Explaining* Lycanthropy

[naomi_jay]

Once upon a time werewolves were attributed to magic and devil worship. Nowadays people are a little more cynical and look for more rational explanations for werewolves. In 1584, Reginald Scott used the term “lycanthropy” in relation to an extreme form of violent insanity in which the afflicted imitated the behaviour of a wild beast. This was pretty heretical reasoning for the time and Scott barely avoided being bound at the stake for his works, which just goes to show that science never benefited anyone.

 

The term was also applied to individuals suffering from melancholy and severe depression. In 1621, Robert Burton wrote his Anatomy of Melancholy, which theorised that men and women suffering from advanced melancholy “go abroad in the night, barking, howling at graves.”

 

More recently, in 1975, psychiatrists Frida Surawicz and Richard Banta published “Lycanthropy Revisited,” which presented two cases of contemporary werewolves. One of these was the case of Mr H, who ingested LSD before seeing himself changing into a werewolf. He saw fur grow on his hands and face and craved flesh and blood. Even after the effects of the LSD wore off, Mr H believed himself to be a werewolf and was subsequently treated for paranoid schizophrenia.

 

A recent discovery of a “hairy gene” may explain medieval panic about werewolves. Studies in Nova Scotia, Canada, revealed a mutant gene responsible for a condition called congenital generalised hypertrichosis. (Really, “werewolf” is much easier to yell in moments of dire peril.) The gene causes hair to cover the entire face and upper body, and may be an “evolutionary trait left over from animal ancestors.”

 

A March 1990 issue of Discover magazine reported the theory of neurologist Juan Gomez-Alonso, that people suffering from rabies may have triggered ancient tales of werewolves. He traced the connection between a rabies outbreak in eighteenth century Europe shortly before tales of shape shifters grew prominent.

 

So really it all boils down to drugs and mental illness, which is a lot more rational than magic, but nowhere near as much fun.

*It took me three attempts to spell "explaining" properly.

Comments

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

I'm on Summer Knight at the moment, and enjoying it immensely. I do wish Harry wouldn't take it upon himself to save everyone he meets though. I'm worried it could turn into a form of Anita Blake-style Mary Sue-ness, in which everyone's helpless until Harry comes along.