Werewolves

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!

Zombies

Halloween Week Day #3: Zombies

Oh those sneaky blowfish, bringing back people from the "dead".

Certain cultures like to eat blowfish, particularly the Japanese, in soups. Raw puffer meat, or sashimi fugu, is also sometimes eaten because of its intoxicating effect.

If someone eat too much of it, however, the meat can be deadly. Its poison can cause dizziness, vomiting, and numbness of the mouth. This is likely followed by a rapid heart beat, decreased blood pressure, paralysis, and a coma. If the person is one of the lucky ones and stays alive for 24 hours, he or she has a good chance of survival, but the coma can last several days. Worst of all, the person is typically aware of being in the coma, but due to the paralysis, can't communicate!

Before modern medicine, the decreased heartbeat and coma presented itself as death. The poor victim would then be treated as deceased. But lo and behold, a few days later at the funeral (if not too late!), he or she would wake up! To the distress of loved ones, the only explanation they could come up with would be "It's a zombie back from the dead!"

The lengths people will go through for delicious food. :)

Vampires

Halloween Week Day 2: Vampires

Here is another interesting fact from Stephen James O'Meara, author of Are You Afraid Yet?: The Science Behind Scary Stuff:

People who used to be labeled as "vampires" probably had a horrible blood disease called Porphyria. Victims tend to have very photosensitive skin so when they get exposed to the sun, their skin boils and blisters. As a result, they often only leave home at night.

Also, the disease turns their teeth red, so it looks like they've been biting necks, and their urine is a purplish red, so they appear to have drank blood. It didn't help that early doctors recommended that the patients drink blood from slaughterhouses to treat the condition!

According to O'Meara, it is likely that Bram Stoker got his idea for vampires by studying people with Porphyria.

On a side note, if blood-seeking vampires did exist, garlic would prevent their attacks. Garlic does a nice job of covering up the scent of blood. Helpful hint: keep some garlic around in the summertime to ward off mosquitoes!

Science of Fear

With Halloween coming up, I am devoting this week to facts about scary things. I am going to start off Day #1 explaining why our bodies have such a strong physical reaction to fear.

Ever wonder why you breathe faster when you're reading a suspenseful novel? Or why you sweat while checking the basement for that "strange noise"?

It's all due your sympathetic nervous system! When you feel a threat, your body does amazing things to prepare you to be able to engage in battle ("fight") or run away ("flee"). Your endocrine glands release neurotransmitters such as adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol into your system, causing:

1. your pupils to dilate and your senses to heighten so you can easily scan the scene and recognize danger.

2. your heart to beat faster, the blood vessels to constrict in your extremities, and you to breathe faster so you get more blood and oxygen to your core muscles and they can act quickly.

3. your metabolism to speed up so it absorbs every bit of sugar and fatty acids to use as energy.

4. your perception of pain to decrease so even if you get injured you can continue to fight or flee.

5. you to begin to sweat so your body doesn't overheat in action.

6. your body hairs to stand on end so that you appear larger and more intimidating to enemies.

However, when there is not an actual threat of danger, like when you're watching a scary movie, your body can react like there is a real threat. These natural reactions can then present themselves as a loud heartbeat, hyperventilation, a tightening in your chest, icy hands or feet, cold sweats, goosebumps, or an upset stomach. You also can feel jumpy, sensitive to little sounds, and "paranoid".

But don't worry, it's just your body doing its job! It you needed to run away from a bear, for example, you would be pleased that your body can work in this extraordinary way! Some people actually like the way the adrenaline feels pumping through their systems. :)

Are Black Cats Lucky?

Black cats have a long history of symbolism in the world. The most well-known in the United States is summed up well by Wikipedia:

The black cat in folklore has been thought to shape shift into humans to spy and bring information and ingredients (such as rosemary) to their witches to use in spells.

Therefore the cats are considered "bad luck" or a "bad omen" (and as a result are the least adopted kittens in the US!).

However, the award-winning astronomer Stephen James O'Meara debunks some of these myths in his book Are You Afraid Yet?: The Science Behind Scary Stuff. He claims that black cats may actually be good luck (as quoted in his interview on NPR's "Here & Now"):

"[Researchers have found that black cats] have a specific gene which helps them to fight diseases so they [live] longer. In fact, humans have the same gene within our own bodies and it may actually help us lead to antidotes."

Good! I knew I always found black cats intriguing for a reason. :)

Next week as Halloween approaches, I'll throw in some more Halloween mystery explanations. Enjoy!