Myth Week: Werewolves.

Against my better judgment, I one day went onto Transfur. For those of you curious about seeing how creative furries can be, they have the transformation sequences there divided into scientifically-described species and classifications. Impressive!

Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly) wolves dominate over all other species on the entire site. So much for creativity.




Wolves have a strange, mystical hold over the minds of "nature lovers." I use that in quotes because many people who claim to love nature, particularly wolves, see it through even rosier glasses than I do. People claim to love wolves because they're wild, but, in their minds, wolves are just puppy dogs with bigger teeth, complete dominance over their food chain, and just enough human characteristics to make them idealized, furry people.

This mindset has been around for ages. Generally speaking, if a place has wolves, they have some form of werewolf- a creature that can shift between human and wolf either freely, by moonlight, or with a special ritual. Some unfortunate souls, such as Lycaon from Greco-Roman legend, get turned into wolves by an outside force. Regardless of how it happens, the idea of a person getting turned into a wolf remains a strong motif in folklore.



But is it really possible for any sort of shapeshifting like that to occur? Short answer, no; long answer, we haven't done it yet, but there are some cases where it's easy to see where werewolf legends might have come from.

The most subtle explanation for transformation, especially during the full moon, is a possible  psychological change that occurs as the moon reaches full light. This is the origin of the term 'lunatic.' There is some debate over whether this "lunar effect" exists or not, but if nothing else, more people are prone to noticing strange things during that time. There are also some other weird things that happen in humans during lunar cycles such as, ah, menstruation.

More true than you think.

For those of you looking for something crazier than a man's exaggeration of his wife's PMS, you're in luck: Lycanthropy is a diagnosable mental disorder. Clinical lycanthropy (therianthropy for non-wolves) is a psychological condition in which someone believes that he or she has been an animal at one point. Wolves are far from the only creatures represented by this disorder. Even bees and frogs have been reported from patients with clinical therianthropy.

No insanity involved, as far as we know.

 

Remember the amputee who said that her body just didn't feel right with all her limbs? It's like that, only people feel that they are really becoming animals. The right sections of the brain fire off and everything. There are also a few nutballs who think that having sharp eyeteeth makes one a werewolf, but that's an unrelated delusion called "stupidity."



Finally, we have the most obvious real-world explanation for werewolves: Hypertrichosis. Unfortunately, this blog already covered this strange accelerated hair growth during The Human Freak. Read more about freak show "werewolves" here!

Theme Week: Myth Week!

This blog started with the idea that truth could be stranger than fiction. Long story short, I saw all of the escapism rampant in the modern psyche. It made me sad. Humans were taking their own amazing world for granted. While video games and such can be cool (Kuro's a Pokemaniac, remember?), just how badly do you want the world of Avatar, WoW, or Dungeons and Dragons to be real, exactly?

A recurring theme in my works - this blog included - is a sort of "Monkey's Paw" regarding such escapist wishes. Are you sure you really want what you wish for? What price will you pay for such a thing? There will always be a price; are you willing to pay it?

To pick on one of my favorites, suppose dragons did exist at one point. Dragons would have been eradicated by people with glorified knives; what chance would they have against sniper rifles and missiles? We have evolved to kill all threats until they're dead, dead, dead. Unfortunately, our minds have not caught up with this newfangled notion of being completely without predators, so we make some. That's why we enjoy monsters and horror flicks so much.

Would it really be that cool if dragons existed? How would a risen corpse like a zombie or vampire evolve? Are there real werewolves out there somewhere? All these and more will be answered this week. Even "They Actually Eat That" will feature a mythological creature you'd never expect. Hang on tight; this blog is finally living up to the fantasy in its URL!

Creature Feature: ...Haggis?

Deep in the misty moors of Scotland, a strange, furry animal roams. It is called the Wild Haggis (Haggis scoticus), and is specially adapted to live in the mountainous highlands.



There are two subspecies of haggis: one with long right legs, and one with long left legs. They cannot interbreed because, if they try to mate, both partners will fall over...

HA HA! Fooled you! There is no such animal as a Wild Haggis!

You already know from "They Actually Eat That" what haggis really is: Sheep's organs simmered in a sheep's stomach with special sheepy seasonings for three hours. The Scots were so amused that tourists did not know what haggis was that they took the notion of somebody's innocent "is that some sort of animal?" and ran with it.


Complete with some INSANELY cool taxidermy.

There are millions of depictions of haggis as some sort of wild or domestic creature. They range from the furry critter seen above to disembodied stomachs with eyes, noses, and legs. There is even a cute little sculpture (or shop?) of a mother haggis and her little hagglets suckling her nipple-less belly.



As of 2003, 33% of Americans visiting Scotland believed that the haggis was an animal. Wow, we're stupid.