Once a month under the light of the full moon, the transformation from man to wolf occurs. Agonizing screams as bones crack, shifting and changing, fill the night. The sudden process causes the skin to rupture. There springs forth a beast with razor sharp teeth that will tear into human flesh. A howl rings through the night, a warning for all those near to run somewhere safe, or else become its next meal.
Werewolves originate from the Greco-Roman world. The classical poet, Virgil, wrote about a man who turns into a wolf in Eclogue 8, but it is Ovid’s Metamorphoses that is better known for its origin Greek myth of the monster. Werewolves come from an old world and perhaps, it is a reason their popularity has fallen compared to vampires in modern
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Werewolves have since evolved from Ovid’s retelling of the ancient Greek myth to the popular werewolf tropes in modern literature.
Between 1764 and 1767, a wolf pack terrorized the province of Gevaudan, France; it was at the height of werewolf hysteria; a brief point in history much like that of the Salem Witch Trials. This event lead to the discovery of silver bullets to be a werewolf’s weakness after Jean Chastel, a local innkeeper, shot and killed a massive wolf. One hundred years later, Sabine Baring-Gould’s The Book of Were-wolves mentions the earliest reference to transformation on a full moon (1865).
Fast forward to 1933 where Guy Endore published The Werewolf of Paris, the Dracula of werewolf novels. It is part horror and part historical fiction, following Bertrand Caillet, as he tries to tame the beast within on his travels through 19th century France.
The Werewolf of Paris more or less defined the genre of werewolves. It unfortunately was not enough. In a brief article titled Werewolves in Literature, Dr. Michael Delahoyde writes that “…[werewolves have] come to represent the “animal” in the afflicted humans. Unlike vampires, werewolves have not transcended to be sympathetic. Their sole purpose is to arouse