Talk:Wolfshead

This short pulp story uses many typical characterizations and devices of werewolf stories such as horrific appearance, connection to the full moon, and trying to restrain the beast lurking inside an otherwise normal person.

There are also several interesting ideas in this story regarding werewolf lore that I regard as novel:

a) the origin of werewolves was ancient demons who became trapped in the bodies of wolves

b) werewolves are actually these demonic wolves taking human form

c) werewolves must be killed while in full wolf form, during the zenith of the full moon or their spirits will haunt their slayer

d) the "werewolf" character in the story changes during the full moon due to demonic-spirit possession by a werewolf he killed

e) this "curse of the werewolf" can be undone through good deeds

I'm not sure if see novel ideas derive from an older source or if they are the invention of the author. They are certainly new to me. They seem derivative of the common feature of werewolves as "contagious" through being bit but not killed and needing to be killed in a certain, difficult way.

There's also quite a lot of stereotypical racism against the Africans in the story. They are called "black devils" and the phrase "The natives are restless..." or something equivalent is used many times. I guess this was a very popular way of talking about "natives" of the time, and that slave revolts were such a great concern for their "masters" that this phrase has become a cliche through repeated use.

It makes me want to read more pulp horror stories. The narrative style is certainly fast and engrossing.

Source Text
The issue of Weird Tales containing this story is on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV07N04192604 Uploading this to Commons and pulling it here could start the ball rolling on a match and split for this document. Subvisser5 (talk) 19:15, 18 May 2022 (UTC)


 * @Subvisser5: File:Weird Tales Volume 7 Number 4 (1926-04).djvu —CalendulaAsteraceae (talk • contribs) 05:14, 19 May 2022 (UTC)