Monday 9 February 2015

Werewolves


Werewolves

Even a man who is pure at heart,

And says his prayers at night,

May become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms,

And the autumn moon is bright

This poem is recited in the 1941 film The Wolfman and some people believe it’s an authentic old folk verse when it was actually written by screenwriter Curt Siodmak. When a human has an ability to transform into a wolf either by magic, curse or charm they are known as werewolves.

Depending on who you talk to and where your research takes you, there are different ways to become a werewolf, one is to climb into a wolf’s skin and go hunting at night and during the day hide it, the best time to become a werewolf is during a full moon. The main way to become a werewolf by choice is to ingest magic potions, wearing an enchanted wolf skin, or drinking from the puddle of a wolf’s footprint. The most common way of becoming a werewolf is getting bitten by a werewolf, which is the most accepted cause as it’s believed that there is a virus in the werewolf’s bite, of course if you meet a werewolf you are more likely to be torn to shreds.

Werewolves can appear as a large wolf, others report that they look like a human-wolf hybrid.

When in human form a werewolf can be identified by their eyebrows meeting at the bridge of their nose, curved fingernails, low set ears, swinging stride and if they’re cut, fur can be seen in the wound.

The Case of Peter Stubbe

The villagers of Cologne and Bedburg in Germany were being attacked by a huge wolf for many years, women, children and cattle were torn apart and half eaten. Men hunted the creature for days and eventually found it, the dogs chased the creature but when the dogs cornered it, they found Peter Stubbe cowering before them. Stubbe was known to the villagers as a widower, a farmer, with two teenage children, after being stretched on a rack he confessed he had practised black magic from the age of 12 and the devil had given him a magical belt which when put on made him turn into a wolf, and when he took it off he returned to his human form. Not only Stubbe was sentenced to death for being a werewolf, both he and his daughter were sentenced to death for having a sexual relationship, he also had a sexual relationship with his sister who was also sentenced to death, Stubbe also confessed that he had sex with a succubus that was sent to him by the devil. Stubbe along with his daughter and mistress were executed on 31st October 1589, he was put on a wheel and burnt in ten places with a red hot poker, his limbs were broken and he was beheaded, his body was then placed on a pyre and burnt. As a warning to others the wheel on which Stubbe was tortured was put on a high pole from which had 16 yard-long strips of wood, representing his 16 known victims.  On top that was the framed likeness of a wolf, and above on the sharpened point of the pole was Peter Stubbe's severed head.

The Wittlich Werewolf Germany

A deserter from Napoleon’s army called Johannes Baptist Schwytzer was fleeing home to France, with him was a group of Russians, who were also deserters, whilst they were passing through the village of Wittlich, they were tired and hungry and decided to take what they needed from a farm, the farmer and sons interrupted them and the soldiers killed them, which was seen by the farmer’s wife, who screamed at Schwytzer the ring leader ‘From now on at each full moon you will change into a wolf’ Schwytzer’s response to this was to kill her.

As time went on Schwytzer robbed, raped, and murdered without any remorse, he left his gang and joined a bandits and highwaymen but they were appalled by his behaviour and he went into the forest which was where the curse took hold and there were reports that on every full moon a wolf who walked like a man could be seen in the countryside, men and cattle were slaughtered during these nights and on one evening it raped the daughter of a local farmer Elizabeth Beirele. Days later Schwytzer was found by a group of villagers, recognising the signs of a werewolf in a human form they chased him to the outskirts of the village of Morbach and killed him, they buried him at a crossing and built a shrine where a candle has to burn continually or else the werewolf would return. Elizabeth gave birth to a son, but he never showed any signs of being a werewolf, and the family live in Morbach even now and not show they have the curse of their ancestor, however in 1988 a group of Air Force Personnel were returning to their base at Morbach and noticed the candle in the shrine was out, they had been told about the legend and joked that they may see the werewolf.

That evening something activated the alarms on the perimeter fence, the guard on duty saw a creature similar to a wolf standing on its hind legs like a human, it looked at the guard then turned and ran, clearing the 3 metre fence that was in its way. A police dog that was brought to track the creature got to the place where it was seen and refused to go any further. The candle was re-lit and till this day the creature has yet to be seen.

Weapons of pure silver can kill a werewolf and once they’re dead their head must be cut off, burnt and the ashes scattered in the wind, A pitchfork used to strike the vulnerable between the creature’s eyebrows allows time to escape, wolfsbane keeps the creature at a distance.

Wolves live away from people and have been taught to fear humans because of hunters and shepherds. The grey wolf is best known and has a long history with people, despised and hunted by pastoral communities due to attacks on livestock, and respected by hunter gather societies. The majority of recorded wolf attacks on people are due to the animal being sick. When we look at the wolf’s nature and then at the humans who should we really fear the wolf in the human, or the human in the wolf?

Sources

The complete idiots guide to the paranormal Nathan Robert, Alpha Books 2010.

A field guide to Demons, Vampires and Fallen Angels Carol K Mack and Dinah Mack Profile Books 2010.



 

 

 

Vampires


Vampires
But first on earth, as vampire sent,
Thy corpse from its tomb be rent,
The ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood from all they race,
There from thy daughter, sister, wife.
At midnight drain the stream of life,
Yet loathe the banquet with perforce,
Must feed thy livid living corpse,
They victims ‘ere the demon from their sire
   Lord Byron

Vampires are immortal nocturnal predators who feed on the blood of the living. Noone can tell how long they have existed; there is a wide and colourful range of ancient species of vampire around the world such as the Liderc from Hungary and the Kappa from Japan.
The earliest known vampire is Nosferatu which means ‘carrier of disease’ or ‘night creature.’ Nosferatus were seen as demon possessed immortals or resurrected human corpses who were able to shapeshift into wolves, bats and even mist. They could be ward off by crucifixes, garlic and holy water and be killed by a wooden stake, as long as it wasn’t from a tree of an evergreen as they symbolised immorality, a silver stake would also work, though many believe this only paralyzes this type of vampire to destroy it completely you have to behead and then cremate it.
Western vampires are icy to touch, cast no shadows, they don’t have reflections, which is probably stems from the belief that it’s actually your soul reflected in the mirror and as vampires are undead and are believed to be soulless, they don’t have a reflection. They can’t enter a house without being invited nor can they cross a threshold of a church. Though they have fangs they don’t reveal them until it is too late. They are often very attractive, and will devour their victims sexually whilst feasting on their blood. Victims of vampires die and become vampires themselves. Nowadays vampires aren’t seen as demon possessed corpses but beings infected by a virus that’s turned them into vampires. These vampires don’t have shapeshifting abilities; though they still have supernatural strength though can still be destroyed by a stake through the heart.

The Polojowitz Incident

In 1725 a villager from Kisilova, which at this time was located in Serbia, called Peter Polojowitz died of an unknown illness, ten weeks later after he was buried he appeared at night to 10 people in the village, the first was his wife, he knocked on the door and demanded his shoes which she did, the next day she informed the villagers what had happened and she was understandably disturbed about the incident she packed up and left the village, this may have actually saved her life because the other 9 people who were visited by Polojowitz died within 24 hours from an unknown illness.
It didn’t take the villagers long to guess that Polojowitz was a vampire, but the only way to make sure was to inspect his corpse for the specific signs of being a vampire such as new hair and nail growth, a bloated appearance and lack of decay. They were accompanied by the German Imperial Official and the Pope of Gradisk. When the lid of Polojowitz’s casket was removed they found the body didn’t smell of decomposition, his hair and beard had grown, as had his fingernails, and his pale skin had seemed to have peeled away revealing pink flushed skin underneath, the only clear sign of decay was that the nose had collapsed in on itself.
The villagers decided that Polojowitz showed all the signs of being a vampire and drove a wooden stake through his chest, according to the official’s report Polojowitz realised a blood curdling shriek. After this was done Polojowitz was taken to a pyre and his body was burnt to ash.

Aswang
This is a rare vampire from the Philippines who’s always female and during the day is hardly noticeable amongst those she lives with, and comes across as a shy quiet girl, however if you look at her closely you’ll notice she has bloodshot eyes. She needs blood to keep herself ‘alive’ and at night she can transform into bats, snakes and birds she has a long tongue with a pointed tip which she uses to penetrate into the liver of her victim, she also goes for the heart, or if attacking babies the gut, she will also drain the blood from corpses waiting to be buried. You can identify Aswang by looking into her eyes and if your reflection is upside down she’s an Aswang, she can be killed by holding a crucifix up to her face. She can be kept away from the home by hanging up garlic at every opening, and red fabric round the windows mixed with ginger and metal coins.
Langsuir
The Langsuir is from Malaysia and is the animated corpse of a woman who has died in child birth. She’s pale with a greenish tint to her white face, she possess long fingernails with sharp tips and very long shiny hair which covers the hole in the back neck which she uses to suck the blood from her victims which are children. At night she transforms into an owl and attacks sleeping babies. You can disarm a Langsuir by cutting her hair and fingernails and stuffing them into her neck hole which tames her. Whenever a woman dies in childbirth she is buried with beads in her mouth, an egg under each arm and needles in her hands which stops her growing teeth and wings, so she doesn’t metamorphosing into a vampire.

Palis
Palis lives in the Arabian Desert, they are a tall, thin being, with deadly white skin and eyes like water from a deep well, it attacks travellers at night whilst they’re travelling through the desert. Its tongue is rough and it uses it to remove the skin from its victim’s feet and then licks until the blood is gone. It’s repelled by salt and is not very bright; travellers should lie with the soles of their feet touching fellow’s travellers. Palis will only see a being with a head at each end.

Psychic Vampires
Psychic or energy vampires feed upon the life force of other humans rather than blood. They’re not undead or immortal, they’re humans who have the ability to draw off the energy of others and some aren’t even they’re doing it, they just think that they’re social people because they feel energised when they’re around people, however if they’re unaware of what they’re doing, or they just don’t care, they can be just as harmful as the blood sucking variety as drawing energy from someone all the time can cause physical and psychological damage.

 

Sources

The complete idiots guide to the paranormal Nathan Robert, Alpha Books 2010.

A field guide to Demons, Vampires and Fallen Angels Carol K Mack and Dinah Mack Profile Books 2010.

Childrenofthelamp.wikia.com/wiki/Palis

 

I bid you welcome

Hello my name is Helen Whapshott and this is my blog about the paranormal, the supernatural and the downright strange. I was born in Aldershot in 1980, and went to all three of Cove schools. I started my working life as a catering assistant in a bakery before deciding that the world of buns and cakes wasn't really for my and went to Farnborough College of Technology where I got my diploma in nursery nursing. I've been a nursery nurse, a teaching assistant in a school for children with special needs, a support worker for people with learning disabilities, a care assistant in a residential home for the elderly, before finally settling down as a health care assistant in a local hospital. I also do bank work (which means I fill in shifts) at a children's hospice in surrey. I have five wonderful nephews a lovely niece, two very patient parents and a brother and sister who are incredibly understanding. I've always had a love of being read to when I was a child and when I grew up I found that reading by myself was also very enjoyable, and my shelves at home cover a wide range of interest. I also enjoy creative writing my first ever hit was at infant school which was 'How The Kangaroo Got It's Hop' unfortunately I was away with the mumps so I missed the hype. I've moved away from kangaroos and have published The Glow a book about a young girl who can see ghosts and spirits. I hope you enjoy this blog and as Bram Stoker's Dracula says 'come freely.Go safely and leave something of the happiness that you bring
.Ms Helen Whapshott