| CONTENTS ON THIS PAGE... |
| 1.Werewolf Mythology |
| 2.The Lure of Werewolves |
| 3.Animals of Cryptozoology - Do They Exist? |
| 4.The Struggle of Werewolves |
| 5.The Vampire Werewolf Animosity |
| 6.Various Ways of Becoming a Werewolf |
| 7.The Vampire Werewolf Animosity |
Werewolf Mythology
Werewolves have been a prominent staple of mythology in many cultures throughout history. This is particularly true in many Native American cultures, who believed that people could often shape-shift into many other animals besides wolves.
A werewolf is usually a creature that is half-man, half-wolf. Each culture's mythology is very different on the specifics. Sometimes the man can change into a wolf voluntarily by wearing a magic belt or drinking water from the footprint of a wolf. Other times, he can be put under a curse by a god or a witch. Sometimes, a man might turn into a werewolf because he fell asleep under a full moon. Often, a scratch or a bite from another werewolf can cause someone to become a werewolf themselves.
A werewolf generally has heightened senses and strength which is beyond that displayed by either a man or a wolf.
Werewolves do usually have vulnerabilities, however. One of the most common is a severe aversion to silver. Often, werewolves can only be killed by shooting them with a silver bullet. Sometimes, silver knives or silver-tipped canes can also be employed to inflict damage upon a werewolf. In some variations, werewolves are so sensitive to silver that even touching it can cause burns, and even the sight of it can cause nausea.
Perhaps the earliest werewolf myth comes from classic Greek Mythology. Lycaon was a cruel king who tried to play a trick on Zeus by serving him food which contained the remains of a small child. When Zeus found out about this, he became extremely angry and turned Lycaon into a wolf. He then proceeded to kill all 50 of Lycaon's sons.
Werewolf stories were even more common throughout medieval Europe, and they were often associated with vampire stories. Serial murders were often explained as being the work of vampires or werewolves. Many cultures believed that werewolves were the forerunners of vampires, and that when a werewolf died; his corpse came back as a vampire. For this reason, most people who were suspected to be werewolves were cremated rather than buried.
Werewolves continue to enjoy popularity even to this day in books and movies. Werewolf in London, The Wolf Man, and Wolf are a few films that achieved widespread success. Teen Wolf was a film from the 80's that took a lighter look at werewolves. The blockbuster Twilight series which is so popular today also features werewolves. In earlier movies, the trend was to make the werewolves appear extremely anthropomorphic, but more recent films portray them as huge wolves.
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The Lure of Werewolves
The werewolf represents something potent in the human psyche. It is more than just a monstrous dog man that wants to kill rapaciously. It is instead a snarling beast that lurks in the subconscious mind of every human being. It is the shadow of our primitive past, the leftover essence of a time in the not too distant past, when our ancestors had to be savage just to survive.
This savagery is generally beaten down by the trappings of civilization. We are tamed, and that is the only way that society will work. However, that doesn't mean that the beast isn't still within us. It is part of the nature of who we are. And when the werewolf is used in literature, it is a symbolic representation, a form of catharsis for those pent up feelings.
It is hard to deny that as humans we experience rage, even blind rage. We sometimes look up at the sky and feel at one with nature. There are times when we just want to run and feel the wind in our face.
These are not instincts that came from sitting at computers. They are part of our primal past. The werewolf is the modern representation of this fact. It is the union of the civilized man, and the raging beast within. When we are cut off while driving, when someone bumps us while in line, every snide remark, ever boring repetitive task we do to keep the cogs of society rolling, these are all the trapping of civilization. Werewolves rip these asunder, leaving them tattered shreds to be picked up by the janitors of society.
And it is an important catharsis. You can't deny feelings that have been a part of the human condition since the very beginning. Getting them out in literary form is important; the werewolf gives us an outlet for passions that are otherwise repressed. That is why so many people are drawn to these fictional creatures.
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Animals of Cryptozoology - Do They Exist?
Animals of Cryptozoology is the research of animals that are assumed to subsist, but for which definitive evidence is absent; the word also contains the research of animals widely considered extinct, but which continue to be reported. Primarily, cryptozoology is the study and pursuit of evasive animals whose being is not accepted by the scientific establishment. The principle objectives of Cryptozoologists are to study potentially mysterious animal species, often referred to as "cryptids" a word conceived by John Wall in 1983.
Cryptozoology is not only about Bigfoot, sea snakes, lake beasts, cryptozoology depends greatly upon testimonials and conjectural suggestion in the shape of legends and folklore, including stories and supposed sightings of mystifying monsters by native people, tourists, and travellers. Followers have asserted that in the early days of Western exploration of the globe, many local stories of animals originally discounted as myth by Western scientists were subsequently verified to have a foundation in biological reality, and that many unusual animals, when originally reported, were thought to be hoaxes, misconceptions or misidentifications.
Most individuals are reasonable to think of Bigfoot, or Loch Ness monster when they overhear the word "cryptozoology", but the scope is not necessarily restricted to great beasts, or even well-known ones. Here is a brief list of just some creatures investigated by cryptozoologists
* The Loch Ness Monster
* Ogopogo
* Ropen, Indava and Mokele Mbembe (prehistoric living representations of dinosaurs)
* Bigfoot, Mothman, Spring Heeled Jack, Beast of Bodmin
* Devils Dogs
* Abominable Snowman
* Sasquach (el chupacabra), Werewolf and Yowie
Animals of Cryptozoology such as Nessie, Ogopogo, ropen, indava, and Mokele Mbembe are presumed to be prehistoric living representatives of plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, and dinosaurs. Reputedly eye-witness reports subsist of Bigfoot-like beasts in heavily occupied regions along the American east-coast, sightings of animals such as Mothman, Spring-heeled Jack, reptilian humanoids and of ghosts, whose observers might be just as truthful and plausible. Consequently, many who are enthusiastic in such phenomena as the supposed Beasts of Bodmin and Exmoor (not mysterious species but recognized species although in an alien setting) and the Cornwall 'Devil Dogs' imagine these beasts as cryptids.
In the 1980's, the primary cryptozoological curiosity was Mokele mbembe, which some conceive to be a living sauropod dinosaur that resides in the Likouala swamp area in the Republic of the Congo. The 1990's saw the focus upon the Vu Quang Nature Reserve in Vietnam in which new species of Deer and Antilope were subsequently catalogued and recognised.
In summary therefore, Animals of cryptozoology is the study of unfathomable animals, whether big or small, to date not formally acknowledged by what is frequently styled Western science or conventional zoology but advocated in some way by testimony from humans. Cryptozoology has developed since it was first introduced however there is nevertheless debate as to whether Cryptozoology is a scientific undertaking or a pseudoscientific one. Given that their eventual goal is to uncover either new types of animal or new subspecies, the science of cryptozoology is embedded in biological science.
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The Struggle of Werewolves
Werewolves are human beings that have some how become united with an animal, in this case the wolf. This unification can be spiritual, psychological, biological, magical, or a combination of the above. The result is a creature that possesses some of the traits of the wolf, and some of the traits of the human. This combination can play out in a number of ways, some of which may be beneficial, but most of which are problematic.
In almost all literary cases the werewolf starts out as a human that is then somehow infused with wolf like characteristics. It can work the other way around, but it makes easier logical sense to bring out the animal side in a human, than it does to completely add a cognitive logical and social function to an animal.
Once a human takes on the characteristics of the wolf they are presented with a number of challenges. Often the animal side of the personality will cause them to do or say things that they wouldn't otherwise find themselves capable of. If the change happens in conjunction with a physical transformation, it is possible that they could become quite dangerous to the people around them.
The traditional werewolf model has a person changing into a wolf man beast during the full moon, at which point they go on a killing rampage, devouring friend and foe alike.
More modern imaginings give the werewolves the ability to change at will, making them much more powerful, and in control of the world around them. However these creatures usually have personality problems, taking on undesirable traits of the wolf within.
The idea of a werewolf is a merging of human and animal into a single being. This is an idea that is born of our own psychologies, with the animalistic lusts that we feel sitting just beneath the thin veneer of civilized thought that rules us throughout the day.
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The Vampire Werewolf Animosity
Within supernatural literature there are few animosities as great as that which exists between Vampires, and werewolves. This conflict goes back over a century of fiction and literature, and reflects the deep philosophical differences which exist between the natures of these two creature characters.
The bottom line is that the psychological make-up of these creatures is naturally at war with one another. The vampire is a slick, refined, well dressed creature of the night. An inherent seducer, his power is to prey on weakness, taking a victim into their embrace, before taking their lives.
Werewolves are the exact opposite. A werewolf is a human being, mixed with the primal spirit of an animal, in this case the predatory wolf. When a werewolf attacks, it is in a blind rage, the way an animal does.
Werewolves are also still technically living beings. The vampire is by contrast, the living dead. Life is always in a philosophical conflict with death, setting these two creatures against one another even more.
The characteristics of the wolf and the vamp are not an accident of art. These traits are deep rooted parts of the human spirit. We all possess sophistication, we all possess an animal instinct; these are traits that we can personally identify with. That is why they have been written into the character sketches of these creatures.
There is also another reason for the war between these two personalities. Popularity has damned them to eternal conflict. The vampire and the werewolf are arguably the two most popular monsters in our culture. As such, when searching for a conflict for either, the other becomes the perfect literary mate.
The conflict between the werewolf and the vampire is one which stretches back over a century of literature. It is born both of the inherent characteristics of the creatures, and due to their popularity, which matches them in animosity naturally, whenever a writer takes a pen to paper.
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Various Ways of Becoming a Werewolf
A werewolf is a creature that is partially human, and partially animal, specifically a wolf. The nature of the actual beast varies depending on the biological and mystical nature of the transformation. Generally the werewolf is a creature of magic; however there have been some cases of werewolves who were created through biological, and or genetic means.
The most common method for turning from a regular person into a werewolf is to be bitten by one. This does not always work, and it does not work this way with every lycan. When it does work, the methodology is that some sort of agent, biological, or mystical, passes from the original creature into the humans blood. This then transmits the werewolf condition to the new person, who should begin to experience symptoms over the next few weeks.
It is of course pertinent to note that most people who are bitten by a werewolf die instantly. Survival is one of the key factors in actually becoming one of them.
The second most common way to become a werewolf is to be born as one. Since they can turn back into human form, many werewolves have human families, and give birth to children. While the werewolf 'gene' usually does not pass to all offspring, it does often pass to some. This can reveal itself immediately at birth, however most young werewolves are not aware of their condition until their teen years, when symptoms of it start to manifest themselves.
Biologically, there is the potential for agents to exist which could change a person from a regular human into some sort of half person half beast. However the nature of this beast would be determined largely by the chemical or genetic practice used. It may result in the person taking on a permanent animalistic state, without the ability to transform at will. It is the mystical nature of the werewolf that gives them much of their power.
There are also a variety of spells which can be used to change a persons shape into that of a wolf. While these do not actually make you a werewolf, they do give you all of the properties of one, for all intents and purposes. There are even certain shamanistic spells which can be used to actually imbibe you with the spirit of the animal you ae seeking communion with. There are some who claim that the first werewolves were created through magical means.
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