Werewolf

wer'wulf, in Anglo-Saxon superstition, a person turned into a wolf, yet retaining human intelligence. It was a widespread belief among the peasantry that certain persons, through infernal aid, were able to turn themselves into wolves at will. There was a belief also that other persons, having infernal power or witchcraft, were able to vent their spite by turning their enemies into wolves. It is thought that the belief may have grown out of the savage, wolfish aspect acquired by people who became insane and were lost in the forests or fled to the woods. At all events, a were-wolf was regarded as the most dangerous of all creatures, although there are traditions of werewolves who took an interest in helpless people and guarded them through dangerous forests to a place of safety. Witches were executed not infrequently on the charge of having made werewolves. One feature of this superstition was a belief that the werewolf who became such at his own wish could resume the human form. There are records, dating as late as the seventeenth century, of persons tried for crimes said to have been committed while they were werewolves. The popular nursery tale of the wolf that talked and ate up the grandmother of Little Red Riding Hood bears traces of the old superstition of the werewolf. See Transmigration; Magic