Look, A Werewolf!

 

I am not the biggest fan of Vamp fiction, but I can say that I have a considerably healthy interest in reading books or watching video material dedicated to Vampire folklore. As is usually the case, when reading books exclusive to this Fantasy genre, you will come to discover a whole slew of otherworldly creatures that can excite and captivate the imagination, or in the very least inspire terror in the minds of people who would spare a thought to the subject. Take werewolves for instance—how is it that after reading or watching material dedicated to werewolves, that most people do not completely and irreversibly jump ship by abandoning their hitherto tenacious fascination for vampires?

I am more fascinated and excited by lycanthropes. In my opinion, werewolves are more fearsome, more powerful, more intriguing, more awe-inspiring, more cool. Granted, vampire stories and similar tales are all products of fertile imaginations, but have you ever imagined what it would be like if indeed there were these massive, hairy, powerful creatures around?

Can you even begin to fathom the horror of witnessing the moonlit night transformation of a usually jovial, or calm averagely built acquaintance into one giant hirsute, clawed and fanged beast? Can you even visualize the horror of seeing that massive covering of hair on the face and body? Of hearing that bone-chilling lupine howl? Of noticing the rending of normal garments? Or of seeing the vicious imprint of formidable razor-sharp claws on immediate surroundings? Any encounter with lycanthropes will surely convince you of their brute strength, assuming you managed to survive the deadly affair.

It is therefore with a feeling of sympathy that I talk about a certain guy in Mexico by the name of Danny Gomez, who has an unfortunate genetic disorder resulting in an anomalie known as hypertrichosis or werewolf syndrome. Sufferers of this syndrome have massive and thick hair on their faces and body—such thick dense covering of hair that they do infact look like werewolves. Anyone who had not seen them before will definitely be startled or jolted by their appearance upon first contact. It is therefore hardly surprising that people consider individuals afflicted by this condition as freaks of nature resulting in their ostracism.

Hopefully a cure would be found for this soon. Researchers have determined that human werewolves have a gene (or rather a set of genes) responsible for body hair growth that are turned ON and thus fully expressed whereas such genes are usually turned OFF or altogether missing in regular people. This is a momentous and uplifting discovery because unlike many bizarre birth defects, this condition has been definitively isolated and tracked down to a genetic anomalie. 

All that remains is to figure a cure that would stop the expression of this gene or remove it altogether. If that happens, one can hope that an application of the cure would prevent further growth of hair on eyelids, palms, faces and other parts of the body that are usually alopecic. Only when you have to shave hair off your face constanfly, or else avoid all contacts with strangers, will you begin to appreciate the utter piteousness of the situation. Life as a performer in a roving circus freak show, I would imagine, gets stale and unsatisfying in the end. Besides, I hasten to add that such a nomadic lifestyle is clearly not for everyone.

Finally, I'll let my mind wander. What if these poor sufferers of this syndrome, who have had to hide or avoid contact, and who do not possess any amazing powers suddenly evolved some mysterious werewolf powers, possess superhuman speed and agility, superhuman physical strength or perhaps subhuman lupine ferocity and bloodlust? Would they suddenly become hunted and eliminated?