Halloween Week Day #4: Werewolves
Stephen James O'Meara, author of Are You Afraid Yet?: The Science Behind Scary Stuff, also gave a potential explanation about the origins of werewolves.
He thinks that werewolf legends were inspired by two medical conditions:
1. Hypertrichosis: a genetic disorder where an unnatural amount of hair covers the entire body or a specific area, like the face.
and
2. Split Personality Disorder: a psychiatric disorder where someone can display or act out multiple identities. In some cases, one of the identities may be a "wild animal", and the person might chase after other animals or even attack them.
Imagine the misfortune of a person who happens to be suffering from both of these ailments! And imagine the stories that people would make up about them!
Sorry, Michael J. Fox. Your condition was just misunderstood!
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