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Werewolf as Ghoul
TheoryOrigins of the
MythosVampirism/Lycanthropy Linked to
RabiesVarious Theoretical
RetrofittingsClinical
ObservationsPorphyriaPagan Supplement Reference and
Other
TheoriesA Learned Paper on the Subject
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 16:20:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Andrew D. Gable"
I mentioned a while back how I thought that possibly some lycanthropic legends were based on outbreaks of the "ghoul prion." I had mentioned the Greek legend of Lykaon, the king turned into a wolf by Zeus as revenge for his cannibalism. Today, I was checking through a copy of Elliot O'Donnell's WERWOLVES and found that the werewolf-as-ghoul theory is supported.
Methods of becoming a werewolf range from drinking "enchanted" water, to covering oneself with a salve or ointment, to picking or ingesting a certain kind of whitish flower. All of these sound like acceptable methods for transmission of the ghoul prion. The most common, though, is through sorcery -- invoking an evil spirit -- and I think the results of this sorcery, according to the Norse and Swedes, are significant enough to mention -- "a monstrous hooded figure with a death's head" (comp. CAS' description of the priests of Mordiggian) or "a sub-human, sub-animal type of Elemental" (comp. "traditional" ghouls) would appear and make the sorcerer into a werewolf. Alternately, he was sometimes given a magic skin which, when worn, would turn him into a werewolf.
Thought that these sounded like they could be useful ideas for DG players & keepers interested in the ghoul prion.
From: Graeme Price
>I mentioned a while back how I thought that possibly some
lycanthropic
>legends were based on outbreaks of the "ghoul prion."
I had mentioned the
>Greek legend of Lykaon, the king turned into a
wolf by Zeus as revenge for
>his cannibalism.
In fact, a few years ago I had begun to wonder how the werewolf (and vampire) myths got started. Then (as is often the case) I got set an interesting undergrad essay on the pathogenesis of rabies. Synchronicity struck, wheels were set in motion, and I developed the following hypothesis based on what I had learned.
Lycanthropy: transmitted by the bite of a "werewolf" - a large slavering dog-like creature aggressive towards humans. Real world explanation: rabid dog/wolf bites man and spreads rabies virus: human victim becomes violent and starts biting people after an incubation period for the disease to manifest (anything from 2-10 weeks, most often 2-3 weeks in humans: easy to see how folklore would correlate this with the full moon). People bitten would catch lycanthropy from the bite of the man beast etc. etc.
Vampirism: much the same sort of effect (note the linkage of wolves in some legends, and/or bats in others: bats are a natural host of rabies virus... staring to see a correlation yet?). The hydrophobia (fear of water) caused by rabies virus may go some way towards explaining the myths (not universal in all cultures by the way) that vampires (werewolves also?) cannot cross running water. The epidemiology fits as well: rabies is worldwide, but is more incident in the Balkans and eastern europe and in the far east (don't know about historically, but that is the current situation): both seats of vampire legend.
Before someone (Jerry) points out that most scientific explanations of lycanthropy hinge on porphyria, I'm not disagreeing with this, just proposing another theory from an infectious disease viewpoint. Doubtless I have missed something important from a mythological or anthropological view, but I'm out of my depth in these subjects. I do think there is probably a book in the scientific explanation of folklore and I think I will have to try and write it when I have time (probably when I retire in 2030 or so... place your advance orders now! sigh!).
On rabies itself, it is a fascinating beast from a pathological viewpoint. It is the _only_ virus (possibly the only infectious agent at all) which is 100% fatal once the symptoms have developed, and rather more interestingly the only infectious agent (as far as I am aware: which is pretty bloody far!) that modulates the behaviour of the host to maximise transmission (all due to replication in the nervous system and certain areas of the brain: I can go into this in depth if anyones wants, but don't get me started!). Increased aggressiveness and biting are obvious, but rather more subtle (and underappreciated: even my tutors hadn't figured this out) is hydrophobia. To be transmitted, the virus replicates in the salivary gland, and is released in saliva which enters the wound following a bite. If you drink, then the virus is diluted in saliva (or washed out totally for a while) making saliva less infectious (difficult to prove, but theoretically correct). All this from about 10,000 nucleotides of RNA wrapped in protein and lipid. Almost appears sentiently designed doesn't it?
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 17:41:39 -0500 (CDT)
>Doubtless I
> have missed something important from a mythological
or anthropological
> view, but I'm out of my depth in these subjects.
I do think there is
> probably a book in the scientific explanation
of folklore and I think I
> will have to try and write it when I have
time (probably when I retire in
> 2030 or so... place your advance
orders now! sigh!).
Actually, there was a very recent (within the past two weeks) Science comment and a paper in another journal (I'll look it up and post it, I promise) in which Vampirism and rabies are linked historically.
Fascinating article and it made me wonder why the idea hadn't been proposed before. The most interesting part was that the author had dug up anthropological evidence that rabies victims "could not stand their own sight in a mirror", much like Vampires. I found the evidence pretty compelling. You might be able to find an abridged version of this at the journal "Sciences'" website.
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 16:19:28 -0700
I've seen a lot of scientific retro-engineering of "Vampirism". One that suggests Rabies, one that suggests a rare blood disease that also caused the bones to luminesce(can't remember the name, it was suggested on the Today Show in the late 80's, well, that was the first I saw of it), one that suggests Smallpox victims being misdiagnosed as dead and then buried when they were actually just comatose (Discovery Channel), etc.
I have a feeling that just about all the theories of the scientific nature of "Vampirism" are ALL true. No one cause is exclusively the root of the legend. This would explain the many MANY and often conflicting folk-tales of what a Vampire is, what a Vampire can do, and how to dispose or ward off a Vampire. In a superstitious unscientific world, just about ANY behavior would be linked to supernatural phenomena. Any of the above conditions, indeed ANY condition from Muscular Dystrophy to Dementia to Parkinson's Disease could be ascribed to:
a. the work of demons or spirits, possession, etc.
b. witchcraft
c. vampirism, ESPECIALLY if the sufferer was misdiagnosed as being dead, prematurely buried, then exhibited signs of activity in the grave (groans, thumping, movement of bodies in the coffins if exhumed, etc.)
d. animism or lycanthropy, werewolves, werebears, etc.
If a colony of such people, living alone and isolated somewhere, were to be encountered by travellers unfamiliar with the colony, that traveller would return with accounts of a strange race of beings, wholly unlike themselves or anything resembling humans. The attributes of those in the colony would then be enhanced or altered through retellings or word of mouth to the point that the records of such beings would be completely unreconcilable with the actual people. Thus you get the stories of headless men living in Asia, and so forth.
On a side-track, I read a Discover Magazine article a few years ago about a Viking who was unstoppable in battle, he was also butt-ugly and could take an axe to the head and keep going. Recent archeaological and medical evidence suggests that the viking in question had a rare bone disease that caused unchecked growth of the bone in the skull, creating a really REALLY thick skull, like 2-3 inches thick! This person would suffer great headaches, not be too bright, and could, indeed, take an axe-blow to the head (in fact, you couldn't break the skull with a sledge hammer). And, of course, his face/head would be grotesquely malformed and ugly as all-get-out. But I wouldn't be the one to say so to his face :~)
My point being, any conditional behaviors could be ascribed to "Supernatural" beings.
From: "Andrew D. Gable"
> I've seen a lot of scientific retro-engineering of "Vampirism". One
that
> suggests Rabies, one that suggests a rare blood disease that
also caused the
> bones to luminesce(can't remember the name, it was
suggested on the Today
> Show in the late 80's, well, that was the
first I saw of it), one that
> suggests Smallpox victims being misdiagnosed
as dead and then buried when
> they were actually just comatose (Discovery
Channel), etc.
The theory about rabies-as-vampirism seems, at least to me, highly unlikely, as I believe the researcher stated he based it on similarities between victims of rabies and Dracula, and I don't think I need to say twice that the Dracula films are entertaining, but not a very good reflection (IMHO) of the original vampire myths.
I'm referring here to the author's mentioning hypersexuality or something: present in Dracula, sure, but not a real vampiric trait (watch Nosferatu, a good depiction IMHO of a "traditional" vampire: tell me who in their right mind would wanna have sex with that--no sick comments, MIB). Irresistable sexual attraction, indeed!
> an axe to the head and keep going. Recent archeaological and
medical
> evidence suggests that the viking in question had a rare
bone disease that
> caused unchecked growth of the bone in the skull,
creating a really REALLY
> thick skull, like 2-3 inches thick! This
person would suffer great
> headaches, not be too bright, and could,
indeed, take an axe-blow to the
> head (in fact, you couldn't break
the skull with a sledge hammer). And, of
> course, his face/head would
be grotesquely malformed and ugly as
> all-get-out. But I wouldn't
be the one to say so to his face :~)
Would this be the same disease that the kid in MASK had? Certainly sounds similar to me.
From: Daniel Harms
>Before someone (Jerry) points out that most scientific explanations
of
>lycanthropy hinge on porphyria, I'm not disagreeing with this,
just
>proposing another theory from an infectious disease viewpoint.
Actually, the porphyria theory is mostly dead, largely because its "vampiric" effects (such as sensitivity to sunlight) refer to the modern screen vampire rather than the actual mythological monster.
You are all referred to Pagan Publishing's "Coming Full Circle" for an excellent discussion of both legends in both historical and medical contexts. Apart from rabies, porphyria and the like, two things bear mentioning:
1) people occasionally got buried in medieval, rural Europe when they weren't, as Monty Python might put it, "quite dead yet." Sometimes these people would recover, escape and shamble back into town, scaring the bejeezus out of people and looking pretty gnarly to boot. They would head for home, of course, leading to the "vampires go after their relatives first" shtick.
2) More often, once a vampire rumor would get started, people would start digging up recent graves to "doublecheck." They would be surprised at how little decomposition had occurred, and how the person just looked very pale and thin.
From: Graeme Price
>Actually, there was a very recent (within the past two weeks)
Science
>comment and a paper in another journal (I'll look it up and
post it, I
>promise) in which Vampirism and rabies are linked historically.
Damn! For a minute I thought that someone had beaten me to a publication on an unprovable (and undisprovable) subject in a category A journal (every scientist's dream!). The Science article (Science 281(5285), p1951 25th Sept 1998) is just a quick 4 paragraph summary of an apparently more detailed paper in the September issue of Neurology (a trip to the Med School library is in order for me this afternoon, I think). Quotes from the Science article are:
"...symptoms of rabies - such as a tendency to bite and an aversion to mirrors - bear an uncanny resemblance to historical descriptions of vampires. Reports of the bloodthirsty undead terrorized areas of Eastern Europe in the early 1730's, a few years after a major rabies epidemic was recorded in Hungary among dogs and wild animals [doesn't mention bats, but I would guess these were also involved - GP]..... Juan Gomez-Alonso, a neurologist at the Hospital Xeral in Vigo, Spain [author of the Neurology paper]... lists plenty of reasons to diagnose vampires as rabid. Its victims suffer from insomnia and sometimes have increased sex drives, he syas, while vampires were said to wander in the night and stalk women. The animals associated with vampires - wolves and dogs - were common rabies carriers at the time. In addition, because rabies victims have touble swallowing, bloody saliva sometimes drips from their mouths. Some experts, however, aren't ready to drive a stake through this mystery. Human to human rabies transmission is rare even through bites, says Charles Rupprecht, cheif of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's rabies section. The rabies explanation is intruiging, he concludes, but still "a bit of a stretch"."
OTOH, although human to human transmission is rare (but not unheard of) with current strains of rabies, we don't actually know about the transmissibility of ancient strains (especially in the pre-vaccine era). There's a scenario in there if anyone wants to put the effort in.
>Fascinating article and it made me wonder why the idea hadn't
been
>proposed before. The most interesting part was that the author
had dug up
"Dug up". Very good. Pun intended?
>anthropological evidence that rabies victims "could not stand their
own
>sight in a mirror", much like Vampires.
Will most more once I have the original article (assuming that our library carries the journal that is!)
After a quick trip to the Med School library, I can now confirm...
>Right, Neurology. Damn brain is turnign to spam.
The full reference is:
Gomez-Alonso, J. (1998). Rabies. A possible explanation for the vampire legend. Neurology 51(Sept. 1998), 856-859.
Well worth a read, as Jerry mentioned.
