Werewolf Water Mini Research Specimen

Werewolf Water Mini Research Specimen

A most peculiar box has come into my possession this week, sent from England. The box seems to have seen better days… it is scratched and dirty, burned and, perhaps worst of all, quite bloodstained. However, the blood must be rather old, because the vibrancy has left it, leaving reddish brown splotches. The fine spray of blood starting at one corner indicates that a primary artery was slashed in the presence of this box… but more telling are the bloody fingerprints upon its surface. They appear almost human at first, but claw marks indicate that they were made by something far more dangerous: a lycanthrope.

Inside of the box are three things. The first of which is a small bottle filled with water and some silt, as if taken from a creek or stream. It rests upon a strap of fur that is very similar to that of a wolf, though, I am not entirely certain it belongs to canis lupus. And tucked into the lid is a scrap of paper, very old and worn, and badly burnt at the bottom. The paper describes the water as having come from a ‘Lycanthropus Stream,” that is, water that could turn whomever drank it into a werewolf. It speaks specifically fo the Harz mountains, which lie in Germany, and the Countess Hilda von Breber, a somewhat infamous werewolf.

Quite an unusual parcel, this is… one that warrants much further study.

Well, now that Seamus has had his blurb, time for me to ramble! It’s St. Patrick’s day, and while I’ve already posted some Irish werewolf stuff: I wasn’t about to let the day go by with no werewolfery. Based upon my earlier work: , this is a tiny little research kit that I made for Marcon’s Art Show this year, and is the simplest of the things I’ll be showing. But, enough of that silliness, it’s time for some folklore:


So, as far as I can tell, folkloric werewolves may have something of a love-hate relationship with water. For instance, Petrus Salius says that lycanthropes avoid water. However, Donato Antonio Altamari says that they suffer from excessive thirst. Maybe the thirst is caused by the avoidance? Or maybe they stop avoiding water to quench that thirst of theirs…

Of course, if a werewolf is thirsty, they’d better be careful, because but it could be easy to get a double-dosage of lycanthropy! After all, if they’re in Germany’s Harz Mountains, or near Italy’s Fontana del Nobiet, they might find themselves drinking from a lycanthropus stream (Although, such streams crop up elsewhere, such as Norway, for instance).

There’s even a werewolf ritual that requires one of these streams, and I’m rather fond of the part of the required chant that goes:

'Tis night! 'Tis night! And the werewolf's might
Makes men and nature shiver.
Yet its fierce gray head and stealthy tread
Are naught to thee, oh river!”

Unfortunately, the ritual also requires that the participant beat his or her head against the ground, which well, I’m sorry, but brain damage seems like a steep price to pay for lycanthropy ;3

Anyway, such streams are known for having odd or unpleasant odors, and for having a peculiar sparkle to them, as well for making odd, whispering or muttering sounds as they rush along. At night, these streams are rumored to even emit screams and howls. Not someplace I want to build my house, that’s for sure.

However, being far away from these lycanthropic streams doesn’t mean you’re safe from acquiring a hairy problem. Any regular stream can cause lycanthropy, provided three or more wolves have been drinking from the same water source as the soon-to-be werewolf.

As if that wasn’t enough, drinking water that has collected in a wolf’s paw print will also cause lycanthropy. Perhaps running the water through a Brita filter will make it safer to drink.

That however, makes it look like water is a primary cause of wolfing-out. Well… seems the converse is also true. Bathing in water was said to change a werewolf back into a man, and one case even said that rolling in morning dew did the trick.

Water: love it or hate it, it’s certainly a big part of werewolf lore.

As usual, here’s a few books to look at:

The Werewolf in Lore and Legend --Montague Summers
Human Animals -- Frank Hamel
Werewolves (Around the world) --Elliot O’Donnell
Werewolves: The Occult Truth – Konstantinos
The Book of Werewolves --Sabine Baring-Gould
(I may have missed one, so I might update this list later)