1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:09,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,279 Speaker 2: Hey everyone, Robert Lamb. Here in this special omnibus edition 3 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:21,400 Speaker 2: of The Monster Fact, we've put together all five episodes 4 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:24,639 Speaker 2: of our recent look at the werewolf in myth, legend 5 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:29,160 Speaker 2: and media, from prehistoric wolf interactions and the ancient world 6 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 2: to modern media incarnations of lacanthropy. So let's dig right 7 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:41,840 Speaker 2: in draw blood, where the limit of our campfire's glow 8 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 2: licks against the darkness of the wild's strange forms leap 9 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:52,559 Speaker 2: and prowl, sometimes human, sometimes lupine, often somewhere in between. 10 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 2: Huddled around our cultivated flames, this nighttime sun of burning wood, 11 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 2: we invoke the ight of man, hot, food and drink, 12 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 2: dance and song, story and myth. These acts tell us 13 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 2: who we are, and yet the creatures of the outer 14 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 2: night tempt us to darker, wilder orbits places in the 15 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 2: wilderness from which our fire would be but a pinprick 16 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:22,720 Speaker 2: of light. They are the wildness from which we arose 17 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 2: and might yet return, dressed in no furs but their own, 18 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 2: naked before no gods or none, man still remembers. They 19 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 2: are our violent hearts, our erotic blood, flesh, hunger, and desire. 20 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 2: Suckled by the moon, the werewolves creep closer, threatening to 21 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 2: leap with shredding claw and ripping teeth, even as their 22 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 2: howls urge us to cast aside our tools, our garments, 23 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 2: our language tongues and join them in the all encompassing night. 24 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 2: Here we begin a multi episode look at the werewolf 25 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 2: shape shifters, who walk the line between human being and 26 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:10,360 Speaker 2: the wild wolf in all manner of horrifying and alluring ways. Broadly, 27 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 2: werewolf traditions and visions overlapped greatly with other shape shifter traditions. 28 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 2: Pretty Much every culture boasts some version of the human 29 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,680 Speaker 2: into animal or animal into human story, as well as 30 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 2: some manner of human animal hybridity. These theoryanthropes are many, 31 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 2: serving as everything from divine avatars to tricksters and tormentors, 32 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 2: and entailing a plethora of animal forms. The werewolf, however, 33 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,880 Speaker 2: is a creature that specifically emerges from the nexus of 34 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,119 Speaker 2: human beings and the Eurasian wolf. The history of these 35 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 2: two species is long debated, concerning their coevolution and the 36 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 2: domestication of dogs some twenty thousand to forty thousand years ago, 37 00:02:55,639 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 2: just before or during the last glacial maximum. Suffice to say, 38 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:04,360 Speaker 2: humans and some canids, perhaps cast off wolves or abandoned young, 39 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 2: forged a mutually beneficial relationship. In a sense, each social 40 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,519 Speaker 2: animal found a new pack in the company of the other. 41 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 2: It's an interesting bond unlike any other. As neuroscientist John 42 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 2: Allman discusses in his two thousand book Evolving Brains, each 43 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:28,919 Speaker 2: species benefited greatly from the domestication. The wolves gained at 44 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 2: its support for the rearing of their pups, and humans, 45 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 2: now bolstered by the wolf's keen senses, became an even 46 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 2: stronger hunter, able to outcompete their evolutionary rivals and protect 47 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 2: their camps against nocturnal predators. Thus, our ice age ancestors 48 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 2: brought canids closer to the fire of their culture, even 49 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 2: as their wild kin howled and raged in the vast 50 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 2: darkness beyond. Did they even then tell stories of fellow 51 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 2: hunter's lost to those outer orbits of wildness? Do they 52 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 2: imagine humans transformed into wolves, perhaps by the dawning of 53 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 2: a pelt or some act of savagery, We don't know. 54 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:12,840 Speaker 2: They thought enough of wolves to depict one in the 55 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 2: surviving cave paintings at Fonde Gamme Cave in modern day France. Elsewhere, 56 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 2: I sage artists depicted the oldest known human animal hybrid 57 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 2: in the lone minsh or lion man figure of Hollenstein's 58 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:31,240 Speaker 2: Stadel Cave, so we might reasonably assume such imaginings were possible, 59 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:34,279 Speaker 2: but it would be tens of thousands of years before 60 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:37,799 Speaker 2: specific words for what we think of as werewolves emerged 61 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 2: in human culture. In the nineteen forty eight book Man 62 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 2: into Wolf, Austrian polymath Robert Eisler presented an elaborate take 63 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,599 Speaker 2: on humanity's prehistoric past, arguing that traditions of the werewolf 64 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,279 Speaker 2: are based in the dual emergence of our ancestors as 65 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 2: two separate strains of early humans, one savage, violent and predatory, 66 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 2: the other peaceful. The conflict between these early peoples, he argues, 67 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 2: continues to resonate in the collective unconscious, as well as 68 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 2: our ongoing human struggles against war, pain, and cruelty. These arguments, however, 69 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 2: depend on now outdated understandings of human evolution as well 70 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 2: as union archetypes, so I don't want to misrepresent his 71 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 2: ideas as modern scientific hypothesis, but rather as a work 72 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 2: of cultural commentary, it's an interesting take on the very 73 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:33,480 Speaker 2: real long history of man and wolf. Turning to contemporary scholarship, 74 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 2: historian Daniel Ogden's excellent twenty twenty one book The Werewolf 75 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,159 Speaker 2: in the Ancient World stresses that we mustn't be too 76 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:45,160 Speaker 2: quick to view wolves as the mere bestial opposite of 77 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 2: humanity and thus a fitting wild energy to entertain in 78 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 2: our myths and legends of metamorphosis. Certainly, as he points out, 79 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:57,039 Speaker 2: there are plenty of connotations in ancient accounts throughout the 80 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,800 Speaker 2: Eurasian wolfe's historical range that identify the creature as an 81 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 2: embodiment of savagery or trickery, but others still acknowledge the social, noble, intelligent, cooperative, 82 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 2: and tactical nature of wild wolves. In other words, we 83 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:17,280 Speaker 2: didn't just see our savage id in the wolf, something 84 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 2: frequently cited in werewolf tales. No, we saw much of 85 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 2: our nobility in them as well. Ogden writes, quote, were 86 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 2: wolves are wolves because there is a sense in which 87 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 2: wolves are in and of themselves were wolves already insofar, 88 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:37,040 Speaker 2: that is, as they combine the qualities of the wildest 89 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 2: and most lawless of animals with those of civilization. And humanity. 90 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 2: In twenty seventeen's she Wolf, A Cultural History of Female Werewolves, 91 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,720 Speaker 2: editor Hannah Priest also weighs in on this issue, arguing 92 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:54,359 Speaker 2: that while we often do look to humanity's prehistoric past 93 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:58,280 Speaker 2: for the seeds of werewolf legends, the narratives of werewolves 94 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 2: are intrinsically bound to quote historical circumstance, civilization, and literature. 95 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,160 Speaker 2: The European roots of the werewolf are perhaps linked, she suggests, 96 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 2: not merely to the threat posed by wolves to hunter gatherers, 97 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 2: or even to the wolf like and wolf aided nature 98 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 2: of the hunter, but also to the threat posed by 99 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 2: wolves to domesticated animals, ultimately a threat to agriculture and property. 100 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 2: As we'll discuss later, this interpretation reveals much about the 101 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 2: gendered nature of male and female were wolves and the 102 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 2: sort of distinct threats they seem to embody toward male landowners. 103 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,440 Speaker 2: Suffice to say, specific werewolf traditions do arise from the 104 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 2: relationship between humans and wolves, but it's a relationship that 105 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 2: changes drastically over time and takes on different forms across 106 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:51,239 Speaker 2: cultural lines. Well have much to explore in the weeks ahead, 107 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 2: but for now, as we sit by our campfire, we 108 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 2: gaze out at the most perplexing shapes in the darkness, 109 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,240 Speaker 2: Creatures that indeed blur the line between wilderness and civility, 110 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 2: Creatures that embody unnatural transformation. Informed it would seem, by 111 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 2: the many ways we transformed the natural world and ourselves 112 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:19,520 Speaker 2: through the domestication of fauna and flora. As we discussed 113 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 2: the last time, the origins of werewolf traditions may trace 114 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 2: back to our prehistoric ancestors and the gradual domestication of 115 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 2: the wild wolf, an act that may have made us 116 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 2: better hunters and better watchers of the dark. At different 117 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 2: points in human history, we saw shades of the wolf 118 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 2: in our own animal nature, just as we also saw 119 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 2: shades of human intelligence, cunning, and society in the ways 120 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 2: of the wild wolf. This is not, however, to say 121 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:53,000 Speaker 2: that the werewolf specifically is a universal concept. Shapeshifters and 122 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:56,560 Speaker 2: animal human hybrids exist in virtually all human cultures, but 123 00:08:56,679 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 2: the werewolf naturally requires some familiarity with the species Canis lupus, 124 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 2: particularly the Eurasian wolf. Now, I want to stress that, yes, 125 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:10,240 Speaker 2: the wolf's range includes North America, and they certainly do 126 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 2: factor into the rich traditions of various indigenous North American tribes, 127 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:18,240 Speaker 2: but these traditions, including the off sited skin walkers, are 128 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 2: rather distinct from the werewolf concept as we know it today. 129 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:24,440 Speaker 2: We may come back to discussion on this topic later on. 130 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:29,319 Speaker 2: Let's start with the term werewolf or the Germanic wewulf. 131 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 2: This we can trace back to the writings of English 132 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:37,199 Speaker 2: Benedictine monk Bishop Wolfstan, and this would have been very 133 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 2: early in the second millennium CE. While most famous for 134 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:46,080 Speaker 2: being the last pre conquest English bishop, his service began 135 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 2: a mere four years prior to the Norman conquest of 136 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 2: ten sixty six. Wolfstan did in fact warn the English 137 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:56,440 Speaker 2: of the threat posed by the quote would Fraco Verwulf, 138 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 2: this being a threat to the Church's flock. As Daniel 139 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,680 Speaker 2: Ogden explains in The Werewolf in the Ancient World, the 140 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 2: usage here is broad and don't get excited, but it 141 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:11,599 Speaker 2: certainly doesn't refer to actual were wolves now. As Ogden explains, 142 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 2: the traditional interpretation of the word werewolf saw it as 143 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 2: a combination of the Latin vere or man with wolf 144 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:21,960 Speaker 2: a man wolf. But he stresses in his book that 145 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 2: the commonly accepted theory today is that where derives from 146 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:30,440 Speaker 2: the Anglo saxon war, meaning stranger or outsider. The were 147 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:34,440 Speaker 2: wolf is an outsider wolf, and this might, too, he argues, 148 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 2: connect to Norse ideas of wolf and outlaw. In fact, 149 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 2: he cites a thirteenth century Danish tradition that saw convicted 150 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:47,240 Speaker 2: thieves hanged beside the corpse of a wolf to fully 151 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 2: convey the dead man's criminal nature to common citizens passing by. 152 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 2: Of course, these ideas line up with the way were 153 00:10:55,440 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 2: wolves have often been presented dangerous outsiders, threats to law 154 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,120 Speaker 2: and ruling landowners, and if we think seriously about the 155 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 2: animal itself, a lone wolf that is not part of 156 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 2: a social pack. Male lone wolves, in reality, are generally 157 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 2: only temporarily alone, moving from one social group to another 158 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 2: or back into the same group they just left. But 159 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 2: in some cases this may also constitute an individual infected 160 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:26,960 Speaker 2: with rabies a most dangerous creature. Indeed, the term like panthropy, however, 161 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:30,760 Speaker 2: is much older, first employed by the second century CE 162 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:35,080 Speaker 2: physician Marcellus of Side, who employed the term like anthropia 163 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:38,800 Speaker 2: to describe medical conditions that we would now Ogden describes 164 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:44,440 Speaker 2: define as different forms of mental illness. Marcellus's description continued 165 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:49,360 Speaker 2: to echo through ancient medical writings, and, as Nadine Metzger 166 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:53,840 Speaker 2: summarizes in twenty fourteen's Battling Demons with Medical Authority, published 167 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:57,439 Speaker 2: in the journal History of Psychiatry, these lichen throats were 168 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:02,720 Speaker 2: described as otherwise harmless, melancholic individuals who suffer from extreme dryness, 169 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 2: hang out its cemeteries, and mimic the behaviors of wolves 170 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:10,920 Speaker 2: and dogs. Modern interpretations have considered a number of actual 171 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 2: ailments that might have underlined this broad diagnosis, rabies, porphyria, 172 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:21,840 Speaker 2: neurological dysfunction, and epilepsy. Some additionally make a case for 173 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:26,439 Speaker 2: some manner of true clinical lycanthropy. For ancient physicians, however, 174 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:29,240 Speaker 2: it was nothing that a little fasting or the consumption 175 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:33,320 Speaker 2: of a wolf's heart wouldn't cure. The term lycanthropy would 176 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:37,200 Speaker 2: remain a purely medical term, while other Latin words more 177 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 2: specifically described shape shifting beings. That is, until ninth century CE, 178 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 2: historian Theophanes the Confessor described agents of the Byzantine emperor ascanthropes, 179 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:53,079 Speaker 2: a manner of word play, here to invoke the Greek 180 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,760 Speaker 2: myth of lychaan wordplay that would be repeated by George 181 00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:01,480 Speaker 2: Hammertolos aka George the Monk later that same century, and 182 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 2: this Ogden contends sets the word werewolf on the trajectory 183 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:10,120 Speaker 2: that we enjoy today. It's interesting that we've long seen 184 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 2: this duality of magic and medicine, of the rational and 185 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:19,080 Speaker 2: the superstitious in our werewolf media. As Matt Schimkowitz explores 186 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:22,800 Speaker 2: in a twenty twenty five AV Club article titled film 187 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:27,360 Speaker 2: Trivia FactCheck, original The Wolfman script kept the Werewolf at bay. 188 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:31,720 Speaker 2: The nineteen forty one Universal Horror classic film was originally 189 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 2: intended to leave it ambiguous as to whether the film's 190 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 2: Lawrence Talbot suffered from a monstrous curse or a distortion 191 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:42,839 Speaker 2: of the mind. The nineteen forty six films She Wolf 192 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:45,720 Speaker 2: of London, as well as the nineteen seventy six Italian 193 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:50,959 Speaker 2: grindhouse favorite Werewolf Woman, both employ the idea of werewolf 194 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 2: delusion rather than literal transformation. Finally, I want to come 195 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:59,199 Speaker 2: back to Bishop wolf Stand here. His name has nothing 196 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:01,560 Speaker 2: to do with werewolf, being rather a family name that 197 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 2: meant Wolfstone in the sense of strength and resilience. But 198 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 2: as Brad Steiger points out in nineteen ninety nine's The 199 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:12,679 Speaker 2: Werewolf book. A much later German tradition recorded I Believe 200 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:16,800 Speaker 2: in the nineteenth century, told of a wolf stone erected 201 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:20,840 Speaker 2: over the grave of a slain werewolf, keeping the monster 202 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:25,080 Speaker 2: at rest, but also becoming a focal point for the parentormal. 203 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 2: We continue this week with our look at werewolves, having 204 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 2: previously discussed purported prehistoric origins of the were wolf in 205 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:40,840 Speaker 2: the experiences and observations of early humans, as well as 206 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 2: the earliest known usages of the words werewolf and lacanthropy. 207 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 2: The former werewolf emerges in the early second millennium CE, 208 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:53,680 Speaker 2: while the latter lacanthropy has an older but complex history 209 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:57,800 Speaker 2: as a second century CE catch all for various mental illnesses, 210 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:00,720 Speaker 2: which came to be conflated with the Greek myth of 211 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:05,360 Speaker 2: Lachaan Like Haan was the legendary king of Arcadia who 212 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 2: dared to try and trick the high god Zeus into 213 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 2: eating human flesh. His ploy was unsuccessful, however, and Zeus 214 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:17,680 Speaker 2: inflicted a fitting divine punishment for one so savage, which 215 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 2: Avid describes as following in the Metamorphosis Henry Thomas Riley translation, Alarmed, 216 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,359 Speaker 2: he himself takes to flight, and, having reached the solitude 217 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 2: of the country. He howls aloud and in vain attempts 218 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 2: to speak. His mouth gathers rage from himself, and through 219 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 2: its usual desire for slaughter, it is directed against the sheep, 220 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:43,560 Speaker 2: and even still delights in blood. His garments are changed 221 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 2: into hair, his arms into legs. He becomes a wolf, 222 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 2: and he still retains vestiges of his ancient form. His 223 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,120 Speaker 2: hoariness is still the same, The same violence appears in 224 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:58,480 Speaker 2: his features. His eyes are bright as before. He is 225 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 2: still the same image of ferocity, and just to be sure, 226 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:05,640 Speaker 2: all responsible parties are punished. Zeus follows this up with 227 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:09,800 Speaker 2: a great flood. But Laikaan himself is indeed transformed into 228 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 2: a wolf, and, like the Biblical Cane, as Riley points 229 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 2: out in his notes, he is forced to live as 230 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:20,640 Speaker 2: a cast off outsider, a lone wolf. In some tellings, 231 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,960 Speaker 2: his sons are transformed as well. While the myth of 232 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:26,960 Speaker 2: Likaan is sometimes held up as an ancient key to 233 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:31,520 Speaker 2: understanding subsequent werewolf tales, Daniel Ogden in twenty twenty one's 234 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 2: were Wolves in the Ancient World maintains that the tale 235 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 2: is a quote metaphorical derivative of the ancient folkloric traditions 236 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:43,840 Speaker 2: that are indeed the key. He devotes an entire later 237 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 2: chapter in the book to Laichan and the complex interplay 238 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 2: there of three key categories. One historic evidence for a 239 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:57,600 Speaker 2: lupine transformation right of passage for young men of the 240 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:02,880 Speaker 2: Antet clan, Two various related myths of lupine transformation and 241 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:07,199 Speaker 2: sacrilegious acts of human sacrifice in cannibalism. And three a 242 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 2: supposedly historical tale of an individual changing into a wolf 243 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,240 Speaker 2: after eating part of a human sacrifice at the Likekaea 244 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:18,679 Speaker 2: festival on the slopes of Mount like Chaan aka Wolf Mountain. 245 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:23,080 Speaker 2: I won't attempt to summarize the entirety of his analysis, 246 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:26,640 Speaker 2: but Ogden does contend that the story is more werewolf 247 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 2: adjacent than anything. Laikayan is a man punished with transformation 248 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:34,920 Speaker 2: into a wolf, a transformation that occurs only once outside 249 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:38,359 Speaker 2: of his control, making him no more a true were 250 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:43,159 Speaker 2: wolf than Arachne, another victim of divine transformation punishment in 251 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 2: Greek myth, is a were spider, so an unsatisfying were 252 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 2: wolf and by no means the key trendsetter that some 253 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 2: make him out to be, but still an important and 254 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:57,360 Speaker 2: influential myth in the Grand tradition of were wolves. As 255 00:17:57,359 --> 00:17:59,520 Speaker 2: discussed in the last episode, He's not key to the 256 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 2: understand the word lacanthropy, but his myth eventually becomes conflated 257 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 2: with the term to some degree. Now. One of the 258 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,520 Speaker 2: tales interwoven in the Arcadian myth is that of the 259 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 2: Olympic athlete DeMarcus, a boxer who is said to have 260 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:17,359 Speaker 2: been transformed into a wolf for a period of nine 261 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:21,240 Speaker 2: to ten years at the Festival of Lykaea, possibly due 262 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:25,159 Speaker 2: to ritual consumption of human flesh, thus, as is common 263 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:28,639 Speaker 2: in all Ichaean myths, blurring the line between man and beast. 264 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:34,120 Speaker 2: But Ogden stresses that the quote unquote werewolf ism of DeMarcus, 265 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:37,360 Speaker 2: if we may call it, that, is more directly related 266 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:40,919 Speaker 2: to his status as a superb athlete. In keeping with 267 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:45,640 Speaker 2: various other supernatural stories of the time about athletes, including 268 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 2: other accounts of lupine transformation, this would seem a tale 269 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,920 Speaker 2: as old as time. Multiple contemporary mma fighters, for example, 270 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:58,440 Speaker 2: and professional sports stars have been nicknamed werewolf. The Batman 271 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:02,199 Speaker 2: villain known as Werewolf is also an Olympic athlete, and 272 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 2: let us not forget teen Wolf cousins Scott and Todd Howard, 273 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 2: known for their lycanthropic basketball abilities. This brings us back 274 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 2: to a continuing point of contemplation in were wolf traditions, 275 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:17,080 Speaker 2: there is a certain bit of the beast that we 276 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:21,960 Speaker 2: admire and crave to manifest in our strength and speed, 277 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:25,920 Speaker 2: or even in our savagery. We'll have more to explore 278 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:29,440 Speaker 2: concerning ancient lacanthropy in the next episode, including the best 279 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:37,119 Speaker 2: cases for the earliest written and visual depictions of werewolves. 280 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 2: We've been discussing the roots of werewolf traditions, both in 281 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:57,119 Speaker 2: prehistoric human history and in ancient mythology and literature. Based 282 00:19:57,160 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 2: on my readings, I think it's safe to say that 283 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:02,639 Speaker 2: werewolf tradition emerged from various elements in human history, in 284 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:06,119 Speaker 2: the human psyche, taking on different forms depending on time 285 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:11,159 Speaker 2: and location, and most importantly influencing later traditions, legends, folk tales, 286 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:14,400 Speaker 2: and of course fictional takes as well. When we look 287 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:17,760 Speaker 2: for specific examples of early or even the earliest literary 288 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:21,879 Speaker 2: examples of werewolfs, it really depends on how narrowly or 289 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:25,800 Speaker 2: widely we refine our search. For instance, the oldest surviving 290 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:29,280 Speaker 2: work of literature, the epic of Gilgamesh features the wild 291 00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:32,600 Speaker 2: man and possible beast men in Keitu, and there's certainly 292 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:36,800 Speaker 2: some crossover from here into later werewolf traditions, but to 293 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:41,119 Speaker 2: be clear, in Ketu not a were wolf. More interesting, 294 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:43,600 Speaker 2: as Daniel Ogden brings up in the werewolf in the 295 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:47,119 Speaker 2: ancient world, the epic of Gilgamesh does feature reference to 296 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 2: the goddess Ishtar having turned humans into various beasts, including 297 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 2: a wolf. Much later, though still ancient to us, Homer's 298 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 2: the Odyssey from the eighth century BCE refers to the 299 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 2: witch circeansforming humans not only into pigs her specialty, but 300 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:07,639 Speaker 2: into wolves as well. These are both cases of transformative witchcraft, 301 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:10,760 Speaker 2: and while Ogden contends that stories like this certainly feed 302 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 2: into werewolf traditions, we'd be going overboard to single either 303 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:19,159 Speaker 2: out as a true case zero for literary or mythic leacanthropy. 304 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:23,360 Speaker 2: Focusing on the importance of temporary and even deliberate transformation 305 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:26,919 Speaker 2: with connection between the two forms. Ogden points to a 306 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,920 Speaker 2: tale that is often singled out as the most obvious 307 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:33,679 Speaker 2: werewolf story from the ancient world, one appearing in the 308 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:40,359 Speaker 2: satiricon of Gaius Petronius arbiter from the late first century CE. 309 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,800 Speaker 2: The Latin satire contains a story told by the character 310 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:48,800 Speaker 2: Nicros at a banquet, and it roughly goes as follows. 311 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 2: Back when the freedman Nicros was still a slave, he 312 00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:55,679 Speaker 2: fell in love with the wife of an innkeeper and 313 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,960 Speaker 2: would sneak off to her whenever he could. One night, 314 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,359 Speaker 2: when the master of the house was away, Nicros persuaded 315 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:06,040 Speaker 2: the current HouseGuest, quote a soldier as brave as Orcus, 316 00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:10,479 Speaker 2: to accompany him on the midnight journey. Shortly afterwards, they 317 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,879 Speaker 2: found themselves in an acropolis amongst the tombs, where the 318 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:17,440 Speaker 2: moon shone down in them like the midday sun. And 319 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:21,679 Speaker 2: then Nicros observed the soldier in a most shocking and 320 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,960 Speaker 2: remarkable act. He took off all his clothes, neatly, piled 321 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:28,960 Speaker 2: them up urinated in a circle around them, and then 322 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 2: transformed into a wolf. The wolf howled and ran away, 323 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,520 Speaker 2: and when Nekros tried to touch the clothes that the 324 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:39,400 Speaker 2: soldier had left within the circle of urine, he found 325 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:42,560 Speaker 2: that the clothing had turned to stone. In fear, he 326 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 2: hurried on to see the innkeeper's wife, whose name was Melissa, 327 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,399 Speaker 2: and She told him that if he'd arrived earlier, he 328 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,280 Speaker 2: could have helped them, for a wild wolf had attacked 329 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 2: their livestock, draining their blood before they were able to 330 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,000 Speaker 2: drive the beast away with a spear to the neck. 331 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 2: Nicros began his way home after that, passing where the 332 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:04,840 Speaker 2: clothing had been stacked, but finding only splashes of blood there, 333 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 2: And when he finally reached his master's house, he found 334 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 2: a doctor attending to the soldier who had suffered a 335 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:16,320 Speaker 2: grievous neck wound. Now we can easily identify the key 336 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:21,320 Speaker 2: attributes of temporary deliberate transformation with connection between the two forms, 337 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,639 Speaker 2: as well as various flourishes that would remain popular in 338 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:30,439 Speaker 2: werewolf fiction up through modern times. Thus it's pretty definitive. Furthermore, 339 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:33,880 Speaker 2: Ogden contends that this one is quote one really good 340 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 2: quirking story, which is key because the tale first and 341 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:41,920 Speaker 2: foremost serves as entertainment with humorous wrinkles concerning the storyteller, 342 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:46,919 Speaker 2: while also somewhat reflecting popular beliefs and the contemporary appetite 343 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:51,280 Speaker 2: for fantastic tales infused with the supernatural. In short, it's 344 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 2: a werewolf story doing what werewolf stories have always done, 345 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,560 Speaker 2: and that is entertained. Visual depictions are less definitive, as 346 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,440 Speaker 2: we often lack the full context of what we're looking at. 347 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:06,000 Speaker 2: Is it a mere wolf human disguised as a wolf, 348 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,600 Speaker 2: or merely wearing a wolf's pelt. There are various stopping 349 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:13,000 Speaker 2: points before we arrive at full werewolf, even as we 350 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 2: contend with images tied to known tales such as the 351 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:20,600 Speaker 2: satiricon or the myth of Lycaan theoryanthropic figures can likewise 352 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:24,880 Speaker 2: mean various things. Still acknowledging all of this, some images 353 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,399 Speaker 2: do read strongly as wear a wolf, at least to 354 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:31,320 Speaker 2: us Modern viewers across the gulf of time consider the 355 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:35,760 Speaker 2: sixth century Etruscan Pontic plate, which seems to depict a furry, 356 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 2: bipedal humanoid with a wolf's head. The context is unclear, 357 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:44,080 Speaker 2: though probably linked in some way to Hercules and the 358 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,159 Speaker 2: centaur depicted elsewhere on the plate. The theory anthropic figure 359 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:52,160 Speaker 2: here may represent death or the wolf man combination here 360 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:57,160 Speaker 2: may reference the god Faunas, who in Ovid's metamorphosis, attempts 361 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,920 Speaker 2: to rape Hercules while Hercules is dressed in his lover 362 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:04,879 Speaker 2: Amphilles clothing. We're reminded in all of this that the 363 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:09,280 Speaker 2: werewolf is a monster. It is a thing, a form 364 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:15,359 Speaker 2: that illustrates various ideas, observations, and comparisons, and any of 365 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 2: these ideas, observations, or comparisons may essentially summon an image 366 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:25,439 Speaker 2: comparable to the werewolf, completely on their own, detached in 367 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:29,840 Speaker 2: whole or in part from any particular werewolf tradition. That's 368 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:32,760 Speaker 2: it for now, But next week we will continue our journey, 369 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,960 Speaker 2: and we will turn our attention to the female werewolf. 370 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:47,160 Speaker 2: As we continue our look at the werewolf in myth, legend, 371 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:51,040 Speaker 2: and media, we now turn to the female werewolf, a 372 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:54,120 Speaker 2: gendered take on the monster that might, at first glance 373 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 2: seem to be mere titillation, but the roots of the 374 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 2: concept weave their way through a variety of contemplations about 375 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:06,080 Speaker 2: femininity and the wild in all their forms. I want 376 00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:09,399 Speaker 2: to return to twenty seventeen's She Wolf, A Cultural History 377 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:13,400 Speaker 2: of Female Werewolves, which features multiple chapters by different authors 378 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,640 Speaker 2: that examine female werewolves in myth, legend, and media, everything 379 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:22,439 Speaker 2: from centuries old legends to modern cartoons. As previously mentioned, 380 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:26,760 Speaker 2: the book's editor, Hannah Priest argues that European werewolf narratives 381 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:31,200 Speaker 2: revolve around the threat posed by wolves to domesticated animals, 382 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:35,560 Speaker 2: ultimately a threat to male owned agriculture and property. When 383 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,359 Speaker 2: the werewolf is male, the threat comes from outside the 384 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:42,200 Speaker 2: male land donor's domain, the outlaw wolf wanderer, who might 385 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 2: seek to tear through the defenses and kill livestock or 386 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 2: family members. Meanwhile, female werewolves tend to emerge from within 387 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 2: the male land donor's domain, often endangering children and serving 388 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:59,439 Speaker 2: as an overall threat to domesticity. Of note, the first 389 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,199 Speaker 2: Mexican wear wolf movie, Leloba or The She Wolf from 390 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:07,240 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty five, features both a female and a male werewolf, 391 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,640 Speaker 2: and they correspond to this form quite perfectly. The female 392 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:13,919 Speaker 2: werewolf the daughter of a well to do Mexican landowner 393 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:17,320 Speaker 2: and scientists, and the male werewolf pursuit her from afar. 394 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,479 Speaker 2: In this gothic slice of Golden age Mexican cinema, the 395 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:25,400 Speaker 2: werewolf seems to represent the wild and uncontrollable elements of 396 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:29,040 Speaker 2: someone within the family unit and someone from beyond it. 397 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:32,879 Speaker 2: For more on Laloba, see our recent episode of Weird 398 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 2: House Cinema on the film, It's interesting that both the 399 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,119 Speaker 2: first Mexican Werewolf movie and the first werewolf motion picture 400 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,919 Speaker 2: period a now lost nineteen thirteen short titled The Werewolf, 401 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:48,879 Speaker 2: feature female licanthropes, but the vast majority of werewolf tales 402 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 2: lean heavily toward male, often hyper masculine visions of wolf 403 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:58,160 Speaker 2: human hybridity. Likewise, while the wolf man is often presented 404 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:01,159 Speaker 2: as a lone wolf, the female male wolf woman is 405 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,800 Speaker 2: often connected to a social group or part of a 406 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,919 Speaker 2: mated pair. This is interesting in how it connects to 407 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:11,719 Speaker 2: previous discussions of what our ancestors saw of themselves in 408 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:16,480 Speaker 2: wolves and vice versa. As highly social animals, wild wolves 409 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,359 Speaker 2: reflect aspects of human family and society, and it's only 410 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:24,600 Speaker 2: rational for these elements to influence our conceptions of human 411 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:28,480 Speaker 2: wolf hybridity as well. In fact, as author J. Kate 412 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:32,320 Speaker 2: mentions later on in the She Wolf book quote, aside 413 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,280 Speaker 2: from a brief fashion for presenting female were wolves as 414 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:40,120 Speaker 2: lonely night stalkers in Victorian literature, the dominant presentation of 415 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 2: female wear wolves from the Middle Ages onwards has been 416 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:47,280 Speaker 2: as part of a social unit comprising other were wolves 417 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,960 Speaker 2: or other humans. I won't attempt to summarize everything explored 418 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 2: in the book. Definitely pick a copy up for yourself 419 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 2: if you're interested in this topic as i am. There's 420 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:00,440 Speaker 2: an entire chapter concerning females in the RPG world Werewolf 421 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 2: the Apocalypse game, for example, but it explores the various 422 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 2: ways in which female werewolf treatments explore societal ideas concerning 423 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:18,040 Speaker 2: female connectedness to nature and societal norms related to body, hair, menstruation, sexuality, aging, 424 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 2: and other topics. And in some cases, certainly, the female 425 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 2: werewolf can be yet another example of the monstrous feminine, 426 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:28,560 Speaker 2: in which some aspect of female bodies or female experience 427 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:33,040 Speaker 2: is othered from the standpoint of patriarchal anxiety. Overall, however, 428 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:36,320 Speaker 2: a good monster tale can reveal and convey much more. 429 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 2: The werewolf stands as a nexus between the wild and 430 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:44,960 Speaker 2: the civilized, between freedom and taboo, between liberty and control, 431 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 2: and takes on so many additional meanings when applied specifically 432 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,320 Speaker 2: to women. In Daniel Ogden's excellent twenty twenty one book 433 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:54,840 Speaker 2: The Werewolf in the Ancient World, he of course highlights 434 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:59,280 Speaker 2: the difficulty in deciding what exactly constitutes a werewolf versus 435 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 2: other modes of ibrid monsters in various cultures that had 436 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 2: no precise word for werewolf, and this applies to both 437 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,840 Speaker 2: masculine werewolves and feminine werewolves. Of course, he does mention 438 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:14,800 Speaker 2: an account that Priest singles out as the entry point 439 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:18,640 Speaker 2: of the female werewolf into literature. That is Gerald of 440 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 2: Wales's twelfth century CE Topographia Hibernia. Gerald recounts a priest's 441 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:29,600 Speaker 2: travels in post Norman invasion Ireland, and specifically his encounter 442 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:33,560 Speaker 2: with natives of Ossery, who spoke of how a man 443 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:35,680 Speaker 2: and a woman of their people were picked to undergo 444 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,920 Speaker 2: a seven year transformation into wolf. The locals end up 445 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:42,520 Speaker 2: bringing the priest to visit the dying she wolf and 446 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 2: give her last rites. At this moment, the male counterpart 447 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,080 Speaker 2: peels away the wolf's hide from her body, revealing the 448 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:54,120 Speaker 2: form of an old woman within. It's a perplexing story, 449 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 2: as priest points out, it's a tale told by an invader. 450 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:00,280 Speaker 2: Gerald of Wales was half Norman and half wealth Welsh 451 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 2: and certainly not Irish, and the story concerns the traditions 452 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,640 Speaker 2: and customs of a conquered people. Furthermore, as Ogden points out, 453 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:10,560 Speaker 2: the story is all the weirder when you consider that 454 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 2: the people of Ossery have to contend with all of 455 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:17,000 Speaker 2: this lacanthropy because they were cursed by a priest, and 456 00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 2: in later tellings of the same story, by Saint Patrick himself, 457 00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:24,280 Speaker 2: all for the crime of being disruptive when he tried 458 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:27,880 Speaker 2: to convert them to Christianity. So driving out snakes is 459 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:31,320 Speaker 2: one thing, but cursing locals to become werewolves surely quite another. 460 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 2: In she Wolf, historian Merely Metsi explores Estonian werewolves, specifically 461 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,719 Speaker 2: accounts from the Isle of Sarema, where tales of female 462 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:45,840 Speaker 2: werewolves are more common than tales of male werewolves. Apparently, 463 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:50,120 Speaker 2: Estonia is rich in werewolf traditions, which survive in the 464 00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:54,200 Speaker 2: form of various fairy tales, legends, and also some historic 465 00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 2: accounts of witch trials. Metsiti explores the topic from a 466 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,480 Speaker 2: number of different but the overall argument that I found 467 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:06,440 Speaker 2: most remarkable was that the predominance of female werewolf tales 468 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,440 Speaker 2: in Estonian traditions may connect to greater levels of gender 469 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:15,280 Speaker 2: equality in pre Christian Estonian and a definite loss of 470 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:21,200 Speaker 2: those rights as Christian influences permeated Estonian society. Furthermore, we 471 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:24,640 Speaker 2: may refer back to older connections between the wolf and 472 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:29,440 Speaker 2: fertility magic, traditional observations of lupine motherhood, and the link 473 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:34,200 Speaker 2: between maternity and sexuality that was subsequently eradicated under the 474 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,680 Speaker 2: influence of Christian culture. In other words, while laws and 475 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 2: top down societal norms might have subjugated women, their traditional 476 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:44,800 Speaker 2: power in Estonia was not so easily erased, and we 477 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:48,920 Speaker 2: see it remain as protest as recognition, and so forth 478 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:52,520 Speaker 2: in the tales of Women with the Secret Mind of wolves. 479 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:57,520 Speaker 2: One Estonian story shared in Mesave's chapter encapsulates several of 480 00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 2: these ideas. The wife also has wolf pups. There are 481 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:05,360 Speaker 2: different versions, but it essentially tells the story of a 482 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:08,440 Speaker 2: woman who goes into the woods to hunt and secure 483 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:11,200 Speaker 2: meat for the family, while her husband seems to stay 484 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:13,840 Speaker 2: at home in the cabin and seemingly just complain about 485 00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,640 Speaker 2: how chilly it is, citing the fact that their child 486 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:19,960 Speaker 2: is too cold. The wife tells them that their child 487 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,240 Speaker 2: is better off than those who sleep in the straw 488 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,680 Speaker 2: behind the house, and when the husband goes out to investigate, 489 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:29,920 Speaker 2: he finds several wolf pups, which he promptly kills. The 490 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,040 Speaker 2: next night, while the man lounges in the sauna, a 491 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:36,080 Speaker 2: great wolf bursts him through the door. And attacks him. 492 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:38,960 Speaker 2: He manages to defend himself. He burns the wolf with 493 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,600 Speaker 2: a pair of tongs, scaring the creature off, and later 494 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 2: via the old identifying wound trope, he learns that the 495 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:50,440 Speaker 2: wolf was in fact his own wife, seeking vengeance for 496 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:55,560 Speaker 2: his killing of her wild wolf children. Female werewolf stories 497 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:59,080 Speaker 2: continue to entertain us while also retaining their ability to 498 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:04,000 Speaker 2: intentional or unintentionally reveal much about the times and places 499 00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 2: they emerge from, revealing both negative societal ideas about women 500 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:14,240 Speaker 2: as well as more celebratory and even subversive ideas about 501 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:18,399 Speaker 2: feminine power. Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact, 502 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:21,840 Speaker 2: The Artifact, or adam Alius Dependium each week. As always, 503 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:24,160 Speaker 2: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 504 00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:31,399 Speaker 2: your Mind dot com. 505 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:34,480 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 506 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:37,360 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 507 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:40,240 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.