So I've Been Contemplating Werewolves...
Yeah....-_-
So I was bored the other day and was looking at funny questions on Yahoo answers or whatever it's called, when someone said "Are werewolves real? I think they are..." and everyone blew up on him. Some said yeas most said no, but they were all freaking out. I did some research because I was still bored and becasue someone went into a very detailed explanation of them. So here it is.
It comes from within the human brain. Temporal lobes in the brain control sensations in the human body, and any irritation of the temporal lobes can cause hallucinations, and if a person has shrunked temporal lobes, they can have complicated parial seizures.
So, from around 1520-1630 there were over 30,000 werewolf trials in only France! Seriously, trials....Most of the people who had been accused were poor, and came from lowlands with elevations less than 500 ft. above sea level. One theory says that many werewolf accusations were a result from a fungus found in their rye crop. Rye bread was the main thing the poorer people in France could afford, and sometimes after cold winters a special type of fungus would grow called the Ergot Fungus. This fungus was a strong hallucinogenic. Basically this theory states that the werewolf hysteria was a result of mass hallucination since most of the accusers and the accused were poor. Richer people bought more expensive wheat, which did not deveolpe the Ergot Fungus, which also explains why wealthy people were rarely accused of the werewolf hysteria.
Another theory is that the so called "magic salve" that was used to transform humans into wolves was also a rather strong hallucinogentic. When rubbed onto the skin, it is absorbed into the bloodstream, and causes similar effects to LSD. When used, the person could imagine it was anything, or anyone. The main reason as to why they imagined themselves as wolve is prbably because of the fact that there was a mass hysteria over werewolves during this time.
You also have to take into account that the people back then tended to overexaggerate things. Rabies is an explanation to this. Ok, for example, let's say that two brothers are walking through the forest, when a wolf appears. The wolf clearly has rabies, but they do not know this. The wolf bites one brother, the younger one. The older one sees that the wolf is rabid and thinks it's crazy. He picks up his brother and runs home. Parents treat the wound and think everything is all right. Now it takes a few days for rabies to take over a human being, but when this happens it's not pretty. There can be foam, and they appear to be crazy. The younger brother is now completely affected, and attacks his parents, like a RABID WOLF. Older brother notices, and remembers the wolf encounter. Both parents are dead, and the younger brother manages to bite the other brother, thus infecting him. Brother runs, and gets away. In the nearest town, he goes into a pub, or public place. Talks to people, saying that his brother went crazy, explaining the story. people make the connection from the wolf to the younger brother. Lightbulb! Gossip always remoldels the story, and before you know it instead of a boy with foam and a crazy look in his eyes, you have a giant hairy man-eating beast that is related to wolves. Well one day the older brothers friends down in the pub notice he hasn't been back in a while. They become worried and go to his home to check on him. They knock once, twice, three times with no answer. Door's unlocked so they go in. They see him in a corner, crazy with the whole foam thing. They run, but one doesn't get out. He gets bitten, thus carrying the "werewolf curse" and the story once more gets twisted up.
I probably got some facts wrong, but still.
References: h3llhorror.com (Of course, h3ll is spelled correctly...)
*I made up the scenario, and reworded the rest.
It comes from within the human brain. Temporal lobes in the brain control sensations in the human body, and any irritation of the temporal lobes can cause hallucinations, and if a person has shrunked temporal lobes, they can have complicated parial seizures.
So, from around 1520-1630 there were over 30,000 werewolf trials in only France! Seriously, trials....Most of the people who had been accused were poor, and came from lowlands with elevations less than 500 ft. above sea level. One theory says that many werewolf accusations were a result from a fungus found in their rye crop. Rye bread was the main thing the poorer people in France could afford, and sometimes after cold winters a special type of fungus would grow called the Ergot Fungus. This fungus was a strong hallucinogenic. Basically this theory states that the werewolf hysteria was a result of mass hallucination since most of the accusers and the accused were poor. Richer people bought more expensive wheat, which did not deveolpe the Ergot Fungus, which also explains why wealthy people were rarely accused of the werewolf hysteria.
Another theory is that the so called "magic salve" that was used to transform humans into wolves was also a rather strong hallucinogentic. When rubbed onto the skin, it is absorbed into the bloodstream, and causes similar effects to LSD. When used, the person could imagine it was anything, or anyone. The main reason as to why they imagined themselves as wolve is prbably because of the fact that there was a mass hysteria over werewolves during this time.
You also have to take into account that the people back then tended to overexaggerate things. Rabies is an explanation to this. Ok, for example, let's say that two brothers are walking through the forest, when a wolf appears. The wolf clearly has rabies, but they do not know this. The wolf bites one brother, the younger one. The older one sees that the wolf is rabid and thinks it's crazy. He picks up his brother and runs home. Parents treat the wound and think everything is all right. Now it takes a few days for rabies to take over a human being, but when this happens it's not pretty. There can be foam, and they appear to be crazy. The younger brother is now completely affected, and attacks his parents, like a RABID WOLF. Older brother notices, and remembers the wolf encounter. Both parents are dead, and the younger brother manages to bite the other brother, thus infecting him. Brother runs, and gets away. In the nearest town, he goes into a pub, or public place. Talks to people, saying that his brother went crazy, explaining the story. people make the connection from the wolf to the younger brother. Lightbulb! Gossip always remoldels the story, and before you know it instead of a boy with foam and a crazy look in his eyes, you have a giant hairy man-eating beast that is related to wolves. Well one day the older brothers friends down in the pub notice he hasn't been back in a while. They become worried and go to his home to check on him. They knock once, twice, three times with no answer. Door's unlocked so they go in. They see him in a corner, crazy with the whole foam thing. They run, but one doesn't get out. He gets bitten, thus carrying the "werewolf curse" and the story once more gets twisted up.
I probably got some facts wrong, but still.
References: h3llhorror.com (Of course, h3ll is spelled correctly...)
*I made up the scenario, and reworded the rest.
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