Werewolves – Is it Really a Contest?

The Twilight series has definitely caused a stir in the paranormal fantasy world with the dueling of Vampire versus Werewolf (ie. Edward vs. Jacob). Personally I am thinking it is a bit unfair considering you are choosing characters not species. I personally prefer Edward, but that is because of his character. If you were to say ask me, about two characters from True Blood, Bill vs. Alcide, I am going to have to choose werewolf. However again,this is based on the characters not the species. 

Werewolves tend to get a bad rap if you think about it. Vampires are all angst ridden and hauntingly beautiful while werewolves are…well wolves. So I am going to stand up for the werewolf and say I choose you Pikachu! (whoops children distracting me). 

According to Myths and Truths, during Middle Ages, especially from 15th to 17th century, Europe was under the dark shadow of ignorance and superstitions. Towns were underdeveloped and people lived near woods. The fear of wolves was like a nightmare. Their attacks were so frequent and atrocious in nature that people even feared to travel from one place to another. Every morning, countryside people would find half-eaten human limbs scattered on their fields.

The first recorded Werewolf sighting took place around the countryside of German town Colongne and Bedburg in 1591. An age-old pamphlet describes those shivering moments vividly. Few people cornered a large wolf and set their dogs upon it. They started to pierce it with sharp sticks and spears. Surprisingly the ferocious wolf did not run away or tried to protect itself, rather it stood up and turned out to be a middle-aged man he was Peter Stubbe from the same village.

Stubbe was put on a torture wheel where he confessed sixteen murders including two pregnant women and thirteen children. The history behind his downfall was rather bizarre. He had started to practice sorcery when he was only 12 and was so obsessed with it that even tried to make a pact with the Devil. Wearing a magic girdle he started to attack his enemies, real or imaginary. After several months, he would take the guise of a wolf and continued with his evil acts with more brutality. In the wolf form he used to tear up victims’ throats and suck warm blood from veins. Gradually his thirst for blood grew and he roamed around fields in search of prey.

The savagery of his crimes was beyond imagination. The trial record motioned few of them. Once two men and a woman were walking along a road that went through the forest Stubbe used to hide in. He called one of them into the forest. When the man did not return for a long time the second one followed his trail and also disappeared into the forest. When both the man didn't return for a long time the woman ran for her life. Later, two mangled male corpses were recovered from the forest, but the woman’s body never reappeared. It was believed that Stubbe had devoured it all. Young girls playing together or milking the cows in the fields were his frequent victims. He used to chase them like a hound, catch the slowest one, rape and kill her. Then he would drink hot blood and eat tender flesh from her body. However; the most gruesome sin he committed was upon his own son. He took him to a nearby forest, cracked the poor child’s skull open and ate brain from it.

No punishment could match the magnitude of Stubbe’s crime. His flesh was pulled off with red-hot pincer, his arms and legs were broken and he was finally decapitated. His carcass was burned to ashes.

The Magistrate of Bedburg built a grim monument remembering the ghastly incident. Workmen put the torture wheel atop a tall pole with Stubbe’s head above it structured with the likeliness of a wolf. Sixteen pieces of yard long wood cuts were hung from the rim of the wheel commemorating poor souls of the victims. The words of Stubbe’s trial and execution spread across the lands in no time. His brutality, atrocity and savagery were beyond human comprehension and was readily related with the behavior of a wolf. People started to believe that such individuals with the shadow of wolves were living among them. They named them Werewolves.

The first werewolf movie ever made was not in fact “Werewolf of London” as most presume. “The Werewolf”, was an 18 minute short released in 1913. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in a fire in 1924, and any copies are also presumed lost. So that makes Werewolf in London the first Werewolf film. Werewolf of London was based on a story idea by associate producer Robert Harris and adapted for the movie by screenwriter John Colton. The movie has been twice novelized, once as a 1977 paperback novel by Carl Dreadstone and again in 1985 as part of Crestwood House's Movie Monsters series by Carl Green.

Since then the werewolf has rarely been the main character of any movie or series, he always seems to take a back seat to the Vampire. We had a few films in the 80’s and 90’s, The Howling Series as well as Teen Wolf, which is now being brought back to life by, surprisingly, MTV of all people. This is another carrier car on the train of paranormal teen angst television. 

As I said the werewolf always seems to take a back seat but hell, I am all for the back seat there is much more room to spread out. Let's list a few notable back-seat fillers that I wouldn't mind cuddling up to, first you have Alcide the oh so yummy recent edition to True Blood. This actor…ahem…werewolf is just *sigh…well how can you look at him and not sigh in dreamy delight? There is nothing more manly than this werewolf anywhere. 

Another werewolf that has caught our attention is Tyler on Vampire Dairies, as well as his oh so sexy uncle. Again, it is hard to turn away from such a carved sight. Last but certainly not least is the werewolf from the Underworld movies Michael Corvin. Not as hunky, I will admit, but those eyes could mesmerize Hillary Clinton with ease. 

So now that you have been reminded that Vamps are not the end all be all, remember to cheer on you favorite werewolf. Who knows maybe he will get the spotlight? Until then he will be waiting in the shadows and ready to strike.  Bring it on Wolfie, we are waiting!

Amy Romine

Suspense for the Romantic Heart

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