- [Narrator] Werewolves are one of the most popular
mythical monsters today, but stories about monsters
that are half-man and half-beast are ancient
and found all across the world in different civilizations.
But why?
Could it be that there's some truth to this age-old myth?
Or is there another explanation for our species' fascination
with transforming into a wild beast?
Let's find out, on today's episode of--
- [Announcer] "Colossal Mysteries."
- [Narrator] A werewolf, also called a lycanthrope,
is a monstrous mythical person
with the unfortunate ability to shapeshift
into a human/wolf hybrid.
Half-beast, half-human crossbreeds can be found
in folktales all across the world.
(man moaning)
Even places without wolves still have myths
of humans who can transform into a ferocious beast.
From Europe to Africa to First Nations people,
myths about werewolves and other were-beasts are common.
In medieval Europe,
stories about werewolves were widespread.
In 1589, a German farmer named Peter Stumpp
was arrested and accused of murder and cannibalism.
In court, he claimed that he owned a belt
that would transform into a werewolf.
His salacious claim (werewolf snarling)
went the medieval version of viral.
(glass smashing)
Then, a renewed fascination in werewolves
quickly swept across Europe.
That fascination transformed into fear, and before long,
the panicked populace was in a bit of paranoid frenzy,
resulting in a violent werewolf hunt all across Europe.
Tens of thousands of people were either accused of
or admitted to being werewolves during the 1500s,
and before it was all said and done,
hundreds of people had been hunted, tortured,
or burned at the stake.
Experts can't say for sure
what caused Europe's werewolf hysteria,
(werewolf snarls)
but they do have a few well-founded theories.
Some believe the whole panic may have been caused
by a particularly bad rabies outbreak.
All sorts of animals can give rabies to humans,
including wolves.
The symptoms of an untreated case of rabies are rough.
First comes a fever.
Then uncontrollable spasms, confusion, maniacal excitement,
an irrational fear of water,
and finally, a loss of consciousness.
When someone is badly infected,
they can even become highly agitated
and begin hallucinating.
All of these terrible symptoms together
may have made their suffering
seem like real-life werewolves.
No one knows for sure why so many unconnected cultures
have their own version of the werewolf myth,
but some believe it might be connected
to our most ancient important survival tactic, hunting.
You see, as humans became better hunters,
we began finding cunning ways
to match nature's vicious strength with our brainpower.
People started to discover
that they could get much closer to wolves
and other beasts if they wore the pelts of the animals
they were hunting,
tricking the animals long enough to strike.
From there, it's not much of a leap
to see how the ancient hunter would start to imagine
what it would be like if wolves would do the same thing
back to humans.
And over time, (wolf barks)
the legend of the werewolf was born.
Of course, this is just a theory.
Stories about humans transforming into wild beasts
are so old that we'll almost certainly never know exactly
how they all got started.
But either way, I think it's safe to say
that werewolves are here to stay.
(upbeat music)