Werewolves

 I found the Werewolf articles quite interesting. During Halloween time, when the weather starts to get cold and rainy like today, and I watch the Twilight movies, I always think of werewolves, but never the 4,000 year old history behind them. I think that the werewolf became a legend and a terror because during the time, people lived in a world shaped by superstition, political clashes, religion as a source of fact, violence, and a belief in things like the devil. I think this relates to the witch trials because when things happen mysteriously without an obvious reason or when bad things happen in general, people need a cause or a reason to blame others for the problem. Similarly, legends of werewolf superstitions led to a witch hunt, and I thought the idea of Bisclarvet was interesting. Just like the "witches" in Salem, accused werewolves such as Pierre Burgot, Michel Verdun, Giles Garnier, and Peter Stumpp were tied to magic. I had no idea 30,000 people were executed as werewolves in France alone between 1520 and 1630. That number astonishes me.

In addition to these "accusations" the medical implications of the phenomenon provide more context. Conditions such as clinical lycanthropy and Pitt Hopkins syndrome could make people think that they were turning into a wolf. 

I thought the different werewolf stories like the Bedburg and Shape-shifter legends and stories made me curious about the boundary between man and animal.