Werewolves

Were is Old English for man, and in studying reports of werewolves it becomes apparent that many of them were very closely bound up with sorcery and black magic. In other cases, the explanation may be less simple. One thing is for certain: the legend of the werewolf is global and can be traced back to antiquity. In the late 16^th century the case of a werewolf named Peter Stubbe caused a great stir all over Europe. There had been many wolf attacks in the Cologne area. After a wolf attacked a group of children, nearly tearing the throat out of one of them, a hunt was organised. The wolf vanished, but the hunters found a man ~ Peter Stubbe ~ walking towards Cologne in the area where the wolf had apparently vanished. Stubbe later confessed to being a werewolf, claiming that he was a witch and that the Devil had provided the power that enabled him to transform himself. He also admitted to incest with his sister and daughter, with whom he had produced a child. He claimed that he had killed many children, as well as large numbers of sheep, lambs, and goats, over a period of twenty-five years. He was eventually tortured on the wheel and decapitated. Study of witchcraft trials makes it quite clear that many accused witches were firmly convinced that they had seen the Devil at Sabbats, and no torture was required to draw forth extremely detailed confessions. If werewolves are not merely an absurd delusion, then they are evidence of some power of metamorphosis that we do not at present understand.

Surprising though it may seem, many people actually wanted to become werewolves and, in addition to the diabolical method already mentioned, went through some elaborate rituals in the hope of doing so. The right moment for such a change was at midnight by the light of the full moon. A werewolf that is wounded or killed immediately becomes human again. Usually the creature can be caught or destroyed like an ordinary wolf, but the most effective way of killing a werewolf is to shoot it with a silver bullet.

“Unlike vampirism, werewolfism is not infectious; though in some cases werewolfery has been thought to be hereditary rather than acquired. According to some foklore, the werewolf is liable to become a vampire after expiring and those suspected in past times were always burned after death to prevent them wandering beyond the grave. Notwithstanding this predisposition, according to legend, the werewolf is a living being, not a vampire in wolf form, who either voluntarily or involuntarily changes, or is metamorphosed, into the apparent shape of a wolf; becoming possessed of all the characteristics, ferocity, cunning, strength and swiftness of that animal.”

~ Seán Manchester, The Vampire Hunter’s Handbook (Gothic Press, 1997, page 10)

“It should be stated that in a secondary or derivative sense of the word ‘werewolf’ has been erroneously employed to denote a person suffering from lycanthropy, that mania or disease when the person is afflicted with hideous appetites, the ferocity and other qualities of a wolf. While those suffering that savage delusion betray all the bestial propensities of the animal, lycanthropists do not physically change into the shape of a wolf. With regard to the voluntary werewolf, under whom for this consideration any kind of shape-shifting may be included, an essential circumstance and condition is the employment of the dark arts. Such metamorphosis can only be brought about by black magic.”

~ Seán Manchester, The Highgate Vampire (BOS, 1985, page 168)

“I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert.”

~ Seán Manchester, [quoting St Luke] Carmel (Gothic Press, 2000, page 19)

“Werewolfism has been reported throughout the world, though the animals into which humans transform has been quite varied. … Werewolves and vampires have been reported as existing side by side in the mythologies of many cultures, but they have a special relationship in the southern Balkan area, from whence the modern vampire myth comes. … Belief in werewolves apparently peaked in Europe during the late Middle Ages. … There were several trials against people accused of werewolfism.”

~ J Gordon Melton, The Vampire Book (Gail Research, 1994, pages 676-677)

“Werewolf: a person supposed to be able by natural gift or magic art to change himself for a time into a wolf.”

~ Chambers’ Twentieth Century Dictionary

From the early spring of 1945, a ferocious resistance movement was formed, consisting largely of Hitler Jugend, that took the name “Werewolf”: fearless young Nazis, calling themselves “Werewolves.”

A 13-year-old Werewolf after capture

The Werewolf Order was an organisation of guerrilla fighters set up in the closing days of the Second World War when Germany was on the verge of defeat. Its leader at the time of the surrender was SS-Obergruppenführer Hans Pruetzmann. The Werewolf Order was essentially a resistance movement who fought in uniform. They were also a paramilitary auxiliary of the Wehrmacht. They fought behind the Allied lines to create diversions. The Americans, who encountered these fanatical fighters of the Hitler Youth, were appalled to discover their age, which ranged from eight to seventeen; though this did not stop them executing many of them as spies. Most of the Hitler Youth trapped in the last desperate battle had no intention of becoming prisoners. They preferred to fight on until all of them were killed. Surrender was unthinkable. However, in his first speech as successor to Hitler, Admiral Karl Dönitz ordered all members of the organisation to cease operations. This order was obeyed by the surviving Werewolves. But when men of the 8^th Parachute Division were sent in by Dönitz to end any possible defiance by the Werewolves, they found most of these Hitler Youth lying dead among the trees. Twenty-four hours earlier the German Führer ~ Adolf Hitler ~ had committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin. Hitler betrayed the ferocity and cunning of a wolf throughout his life. He became almost wolf-like during some of his speeches. His voice sounded gruff, as he barked at the adoring crowds. His favourite companion was a wolf-like Alsation dog. Hitler’s pseudonym within his circle (or “pack”) was “Wolf.” Wolfsschlucht, or “Wolf’s Glen,” was the code name for Hitler’s headquarters at Brûly-de-Pêche from 6^th to 25^th June 1940. Wolsschanze, or “Wolf’s Lair,” was the name of Hitler’s field headquarters at Rastenburg, East Prussia, during the late days of the Second World War. Hitler obviously identified with wolves. It is hardly surprising to discover the last of his “pack” calling themselves “Werewolves.”

Adolf Hitler, on 20^th April 1945, decorating members

of the Werewolf Order with the Iron Cross 2^nd Class