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By Victoria Buckmaster
Working on my own.

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Below is the image of a "baby werewolf" that was once posted on social media. Someone posted it and convinced thousands of people that what they were looking at was a baby werewolf that he found in his backyard. It was later to be found out to be a hoax. The reason for belief here was unexplained. It was unexplained as to what the creature could be therefore it was accepted to be a baby werewolf. It was, in fact, a creation of the person who made the post originally.

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Down below is a classic depiction of a werewolf.  The red flag here is appeal to authority. Due to so many celebrities depicting werewolves in some way, the belief in werewolves has gone up exponentially. Because people are more prone to believe in things that are "sold to them" in some degree by celebrities. And there are many celebrities who have played werewolves in some way.

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The link provided goes to History's overview of the history of werewolf legends. It discusses the history of where the legend formed and where it went from there. I feel like the reason for belief that it depicts is agenticity. People assigning more meaning to any animal spotted to be even remotely within the parameters of a werewolf. I believe people place too much meaning on these creatures and their inability to explain what they are. But lack of imagination also plays a factor.

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Early Werewolf Legends

It's unclear exactly when and where the werewolf legend originated. Some scholars believe the werewolf made its debut in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest known Western prose, when Gilgamesh jilted a potential lover because she had turned her previous mate into a wolf.

Werewolves made another early appearance in Greek mythology with the Legend of Lycaon. According to the legend, Lycaon, the son of Pelasgus, angered the god Zeus when he served him a meal made from the remains of a sacrificed boy. As punishment, the enraged Zeus turned Lycaon and his sons into wolves.

Werewolves also emerged in early Nordic folklore. The Saga of the Volsungs tells the story of a father and son who discovered wolf pelts that had the power to turn people into wolves for ten days. The father-son duo donned the pelts, transformed into wolves and went on a killing rampage in the forest. Their rampage ended when the father attacked his son, causing a lethal wound. The son only survived because a kind raven gave the father a leaf with healing powers.
READ MORE: Before America Had Witch Trials, Europe Had Werewolf Trials
Infamous Werewolves

Many so-called werewolves from centuries ago were in fact serial killers, and France had its fair share. In 1521, Frenchmen Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun allegedly swore allegiance to the devil and claimed to have an ointment that turned them into wolves. After confessing to brutally murdering several children, they were both burned to death at the stake. (Burning was thought to be one of the few ways to kill a werewolf.)

Giles Garnier, known as the "Werewolf of Dole," was another sixteenth-century Frenchman whose claim to fame was also an ointment with wolf-morphing abilities. According to legend, as a wolf he viciously killed children and ate them. He too was burned to death at the stake for his monstrous crimes.

Whether Burgot, Verdun or Garnier were mentally ill, acted under the influence of a hallucinogenic substance or were simply cold-blooded killers is up for debate. But it likely didn't matter to superstitious Europeans during the 16th century. To them, such heinous crimes could only be committed by a horrific beast such as the werewolf.

The Bedburg Werewolf

Peter Stubbe, a wealthy, fifteenth-century farmer in Bedburg, Germany, may be the most notorious werewolf of them all. According to folklore, he turned into a wolf-like creature at night and devoured many citizens of Bedburg.

Peter was eventually blamed for the gruesome killings after being cornered by hunters who claimed they saw him shape-shift from wolf to human form. He experienced a grisly execution after confessing under torture to savagely killing animals, men, women and children-and eating their remains. He also declared he owned an enchanted belt that gave him the power to transform into a wolf at will. Not surprisingly, the belt was never found.

Peter's guilt is controversial since some people believe he wasn't a killer but the victim of a political witch hunt-or perhaps a werewolf-hunt. Either way, the circumstances surrounding his life and death stoked rampant fears at the time that werewolves were on the loose.

The Shape-Shifter as Werewolf

Some legends maintain werewolves shape-shifted at will due to a curse. Others state they transformed with the help of an enchanted sash or a cloak made of wolf pelt. Still others claim people became wolves after being scratched or bit by a werewolf.

In many werewolf stories, a person only turns into a wolf when there's a full moon-and that theory may not be far-fetched. According to a study conducted at Australia's Calvary Mater Newcastle hospital, a full moon brings out the "beast" in many humans. The study found that of the 91 violent, acute behavior incidents at the hospital between August 2008 and July 2009, 23 percent happened during a full moon.

Patients attacked staff and displayed wolf-like behaviors such as biting, spitting and scratching. Although many were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time, it's unclear why they became intensely violent when the moon was full.

Are Werewolves Real?

The werewolf phenomenon may have a medical explanation. Take Peter the Wild Boy, for instance. In 1725, he was found wandering naked on all fours through a German forest. Many thought he was a werewolf or at least raised by wolves.

Peter ate with his hands and couldn't speak. He was eventually adopted by the courts of King George I and King George II, and lived out his days as their "pet" in England.

Research has shown Peter likely had Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, a condition discovered in 1978 that causes lack of speech, seizures, distinct facial features, difficulty breathing and intellectual challenges.

Other medical conditions that may have encouraged werewolf-mania throughout history are:

lycanthropy (a rare, psychological condition that causes people to believe they're changing into a wolf or other animal)

food poisoning

hypertrichosis (a rare, genetic disorder causing excessive hair growth)

rabies

hallucination, possibly caused by hallucinogenic herbs

Throughout the centuries, people have used werewolves and other mythic beasts to explain the unexplainable. In modern times, however, most believe werewolves are nothing more than pop culture horror icons, made famous thanks to Hollywood's 1941 flick, The Wolf Man.

Still, werewolves have a cult following, werewolf sightings are reported each year, and werewolf legends will likely continue to haunt the dreams of people throughout the world.

Sources

The Saga of the Volsungs. D. L. Ashliman, University of Pittsburgh.
Burgot and Verdun: Werewolves or hallucinating murderers. Monstrum Athenaeum.
Real-life werewolves: Psychiatry re-examines rare delusion. LiveScience.com.
Hospital study shows full moon werewolf effect. Sydney Morning Herald.
Peter the Wild Boy's condition revealed 20 years after his death. The Guardian.
Gilgamesh. Ancient History Encyclopedia.
Hypertrichosis. DermNet New Zealand.
Lycaon. Encyclopedia Mythica.
The Werewolf of Bedburg. ThoughtCo.com.
What is Pitt Hopkins syndrome? Pitt Hopkins Research Foundation.

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It's unclear exactly when and where the werewolf legend originated. Some scholars believe the werewolf made its debut in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest known Western prose, when Gilgamesh jilted a potential lover because she had turned her previous mate into a wolf.

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Below is a (fairly blurry) image of what is supposed to be a "werewolf sighting". The image, which depicts a large black creature on all fours, could be any number of animals. Including a bear, a large dog, a cat. It could be anything. The reason for belief here is unexplained. The fact that no one can explain what is depicted in the image will mean those who believe in werewolves will believe that it is a werewolf in the image.

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The website listed below discusses the real life examples of "werewolves". Where a prime reason for belief was simplicity. But it discusses the simple truths of times when the real culprit was not, in fact, werewolves. But rather when the answer was that of real wolves. Terrorizing villages and causing mayhem.

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Wolves among us: Five real-life werewolves from history

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These days werewolves can be fun, exciting and even a little sexy, but in early modern period Europe, they were deemed a very real and dangerous threat.

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The video attached is a small clip from a show called Mountain Monsters. On this episode, the crew believe that they have caught a werewolf on tape as they were passing. I believe that they were participating in the reason for belief of unexplained. I believe that because they can't explain what they are seeing, they are lead to believe it's werewolves. The image is blurry when passing, and it's hard to identify what it is. So, once again, it could be anything.

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Was an Appalachian Werewolf Caught on Camera? | Mountain Monsters

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Below is a video discussing a few different instances of what are dubbed as "werewolf sightings" that have happened over time. I believe the reason for belief is perception/observation in these cases. In these cases I feel that what people observed (and continue to observe) is wrong. A lot of these can easily be a multitude of animals. But peoples observations that the animals are "too big" or "too disproportionate" when in fact the animals in the videos match the profiles of much more likely creatures than werewolves.

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Top 5 Werewolves Caught On Camera And Spotted In Real Life!

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Although not depicted in the traditional sense, the video below is a movie clip from the movie Twilight. A hugely popular novel series and movie set that depicted werewolves as simply gigantic wolves. The popularity of this novel series fueled the red flag of appeal to authority. The films were based off the wildly popular novels and had the characters - which were portrayed by young, attractive actors. Which fueled the belief even further.

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Werewolf Scenes - My Favorite Transformation HD

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Werewolf Scenes - My Favorite Transformation HD