terms of real-world mythology it's kind of a mess.

At any rate, I came across this article today about the Beast of Gévaudan and the "werewolf trials" that took place in sixteenth and early seventeeth-century France. I was familiar with the story of the Beast of Gévaudan from cryptozoology circles and also with a couple of the most famous werewolf trials, but I was quite surprised to find out just how many actually went on. You'd think that a "werewolf panic" would be even more implausible than the witch panics that happened in other parts of Europe. It's one thing to accuse someone of casting spells or "communing with the devil," which can't be proven by empirical means, but these trials purported to be about observable physical transformations - which either happen or don't.

As Dangerous Minds notes, the period between roughly 1520 and 1630 saw “France’s version of Europe’s witch trials and executions, but with werewolves. For 110 years, 30 thousand people were accused of being werewolves, tortured in exchange for their confessions, or lack of admission of guilt, and died at the stake.” The panic persisted long afterward. In the most famous case of wolf terror, La Bête du Gévaudan, or the Beast of Gévaudan, supposedly killed and partially ate over 100 people in the span of three years, beginning in 1764.

Argentine Werewolf Hysteria Unfounded

Here's another of those viral stories that has become garbled in the telling. In Argentina, there is a century-old tradition that the president of the country serves as the official godparent to the seventh son or daughter born into a family. The adoption of such a godchild wouldn't be a particularly significant world event, except for this outlandish story published by the Independent.

The President of Argentina has adopted a young Jewish man as her godson to "stop him turning into a werewolf", according to tradition. President Christina Fernández de Kirchner met Yair Tawil and his family at her office last week to mark the unusual ceremony, which dates back more than 100 years.

What?!?

The story recently went viral on the Internet thanks to the Independent article, but it later came to light that the article conflates the adoption tradition and a piece of local folklore that have nothing to do with each other, except that both involve seventh sons.

It seems there is another Argentine tradition called "El Lobison"; a belief that a family's seventh son turns into a werewolf starting on the first Friday after the boy's 13th birthday, and every full moon thereafter, according to the New York Daily News. The belief was allegedly so widespread in the 19th century that parents would kill the seventh son to prevent a future teenage werewolf.

It's a great story, but the two customs are not related, according to Argentine historian Daniel Balmaceda. “The local myth of the lobison is not in any way connected to the custom that began over 100 years ago by which every seventh son (or seventh daughter) born in Argentina becomes godchild to the president,” Balmaceda told the Guardian. That detail didn't stop the Independent from blending the two separate customs and reporting that Kirchner adopted Tawil to prevent him from becoming a werewolf.

It should be noted that nowhere in the myth of "El Lobison" does it say anything about adoption by the president or any other political official breaking the curse. There's nothing particularly spiritual or magical about holding office in a modern democracy, so even in the context of magick it strikes me as a pretty dubious remedy. I mean, if some dark force were really out there preparing to turn Tawil into a werewolf, there's no reason to think it would care whether the boy's godparent is a sitting politician.

That's some sloppy reporting on the part of the Independent. Perhaps if they want to run a story like this in the future, they should run it by an actual occultist to see if what they're alleging makes any sense at all.

A Werewolf Skull in Macedonia?

This is another of those creepy stories that seem to surface around Halloween, when local weird news items can command worldwide attention as long as they are spooky enough. Halloween is now over, but here at Augoeides I'm happy to report on them regardless of the time of year.

Recently in Macedonia a farmer named Trayche was plowing his field when he hit something. The object turned out to be a box that was chained shut. Like any good horror movie victim, the farmer unchained and opened the box, and inside found a skull that looked part wolf and part human. He told student Filip Ganov that he believed the skull came from a werewolf.

Trayche wouldn't part with his werewolf skull but he did let Ganov take pictures, which were presented to a wildlife expert in Bulgaria who speculated that it was indeed from a wolf but not necessarily a werewolf.

Instead, he surmised the wolf was suffering from Paget's disease, a genetic disorder (also common in humans) that can cause misshapen bones and enlarged skulls. Paget’s disease can be caused by canine distemper virus, a common virus in wolves and dogs.

The skull definitely looks both canine and human and a little baboonish, which would probably cause some consternation among Bulgarians and Macedonians raised on Eastern European folklore. The chain around the box is a good indication whoever buried it believed it was a creature they didn't want roaming around again.

In fact, wolves suffering from Paget's disease might have something to do with how the werewolf myth got started in the first place, just like how many experts think that bears with mange make up a large percentage of Sasquatch sightings. Ganov was unable to obtain a sample of the skull for DNA testing, which could set the issue to rest once and for all. Not only could scientists determine if the skull came from a wolf, but as Paget's disease is genetic they could even confirm or disprove the wildlife expert's hypothesis.

Of course, the weirdest outcome would be to find a mixture of human and wolf DNA. Since humans and wolves can't interbreed, that would mean the perhaps before its death the creature could indeed transform from a man into a rampaging beast. That would certainly explain why its skull was chained up and buried.

Moral Panic, Anyone?

The case of the West Memphis Three may have happened nineteen years ago, but as this latest bizarre story shows the the media is still going completely crazy over any crime that appears to involve occultism. According to initial reports, two young women got together with a man they met over the Internet, then tortured and stabbed him to death in a Satanic sexual ritual. No, wait, actually there was no murder, the supposed "ritual" involved no occult or Satanic components, the stabbing was apparently consensual cutting that got out of hand, and the man is not pressing charges. Wow. That went from "batshit insane" to "poorly executed BDSM scene without safewords" in about two seconds. But of course the news media outlets prefer the former fabricated account.

While at the apartment building, police were approached by Rebecca Chandler, 22, who stated, “I think you are here looking for me.” Chandler told cops that she had engaged in sexual relations with the Arizona man “and that the cutting was consensual but that it got quickly out of hand.”

Chandler claimed that her roommate--whom she identified only as “Scarlett”--was “the one who did the majority of the cutting” during the incident. Chandler, police reported, “also made reference to ‘Scarlett’ possibly being involved in satanic or occult activities.”

Chandler was placed in custody at the scene. During a subsequent search of the apartment, investigators seized copies of "The Necromantic Ritual Book” and "The Werewolf’s Guide to Life,” a humor book. The former book promises to enable a reader to “share consiousness with the Angel of Death.” Paperwork seized from the home was described by police as the “7 Pentacles” of planets. Additionally, a black folder was described as an “Intro to Sigilborne Spirtits,” an apparent reference to “The Sigil-Born,” metaphysical entities that are “occultic practitioners” of necromancy, the purported ability to contact the dead.

As an aside, in the Thoth Tarot the Seven of Disks is titled "Failure," which in this case seems about right.

The Werewolf Cathedral

As you'll recall back in July I got into a bit of a feud with Mercury that resulted in fewer posts than I had originally planned. Among the stories that I intended to to cover was this remarkable bit of silliness from Salon. It seems that somebody has taken it upon themselves to create a werewolf religion, with a website called "The Werewolf Cathedral."

No, I'm not making this up - see for yourself!

Really, I suppose it was inevitable. After all, there's a Jedi church, a Twilight church, a Flying Spaghetti Monster church, and there even used to be a Tiger Woods church. So that a wererewolf church would come along seems almost pedestrian in the overall scheme of things. The Salon article spells it out pretty well:

Being a werewolf means that you can throw out all those boring societal notions of "good," "evil," "right" and "wrong," since the members "do not concern ourselves with labels meant to control or limit our behavior." You also get to discard all of your "egalitarianism and judeo-christian values," though by joining the Cathedral you have to promise not to engage in any criminal activity and "behave in a responsible and adult manner within society." So being a werewolf means living in strict accordance to a civic structure that goes against your own religious beliefs? Sounds ... not fun.

Of course not! That's why all the folklore calls lycanthropy a curse. Seriously, though, it kind of makes one wonder what the point of declaring yourself a fictional character really is if you have to act all adult and responsible anyway.

That's not even the biggest drawback to joining the Werewolf Cathedral, though. According to the website's home page, true werewolves can't actually turn into wolves. Like, at all:

"The Werewolf Cathedral considers anyone that believes in transformation of a man into a Long Chaney Jr style wolfman, with hairy face and fangs, to be a pseudo Werewolf. Being a Werewolf is a mentality and an ideology. Lycanthropic Transformation is about union of intellect with instinct."

Thanks, but I'll just be sticking with my religion of "Team Jacob" for now.

So here's the super-confusing thing. If you're in touch with your human instincts it means you're a wolf? How does that make any sense? I suppose in the end making sense is too much to ask for from people who claim to be werewolves because they can't transform in wolves. Critical thinking is clearly not these folks' strong suit. I can't turn into a wolf - does that make me a werewolf? I don't drink blood - does that make me a vampire? You can see where I'm going here.

But then, just when I was getting ready to go off on how moronic anyone would have to be to believe this, let alone assemble an organization around it, I get to the bottom of the page and see "Founded by a Member of the Church of Satan." That raises the possibility that whole thing is a big joke, Anton LaVey-style. Whether or not it's intentional, there's no denying that the whole concept is pretty damn funny.

Drunken Werewolf Terrorizes Campground

When Ohio deputies were called in to deal with a disturbance at a local campground they had no idea that they were about to come face to face with a vicious but completely passed-out lycanthrope with a penchant for way too much vodka. It may be that you can only kill werewolves with silver, but apparently getting them totally sloshed doesn't constitute much of a challenge.

According to an arrest report filed on the incident, Thomas Stroup, 20, of Sheffield Township, was taken into custody on May 29, 2011, around 12:30 a.m. at the Timber Ridge Campground.

Ohio Lorain County Sheriffs deputies had received a call of a man acting angrily and becoming violent with campers and animals. When deputies arrived at the scene, according to the report, they found Stroup passed out in a trailer. Deputies say Stroup smelled of alcohol and when he was eventually were able to wake him up, he began growling at them.

Stroup was placed under arrest for underage consumption and told authorities that he had blacked out from drinking too much vodka that evening.

According to the report Stroup went on to say that ever since he was scratched by a wolf in Germany he blacks out when the moon comes out and goes on the attack.

It should be noted that the deputies did not actually observe Stroup's paranormal shapeshifting, but keep in mind that May 29th was nearly a New Moon. The next Full Moon doesn't happen for another week, so the authorities will probably need to keep him in jail until then if they want to, say, film his transformation for posting on YouTube. He'd have to give his permission for that, of course, but I'm thinking they could always convince him to sign a release by bribing him with more vodka.