The unexpected causes and cures of being a werewolf

Some methods of becoming a werewolf were simple, and others more complicated. The most obvious one that we still hear today is if you get bitten by a werewolf, you become one. If this was the method that turned you into a werewolf, you would change involuntarily at each full moon.

Other ways included:

·      Putting on a belt made of wolfskin

·      Ointments or magic salves

·      Drinking water out of the footprint of a werewolf

·      Sleeping outside with the light of the full moon on your face, but only during the summer on a Wednesday or Friday

·      Being kicked out of the church

Being a werewolf was thought to also be a possible curse from God or saints as a punishment.

The ways to remedy being a werewolf vary just as much and many of them aren’t pleasant.

They were:

·      Exhaustion – Ancient Greeks and Romans would force people to do hard, physical labor.

·      Medicinal cure – with the use of wolfsbane

·      Surgical cure

·      Exorcism

·      Piercing the hands with nails

·      Addressing the werewolf three times with its Christian name

·      Converting to Christianity

These “cures” ended up being fatal to most people who were put through them. 

Do you know other ways of becoming a werewolf or curing one? Next week we’re going to chat about different werewolf tropes we see in popular media and see what characteristics overlap with real wolves!