I'm Lauren Norton, and this is one strange thing, the show where we search the nation's news archives for stories that can't quite be explained.

Thank you. Strangers, if we were in the mood, we could probably release a very long episode about the history of werewolves as they appear in world legend and history.

We won't do that because it's kind of the whole point of the show to not produce documentary linked material, but trust us, there is a lot out there.

When we think of a werewolf in the popular imagination, we imagine a human that changes form, definitely under the full moon,

and maybe at other times too. Does a werewolf become a full wolf, or a wolf man, or a wolf

person? Are werewolves turned or are they born? Honestly, it depends on the legend, or the YA book series. Now, we don't claim

to be historians. We went to school for the very paranormal subjects of creative writing and public

policy, but after some reading, we think that we can fairly say. It's hard to pin down precisely where the concept of werewolves.

People who turn into wolves, but don't stay that way, really began.

From Gilgamesh to the Greek legend that gave us the word lycanthropy to the Middle Ages,

when it was rumored werewolves hid their hairy coats underneath their skin

to the modern age of silver bullets and Team Jacob, werewolves have taken many forms.

The difficulty of giving an overview of werewolves comes down in part to how we define that

term in the first place. Are we expanding the concept to

encompass skin walkers? Are we limiting ourselves to written records? Can we stretch the definition

to include dogman-style cryptids? And what about people who just believe their werewolves?

People diagnosed with clinical lycanthropy rather than any true supernatural affliction.

Really, we could write a dissertation on the subject.

Plenty of other people have.

Strangers, the point here is that, historically speaking, both legend and fact turn up

bits and pieces of what today has become the basic werewolf formula. Add to that the ways

in which cinema and literature have shifted our concepts and it's probably not so surprising that some of the

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