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March 2010_june_july_2009.qxd 29/03/2010 11:53 AM Page 25 Where Have All The Werewolves Gone? 25 Where Have All The connection between the Satyrs of class ical ferocious as, and looking disturbingly like, a Werewolves Gone? myth, the Asian orang-utan, and the European werewolf. In 1866, German evolutionist Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) suggested the word Wild Man; all of them had been accused of Continued from Page 24 assaulting humans, especially women, just as Pithec anthropus (Ape man) for the as yet werewolves once had. The orang-utan in its undiscovered ‘missing link’ between humans Enlightenment era guise already had a long and primates; in 1894 the Dutch anatomist MISSING LINKS history amongst local people as The Man of the Eugene Dubois used Haeckel’s term for the Woods – they saw it not as an ape or monster, fossils he discovered in Java, which he felt The first in a line of contenders for the werewolf’s position was the ‘ape’. Classical but rather as another form of human. When fitted the part. Starting off as bestial, dim-witted brutes, authors knew a number of monkeys, such as Europeans encountered the animal they too, the Neanderthals experienced a reversal of macaques and baboons, but presented them as Rousseau and caricatures aside, saw it as neither fortune. No longer fiends to be feared, they physically ugly tricksters rather than monsters. human nor monster, but wholly ape. transformed into 1960s-style flower children, in The numerous wild men of monstrous race lore Tyson also helped inaugurate the idea of held similar positions, but had yet to be equated the missing link by arguing that his Pygmie fell tune with their environment, to be admired and even emulated. Like the monstrous races and with apes. The problem with the primates arose somewhere between apes and humans on the apes before them, the ape-man’s initial from their physical appearance. A debate raged Great Chain of Being. He concluded that while fearsomeness began to evaporate. about whether apes could be counted human, humans and apes had super ficial similarities Human nature still needed a monster, part-human or not human at all. Enlightenment they ultimately fell into different groups philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for anatomically and metaphysic ally. He did not though, and luckily one was available in the form of the anomalous primate. By the mid- example, thought the orang-utan of Asia an want to upset Christ ian sensibilities and so 20th century, the stage for Bigfoot, from a early form of human as yet uncorrupted by strove to separ ate the two groups. Later, natural history point of view, was set. Stories of modern civilisation. contemporaries like Swedish systematist wild men did appear prior to the publication of Europeans at first did not understand the Carolus Linnaeus tried to push the two back various species of primates and tended to lump together again with varying levels of success. Darwin’s Origin of Spec ies, but with a notable lack of ape-related accounts. Monster them together. The term ‘Orang-Outang’ Naturalists of the 18th century, in their efforts to enthusiasts routinely point to Native American covered any primate found in the tropical zones work out the relationship between apes and folklore as evid ence of sasquatch prior to the of the world. The Dutch anatomist Nicholas humans, still acted within a Christian arrival of Europeans, but these stories are Tulp (1593–1674) first used the term in print in worldview and not an evolutionary one, tending an article called “Homo Sylvestris, or Man of to believe in the fixity of species. This meant consistent with wild man stories and don’t specific ally mention anything expressly simian the Woods” as part of his larger Observationes that not only the non-human primates, but also in nature as later Sasquatch and Bigfoot stor ies Medicæ (1641). Tulp – subject of the famous people of colour, occupied lower rungs on the do. Early European-American explorer tales of Rembrandt painting – was able to see one of the ladder leading to God, with Europeans at the encounters also speak of strange creatures and first live primates brought to Europe, an top, closest to the deity. Evolution assaulted this ‘Orang-Outang’ (probably a chimpanzee) in a notion by making all men equal regardless of wild men rather than apes. Indeed, researchers find themselves hard pressed to find any local menagerie. The first thorough scientific superficial differences, and by making them legends or myths with a linkage to ape-human description of primate anatomy appeared in relatives, if not descendants, of the apes. hybrids or composites prior to the middle of the British anatomist Edward Tyson’s Anatomy of a 19th century. Yeti stories can be traced back in Pygmie (1699). Working from a creature FROM APES TO APE MEN brought from Angola (probably a bonobo), but Tibetan and Nepalese folklore to the 4th century BC, but again, they are wild man stories that do which had died before he acquired it, Tyson Eventually, more authentic knowledge not necessarily speak of apes or monkeys. It’s (1650–1708) included a number of exactingly of foreign lands and people did away with belief not until the debate about the primate ancestry rendered illustrations of the creat ure’s in the monstrous races. Greater scientific of humans that monstrous ape-men begin to musculature and skeleton in his book. knowledge of primate anatomy made the Part of Tyson’s reason for producing his monkeys less threatening as well, turning them roam the landscape. Because of its supposed ability to shape- work focused on his desire to dispel various back into their clownish image, resurrected shift, the werewolf holds a unique place in mythical beliefs about creatures he felt were from antiquity. These factors, along with a monster lore and presents problems of misidentifications of existing, non-monstrous, general move to ‘modernity’ in the broadest classification for historians of science as well as species. In this way, Tulp and Tyson’s work can sense, saw a drop off in reports of werewolves. be seen as an early cryptozoological enterprise: The werewolf’s position was threatened but not cryptozoologists. The werewolf’s condition separates it from traditional composite monsters they strove to replace fictive creatures with eliminated. It took a special new breed to unseat like sea serpents or mermaids, or even Bigfoot, genuine ones, to take the mythical and make it the lycanthrope. In the mid-19th century the who inhabit their forms permanently. The rational and scientific. Paradoxically, however, formerly separate wild men and apes merged werewolf falls into the category of part-time, Tyson undermined his own efforts with the life into a unified whole more potent than either rendering he included of his ‘Pygmie’ – never separately: ‘Men-of-the-Woods’ from around hybrid composite. It undergoes change through a vaguely supernatural process, discounting it as having seen the creature alive, he depicted it in the world took on the morphology of hairy, a genuine cryptid. Werewolves and anomalous a bipedal stance supporting itself on what is bipedal Ape-Men, who in turn joined with the primates do share characteristics beyond the clearly a man’s walking stick. As a result, the next challenger to the werewolf’s old position: superficial. Although Bigfoot is normally image strikes the viewer as a hairy, beast-like the caveman. human. Unlike the werewolf, the ape man/cave thought to be a pastoral animal, encounter stor - ies include some violent episodes. The Windigo As the debate over the extent of the man arose in part from the fossil record. When of Canada, for example, has a reputation to give relationship between humans and apes first found in Germany in 1856, Neanderthal the loup-garou a run for its money, while some continued, ‘apes’ in a generic form took on a Man caused a sensation and a debate as to how monster enthusiasts argue that Sasquatch is a sinister appearance as the dark and brutal other. it should be classified – man, ape or other? Europeans and Americans equated them with Opposition, borne out of racial concerns, arose shape-shifter. people of colour rather than themselves. immediately to the idea of it as a human (Continued on Page 26) Monsters – in any culture that believes in them ancestor. As a result, in 1908 when French – take on analogous roles, usually depicting anthropologist Marcellin Boule (1861–1942) something felt to be unsavoury. In Euro- made the first major reconstruction of a American culture, the ape became the focus for Neanderthal based on the La Chapelle-aux- fears about race, gender, empire and all the Saints skeleton, he configured it as the classic malignant things lurking in the human psyche. cave man: a stoop-shouldered brute. A 1909 Tyson’s use of the name Pygmie and his illustration based on Boule’s work appeared in discuss ion of mythical animals made a temporal the Illustrated London News showing the Neanderthal as a malignant ape-like monster as