Werewolf stories are told all over the world and stories can come form the beginning of history so that makes werewolves the oldest of mythical monsters!!

The first documented werewolf attack was in Germany in 1591. Dogs were set upon a 'wolf' that turned out to be a man named Peter Stubbe. He was tortured until he confessed to the murder of sixteen people. He even confessed to murdering his own son in his thirst for human flesh and was put to death.

Lycanthropic Disorder is a mental illness which causes the victim to believe that they are actually a werewolf. If someone truly believes that they turn into a werewolf under the full moon, they may be capable of committing crimes consistent with this delusion - thus perpetrating the werewolf legend into modern times.

However some incidences have been documented, in which children have been found in the depths of the jungle or forest, apparently having been raised by wolves, and then returned to human civilization (usually by missionaries or other religious people). These ‘feral’ children seem to have retained a propensity to run on all fours rather than walk upright, to eat raw meat rather than cooked meals, and have extreme problems learning any human language. It is difficult to say whether the children already had a mental disorder, whether one was induced by their upbringing, or anything else about them. But they undoubtedly add another thread to the enduring notion of the werewolf.

There are many legends of how the werewolf came into being; some say that the werewolf is a step forward in the evolution of mankind. Some say that it is a step back, reverting back to the beast. The theory that I find most fitting is that lycanthropy is down to a parasitic organism, something like a leech, which infests in the bloodstream of its victim. This would then explain how the disease is passed on to lycanthropes, either genetically or through an infection later in life.

By Hannah Wood