Supernatural Thursday's at the Creature Feature Show!

Now Playing: You're a Wolf - Sea Wolf

Hi all! Welcome to the Creature Feature on Supernatural Thursdays on Wondeful Bookshelf. Please, take a seat, turn off any cellphones, pagers and/or beepers and enjoy the show. 

*Dim the lights please!*

Werewolves; one of the most ubiquitous supernatural creatures besides vampires and 
ghosts. I swear these guys are freaking prolific in the paranormal and horror genre and
 supernatural/paranormal related TV shows.

It has its own tv show, MTV's Teen Wolf ( a show that I consider a guilty pleasure) as well as one of the more prominent legends featured in the CW's hit The Vampire Diaries. Hell, there is a story Voluspa in the Poetic Edda featured in Norse Mythology that the legendary wolf, Fenrir, brings about the end of the world (Ragnarok) by destroying the Odin and the gods.

The werewolf belief originated in Europe, but it's spread to other beliefs in the world. As
well, there is the Greek mythology King Lycaon. The story goes like this, "Lycaon, who was 
transformed into a wolf because he had ritually murdered a child. In accounts by the Bibliotheca (3.8.1) and Ovid (Metamorphoses I.219-239), Lycaon serves human flesh to Zeus, wanting to know if he is really a god. Lycaon's transformation, therefore, is punishment for a crime, considered variously as murder, cannibalism, and impiety."
--- thanks to Wikipedia.   Lycaon's name lends itself as the root of "lycanthropy". 


 The second most popular one is the Native American lore of shape-shifters ( the skinwalkers theory) where instead of getting bitten by a wolf, a human can willfully choose to turn himself into any animal as long as they have the pelt of the animal they want to turn into.

They're referred to as skinwalkers (in the Native American lore) and loup garou ( the French
name for werewolf).

Werewolves, as far as pop culture is concerned, have several different weakness. The
moonstone as featured in The Vampire Diaries is the cause of the wolf and vampire curse. In MTV's Teen Wolf however focuses on the plants Wolfsbane, Mountain Ash. Wolfsbane has the power to hold a werewolf in full form after their deaths and trigger the werewolf change,  and mountain ash can hold control over them. Pop culture likes to think that silver bullets 
can potentially harm wolves, but we won't know until we try it :)

The werewolf  lore starts that a man is bitten by a wolf, and once a month is turned into a 
werewolf. Pop culture does it too, but conveniently months pass by letting them change often. Proffesor Lupin from Harry Potter played the once a month theory, complete with the 
added angst and torture :( 
The Native American lore however gives the men free will in whether they want to change.


Thanks for staying tuned with the Creature Feature! Hope to see you next week!!!