Werewolf | Description & Facts (2024)

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What is a werewolf?

In European folklore, a werewolf is a man who turns into a wolf at night and devours animals, people, or corpses but returns to human form by day.

Where does werewolf lore come from?

Stories of men turning into beasts go back to antiquity. In parts of ancient Greece, werewolf myths, presumably stemming from prehistoric times, became linked with the Olympian religion.In ancient Rome, anyone who was supposed to have been turned into a wolf by means of magic spells or herbs was called versipellis (“turnskin”).

What does a werewolf look like?

Werewolves have been depicted in different ways throughout history. In ancient Arcadian legends, human beings transform fully into, and associate with, wolves. In other traditions, particularly Hollywood horror films, werewolves are humanoid, often featuring a canine head, claws, and a fur-covered human body.

werewolf, in European folklore, 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.

In countries in which wolves are not common, the monster may assume the form of another dangerous animal, such as the bear, tiger, or hyena. In French folklore, the werewolf is called loup-garou. France was particularly afflicted with reports of them in the 16th century, and there were many notable convictions and executions of loups-garous. As a subject for 20th-century horror films, the werewolf tradition is second only to the vampire tradition in popularity. Werewolves are believed to turn into vampires after death.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.