The terms Lycanthrope and werewolf are often confused and used as synonyms, despite the fact that they are words that refer to two different issues. The first of the terms is applicable to people afflicted with a mental disorder and who as a result of it end up believing themselves to be wolves or other animals and act as such. Among the latest cases of lycanthropy we may have to include the so-called "coyote" from Barcarrota . than a few years ago. On full moon nights he appeared in the town of Badajoz and projected his fury towards the work carts, which he set on fire. His identity has never been ascertained, but his shrewdness and "wolfish behavior" were admired in the village. At the end of the last century in Abadía a young woman. on certain days. especially on Fridays and full moon nights, she would howl loudly. she ate raw meat and bit into it with domestic animals. When her relatives noticed the first symptoms of this abnormal behavior, the girl was tied up with strong chains.
In the werewolf, on the contrary. the theriomorphic transformation occurs "really", that is, the person becomes a wolf acquiring his figure and habits from him. Also in our case we use both terms interchangeably, since I suppose that the reader, after what has been indicated, will perfectly distinguish the specific aspect to which we refer.
The man-wolf from Extremadura, who presents a normal aspect that in no way suggests his other appearance, takes a wolfish and ferocious form from time to time on Fridays, the night of San Juan or the full moon, without lack of conditions that force his metamorphosis into other different dates and even continuously. Now alone, now accompanied by an army of wolves, he attacks and kills both people and animals. With the first light of dawn he can recover his human form, in which case he will no longer lose it until the circumstances for a new transformation occur again.
There are various reasons why a man turns into a wolf. The best known, not only in Extremadura, but also in the rest of the Peninsula, is the one that makes the last son of an uninterrupted series of seven boys the victim of misfortune. In order to eliminate fatality, it is necessary and sufficient that this child born in the last place be baptized by his older brother, giving him the name of Antonio. It is said in Alia that a man perished under the claws of a wolf that had terrorized the Villuercas region. As time passed, it was learned that the murderous canid had been none other than the victim's little brother, turned into a wolf because he was the youngest of seven males in a row and born from the same womb, whom his older brother could not baptize because he was absent. at the season The obligatory imposition of a name was also observed by Theophilo Braga on the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, where tradition obliges the child to be called Bento. This "fada" does not come to pass if the seventh child spoke in the womb and if at birth it shows on the tongue or under the roof of the mouth the Cross of Alcaravaca or the wheel of Santa Catalina, in which case its destiny is the of greeter. These same signs prevent the seventh daughter from becoming a witch.
In the preceding situation, as in all the others that follow the curse, once it has caused an effect, it can only be eliminated when the werewolf in his wolfish state is hunted down and bled, which, according to Publio Hurtado, , must be accompanied by an ejaculation (5). Bleeding as a curative remedy for the werewolf is documented in this legend of Ahigal that is described as a "true fact" that occurred in Santibáñez el Alto:
«A young hunter managed to kill a wolf that took it with his flock on full moon nights. The enormousness of the piece encouraged him to cut off a leg as a trophy and, putting it in his bag, he took it to the town. When taking it out to show it to his relatives and friends, the animal's claw had become a man's hand. Alarmed, they all went to the place where the hunt had taken place and there lay the body of his youngest brother, who had disappeared a few years ago, lying lifeless.
I heard a similar case in Zarza de Granadilla. A vermin from the neighboring town of Lagunilla (Salamanca) had captured a large wolf alive and, on a cart, drove it around the towns north of Cáceres in a cage, demanding the corresponding tips from the ranchers. In all places the animal was subjected to the worst treatment. Arriving in Zarza, a shepherd who had been the victim of a recent she-wolf, introduced a dungeon between the bars of the cage, while saying: "This wolf can be as good as dead." The blow from the pruning shear failed to end his life, although he did cut off a claw. Surprisingly, all those who watched the set were able to see how the wolf emitted a human whimper and immediately followed or his wolfish appearance transformed into that of an adult man who, according to the inhabitants of Zarza, was a countryman of theirs who had been reported missing seven years ago.
Cutting off the legs of the animal so that it recovers its human form has been a fairly widespread belief, with traits that remain in folklore. Known is the legend of the deer woman of Cervantes (Lugo) who does not recover her primitive state until her brother, who pursues her without knowing her, cuts off her foot. Examples of this nature, as well as in Galicia and, of course, in Extremadura, we find them in Portugal, Germany and France, the latter country where the old legislators believed them and issued sanctioning norms of custom. The decree of Burchars of Worms, from the beginning of the 11th century, recommends the amputation of a leg so that the Gerulfs (loup-garou = werewolves) recover their human form. Man arrives at this rehumanization with an amputated member or with the wounds that were inflicted on him in his animalistic state.