Were-Wolf and Vampire in Romania by Harry A. Senn

In the early twentieth century, pioneer researcher Freidrich Krauss, working in Bosnia, concluded that the vrykolakas (spelled vukodlak in Bosnia) was a werewolf (i.e., a man or woman who changed into a wolf and attacked the local cattle). In accounts of the vrykolakas in southern Balkan countries, there was some confusion over the word’s meaning. That relationship was particularly evident in the use of the term vrykolakas (and cognate terms in various Slavic languages) to describe vampires in recent centuries in Greece. Werewolves and Vampires: 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 where much of the modern vampire myth comes. Some contemporary cases are included in the selection of papers compiled by Richard Noll. Contemporary reports of lycanthropy also come from around the world, both in rural areas and in the modern West. In like measure, werewolfism has been reported throughout the world, though the type of animals into which humans transform has been quite varied, including lions, tigers, jaguars, hyenas, sharks, and crocodiles-all animals that are large and known for their ferocity. They rejected the mythology and believed that the change into animals was a diseased condition brought on by melancholia or drugs. However, a number of ancient writers such as Galen and Virgil provided the first descriptions of lycanthropy. Lycaon (hence the word lycanthropy) displeased Zeus and the deity changed him into a wolf. The oldest report of a man changing into a wolf was from ancient Greek mythology. Origin of the Werewolf: Like the vampire, and unlike Frankenstein’s monster, the werewolf was an ancient figure found in the folklore of people worldwide.

There is also a disease, lycanthropy, in which people believe that they change into a werewolf when in fact they do not.

By definition, the werewolf is a human being who at various times (usually at the full moon), either voluntarily or involuntarily, changes into a wolf or wolflike creature and assumes many of the characteristics of the wolf, especially its viciousness. That relationship was largely established in the 1930s with the production of two werewolf movies by Universal Pictures and the inclusion of the werewolf and the vampire together in three monster mash films during the 1940s. The werewolf is one of several monsters closely associated in the public mind with the vampire.

Were-Wolf and Vampire in Romania by Harry A. Senn