In most world cultures, there are legends about werewolves. Depending on the geographic location and the surrounding fauna, a werewolf can turn into a wolf, jaguar, hyena or tiger.
The European tradition, of course, implies a werewolf, above all, as one who turns into a wolf. The modern image of a werewolf spread by films, video games and comics is far from what folklore portrays as a werewolf.
France especially distinguished itself with werewolves.
One of the most famous werewolf stories began in 1764 in the French province of Gevaudan. In July of that year, the werewolf committed his first murder. In the next three years, about a hundred people died from its claws and teeth. All of his victims had their heads cut off. The news of the werewolf's outrage reached King Louis XV.
The king has appointed a reward of six thousand pounds for the dead werewolf. In terms of modern money, this will amount to approximately seven hundred thousand dollars. By order of the king, a detachment of 56 soldiers was sent to capture the beast. They were joined by a huge number of local residents. Some historians believe that 20 thousand people went hunting. Many wolves were killed, but the werewolf continued to kill.
A man named Jean Chastelle managed to kill the beast. He made silver bullets from the silver medals he had. Then these bullets were blessed by the priest. The beast was killed by Chastel in an ambush on June 19, 1767. According to Chastel's stories, the werewolf was huge, weighed more than one hundred kilograms, had a body covered with hair, unlike wolf paws and pointed ears.
The king's court painter painted the beast, using stories from Chastel and others who met with the werewolf.
They tried to deliver the werewolf's body to the king, but they were able to do it only by August. By that time, the corpse had already begun to rot and, naturally, smelled very badly. The king did not want to consider the body oozing stench and ordered to burn it.
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In total, from 1740 to 1773, many thousands of wolves were killed in the province of Gevaudan. The locals knew very well what a wolf was, even if it was large. And they all assured that the werewolf was not a wolf.
Modern researchers believe that a werewolf could be mistaken for a person with hypertrichosis (marked by increased hair growth throughout the body). This mutation was quite common in ancient times. There are drawings of the 16-17 centuries, which depict people with hypertrichosis. Since the reasons for this phenomenon were unknown, it was said that the growth of body hair was a sign of collusion with the devil.
People with hypertrichosis were forced to flee the cities, live in the forests as hermits, all alone. This could not affect the state of their psyche. They could run wild, go crazy and start killing people who wandered into the forest out of fear.
GUSAKOVA IRINA YURIEVNA
