THE AMERICAN WEREWOLF

A werewolf (also lycanthrope In folklore, lycanthropy is the ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into a wolf. or wolfman) in folklore is a person who shapeshifts into a wolf or wolflike creature, either purposely evil, by using magic, or after being placed under a curse. The medieval chronicler Gervase of Tilbury associated the transformation with the appearance of the full moon, but this concept was rarely associated with the werewolf until the idea was picked up by fiction writers. In popular culture, a werewolf can be killed if shot by a silver bullet, although this was not a feature of the folk legends. In Europe Werewolf stories are often told in hushed tones.

Though often stories in the America's tell of strange moon light transfprmations of man into beast These tales are few and far in between.

Are there real WEREWOLVES IN WISCONSIN! Wisconsin seems to have a unusal number of werewolf sightings. THE BRAY ROAD BEAST
Did A Werewolf Stalk the Back Roads of Southeastern Wisconsin? © Copyright 2002 by Troy Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

The Beast of Bray Road (or the Bray Road Beast) is an unknown creature first reported in the 1980s on a rural road outside of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. The same label has been applied well beyond the initial location, to any unknown creature from southern Wisconsin or northern Illinois that is described as having similar characteristics to those reported in the initial set of sightings. irst reported: 1936 (sighted later in the 1980s) Last sighted: early 90s (but there was one in Hebron, north of Whitewater, Wisconsin, in February 2002.) United States Region: Elkhorn, Wisconsin Status: Local legend The Beast of Bray Road is described by witnesses in several ways A hairy biped resembling Bigfoot, An unusually large and intelligent wolf apt to walk on its hind legs. Different hybrid forms between the two aforementioned.

Beast of Bray Road

Although the Beast of Bray Road has not been seen to transform from a human into a wolf in most of the sightings, it has been labeled a werewolf in newspaper, web sites and assorted articles. Also: Vampires & Werewolves: Are They Mostly Ghostly or Really Rather Real?

An American Werewolf in London is a comedy/horror film released in 1981, written and directed by John Landis. It stars David Naughton, Griffin Dunne and Jenny Agutter. This movie won the 1981 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. The film was one of three high-profile werewolf films released in 1981, alongside The Howling and Wolfen. Over the years, the film has accumulated a cult following and has been referred to as a cult classic by some fans. The film was followed by a 1997 sequel, An American Werewolf in Paris.

In America Today The Werewolf tradition is also alive with the Louisian Bayou Cajun tales of the Loupe Garou.

Staff Writer for Haunted America Tours, Paul Dale Roberts in his article A Case of Lycanthropy Refers to thos passage:

What is Lycanthropy you may ask? According to The American Journal of Psychiatry Vol. 134, No. 10. published in October 1977 it states:

"Lycanthropy, a psychosis in which the patient has delusions of being a wild animal (usually a wolf), has been recorded since antiquity. The Book of Daniel describes King Nebuchadnezzar as suffering from depression that deteriorated over a seven-year period into a frank psychosis at which time he imagined himself a wolf. Among the first medical descriptions were those of Paulus Aegineta during the later days of the Roman Empire. In his description of the symptom complex, Aegineta made reference to Greek mythology in which Zeus turned King Lycaon of Arcadia into a raging wolf. Read More here: Lycanthropy

The Michigan Dog Man - Mystery animal caught on film - The Gable Film
The first stills that show the creature clearly indicate a canine-headed animal moving through knee-high undergrowth. It has pointed ears on top of its head and shoulders, which ordinary dogs (or bears or other quadrupeds) do not have. It turns and moves to one side, charging through the brush in a way that would be very difficult for a human to do." - Nick Redfern

Folk-etymology also links the word to Lycaon, a king of Arcadia who, according to Ovid's Metamorphoses, was turned into a ravenous wolf in retribution for attempting to serve human flesh (his own son) to visiting Zeus in an attempt to disprove the god's divinity.

There is also a mental illness called lycanthropy in which a patient believes he or she is, or has transformed into, an animal and behaves accordingly. This is sometimes referred to as clinical lycanthropy to distinguish it from its use in legends.

Much of the time, lycanthropy is not given any specific explanation in legends, other than being generally attributed to magic, which may be voluntary (a preternatural power) or involuntary (a curse). The wolf is the most common form of the were-animal, though in the north the bear disputes its pre-eminence. In ancient Greece the dog was also associated with the belief. The were-boar variant is known through Greece and Turkey. Marcellus of Sida, who wrote under the Antonines, gives an account of a disease which befell people in February; but a pathological state seems to be meant.

Man to Wolf transformation

Romanian folklore actually has multiple variations on the lycanthropy theme. The vârcolac is often - though not exclusively - seen as a werewolf though it can refer also to (usually wolf-like) demons, vampires, goblins or ghosts as well; the pricolici is more universally wolf-like, and much like the strigoi is said to be a formerly human member of the undead, having risen from the grave to wreak havoc on the living. Additionally, both the terms strigoi and moroi are traditionally closely associated with both pricolici and vârcolaci, and while modern fiction makes a clear distinction between the terms (with strigoi and moroi being in usage more a reference to the vampiric than the lycanthropic, and the latter in turn referring more to "living" as opposed to undead vampires), older folklore leaves them not always so easily differentiated, especially with regional variants.

Even if the denotation of lycanthropy is limited to the wolf-metamorphosis of living human beings, the beliefs classed together under this head are far from uniform, and the term is somewhat capriciously applied. The transformation may be temporary or permanent; the were-animal may be the man himself metamorphosed, it may be his double whose activity leaves the real man to all appearance unchanged, it may be his soul, which goes forth seeking whom it may devour and leaving its body in a state of trance; or it may be no more than the messenger of the human being, a real animal or a familiar spirit, whose intimate connection with its owner is shown by the fact that any injury to it is believed, by a phenomenon known as repercussion, to cause a corresponding injury to the human being.

Lycanthropy is often confused with transmigration; but the essential feature of the were-animal is that it is the alternative form or the double of a living human being, while the soul-animal is the vehicle, temporary or permanent, of the spirit of a dead human being. Nevertheless, instances in legend of humans reincarnated as wolves are often classed with lycanthropy, as well as these instances being labeled werewolves in local folklore.

There is no line of demarcation, and this makes it probable that lycanthropy is connected with nagualism and the belief in familiar spirits, rather than with metempsychosis, as E. B. Tylor argued, or with totemism, as suggested by J. F. M'Lennan. Thus, these origins for lycanthropy mingle a belief in reincarnation, a belief in the sharing of souls between living humans and beasts and a belief in human ghosts appearing as non-human animals after death. A characteristic of metempsychosis is a blurring of the boundaries between the intangible and the corporeal, so that souls are often conceived of as solid, visible forms that need to eat and can do physical harm.

Many Native cultures feature skin-walkers or a similar concept, wherein a shaman or warrior may, according to cultural tradition, take on an animal form. Animal forms vary accordingly with cultures and local species (including bears and wolves), for example, a coyote is more likely to be found as a skinwalker's alternate form in the Great Plains region. Skinwalkers tend to be totemic.

In modern folklore and fiction the Wendigo found in the stories of many Algonquian peoples is sometimes considered to be similar to lycanthropes, in that humans could transform into them. The original legends varied significantly, however, and the fit may not be very close.

The Cajuns of Louisiana also believed in a similar creature with the variant name of Rougarou.

Modern folklore from Wisconsin describe a werewolf or man-wolf creature called the Beast of Bray Road.

The real Wolfman

Rougarou

AMERICAN WEREWOLF

The Rougarou (alternately spelled as Roux-Ga-Roux, Rugaroo, or Rugaru), is a legendary creature in Laurentian French communities linked to European notions of the werewolf.

Louisiana folklore
Rougarou represents a variant pronunciation and spelling of the original French loup-garou. According to Barry Jean Ancelet, an academic expert on Cajun folklore and professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the tale of the rougarou is a common legend across French Louisiana. Both words are used interchangeably in southern Louisiana. Some people call the monster rougarou; others refer to it as the loup garou.

The rougarou legend has been spread for many generations, either directly from French settlers to Louisiana (New France) or via the French Canadian immigrants centuries ago.

In the Cajun legend, the creature is said to prowl the swamps around Acadiana and Greater New Orleans, and possibly the fields or forests of the regions. The rougarou most often is noted as a creature with a human body and the head of a wolf or dog, similar to the werewolf legend.

Often the story-telling was used for fear. One example is stories were told by elders to persuade Cajun children to behave. Another example relates that the wolf-like beast will hunt down and kill Catholics who do not follow the rules of Lent. This coincides with the French Catholic loup garou stories, where the method for turning into a werewolf was to break Lent seven years in a row.

WEREWOLF IN AMERICA

A common blood sucking legend speculated that the rougarou was under the spell for 101 days. After that time, the curse was transferred from person to person when the rougarou drew another human’s blood. During the day the creature returned to human form. Although acting sickly, the human refrained to tell others of the situation for fear of being kille

Other stories range from the rougarou as a headless horseman to the rougarou derived from witchcraft. In the latter claim, only a witch could make a rougarou - either by turning themselves into wolves or cursing others with lycanthropy.

Native American folklore

werewolf tracks

The creature, spelled as a Rugaru, has been associated with Native American legends with some dispute. The folklore stories vary from mild bigfoot (sasquatch) creatures to cannibal-like Native American wendigos. Neither connections are confirmed.

As with legends passed by oral tradition, stories often contradict one another. The stories of the wendigo vary by tribe and region, but the most common cause of the change is typically related to cannibalism.

A modified example, not in the original wendigo legends, is that of a motif of harmful sensation story -- if a person saw a rugaru, that person would be transformed into one. Thereafter, the unfortunate victim would be doomed to wander in the form of this monster. That rugaru story bears some resemblance to a Native American version of the wendigo legend related in a short story by Algernon Blackwood. In Blackwood's fictional adaptation of the legend, seeing a wendigo caused one to turn into a wendigo.

It is important to note that rugaru is not a native Ojibwa word, nor is it derived from the languages of neighboring Native American peoples. However, it has a striking similarity to the French word for werewolf, loup garou.

It's possible the Turtle Mountain Ojibwa or Chippewa in North Dakota picked up the French name for "hairy human-like being" from the influence of French Canadian trappers and missionaries with whom they had extensive dealings. Somehow that term also had been referenced to their neighbors' stories of bigfoot.

Author Peter Matthiessen determined that rugaru is a separate legend from that of the cannibal-like giant wendigo. While the wendigo was feared, he noted that the rugaru was seen as sacred and in tune with Mother Earth, in the same character of the bigfoot legends of today.

Though identified with bigfoot, there is little evidence in the indigenous folklore for it being the same or a similar creature.

There are many real werwolves in these haunted states of America that believe they too are of the lycan blood line. stories surface of people that change physcally or emotionally to allow the best in them to emerge. Some still walk among us hiding their own wolfish secreats. others locked away in mental hospitals and prisons for their lupine crimes. In the southern part of Mississippi the story of a young man that would only eat raw meat at times and and hunted naked in the woods each night for live prey. Or the story of a young teenaged girl said to be cursed by the wolves blood she once drank.