# If werewolves become wolves at the full moon... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598 "2007-05-10T21:20:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/1 "2007-05-10T21:20:24Z")
What happens at the new moon? Is that when the anti-werewolves suddenly change? (But from what? And into what? Is an anti-werewolf a wolf that changes into a human?) Or do real werewolves suddenly become bald, instead? C’mon, somebody help me out here. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/2 "2007-05-10T21:25:33Z")
I’ll have some of what he’s having. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/3 "2007-05-10T22:32:14Z")
The OP’s from NZ so they should know it’s when the [Killer Sheep](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0779982/) come out. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/4 "2007-05-10T22:44:43Z")
[QUOTE=MacSpon] What happens at the new moon? Is that when the anti-werewolves suddenly change? (But from what? And into what? Is an anti-werewolf a wolf that changes into a human?) Or do real werewolves suddenly become bald, instead? C’mon, somebody help me out here. [/QUOTE] It’s the time of the month werewolves love best - no shaving, no bottom sniffing, and can pass a hydrant without twitching. Si ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/5 "2007-05-10T22:46:52Z")
If a bear shits in the woods, does the pope smell it? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/6 "2007-05-10T23:07:55Z")
The effect of a lunar eclipse on werewolves has never been studied. There’s apparently an excellent (and evidently hilarious) story on someone who is cursed to become a werebeagle that I’ve seen repeatedly referenced, and which I’d dearly love to find. On a double planet that is tidally locked, would where you are relative to the giant “moon” overhead affect whether you lycanthropize? If you played Bob Seger music while being attacked by a werewolf, would that kill him? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/7 "2007-05-10T23:14:29Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] There’s apparently an excellent (and evidently hilarious) story on someone who is cursed to become a werebeagle that I’ve seen repeatedly referenced, and which I’d dearly love to find. [/QUOTE] There is a werebeagle in Spider Robinson’s [Callahan’s Lady](http://www.amazon.com/Callahans-Lady-Spider-Robinson/dp/0671318314). ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/8 "2007-05-10T23:30:31Z")
Chupacabra. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/9 "2007-05-10T23:30:54Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] There is a werebeagle in Spider Robinson’s [Callahan’s Lady](http://www.amazon.com/Callahans-Lady-Spider-Robinson/dp/0671318314). [/QUOTE] Yep, and also mentioned as an attraction at the DreamWorld theme park in the same author’s _The Free Lunch_. But that clued me in to the fact that, like the other park attractions, it’s derived from a well-loved story (as are Lummox the Star Beast, Oscar the Spacesuit, Penny Lane, Master Li and Number Ten Ox, Callahan hisself\*, and other park attractions. So I’m asking, in passing, who wrote the werebeagle story that Spider references. - Yeah, it’s “himself” grammatically. This is the one place where “hisself” is the proper term, OK? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/10 "2007-05-11T00:10:15Z")
I think it’s because they’re all reverse vampires! ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/11 "2007-05-11T00:23:47Z")
Where wolf? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/12 "2007-05-11T00:25:06Z")
In one of Terry Pratchet’ss books there is an anti-werewolf, where a wolf three weeks out of four turns human. It’s…the Reaper Man? I think? One of my favorites, or at least the Death parts. ETA: There wolf! ---
**Author:** ![Vimp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vimp/32/4186_2.png) [@Vimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vimp)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/13 "2007-05-11T00:40:11Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] There’s apparently an excellent (and evidently hilarious) story on someone who is cursed to become a werebeagle that I’ve seen repeatedly referenced, and which I’d dearly love to find. [/QUOTE] I don’t know about werebeagles, but in one of the latest Charlaine Harris “Southern Vampires” series, the main character’s brother is a werepanther, and her boss is a werecollie that curls up on her carpet during the critical times. A werebeagle may show up in other books. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/14 "2007-05-11T01:44:37Z")
You’ve got it backward. The shapeshifting of werewolves causes the moon to become full. Therefore, the new moon occurs when werewolves are at their laziest. This is why it is unwise to upset werewolves-- it causes the moon to wobble. The moral is that everything has its place in the great web of nature. The moon causes the tides; werewolves cause the moon to change phase by transforming; humans keep the moon from falling out of the sky by leaving out plates of delicious pork sausage for the werewolves; everybody stays happy! Is it cloudy tonight? Do you know where the moon is? Maybe you should set some tasty bratwurst out on the porch just to be on the safe side. It’s worth it for the peace of mind. Why not do it right now? You’ll feel better! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/15 "2007-05-11T01:48:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Is that when the anti-werewolves suddenly change? (But from what? And into what? Is an anti-werewolf a wolf that changes into a human?) Someone – I don’t recall who – wrote a story about a wolf bitten by a werewolf who becomes a human when the moon is full. As for were-whatevers, Fredric Brown wrote a pun-filled story about a guy who was a were-deer back in the 1950s. He was always willing to take a gambol, so he changed into the deer and got into the deer enclosure at the Zoo, intending to mate with a female, since everyone wants to make a little doe. She protested, but he insisted “My deer, think of the fawnyou’ll have!” But she was a were=deer, too, and changed back into a human. To make sure he didn’t follow, she froze him in his deer form (since she was a witch as well). She still visits him, and he asks to be changed back, but she’s sentimental, and wants to keep the first buck she made. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/16 "2007-05-11T02:35:04Z")
Look, if anybody used some common sense and looked into astronomy threads in GQ for the answer, it’s **obvious** what werewolf Dopers do on the New Moon: perform delicate observations for which the moon’s light would drown out the distant and faint images they wish to observe. Any Pratchett fan would know that! ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/17 "2007-05-11T04:47:23Z")
Well, [Inuyasha](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InuYasha_%28character%29) _does_ turn human, but call him a [wolf](http://www.angelfire.com/anime5/4souls_of_the_shikon/kouga.html) and he’ll kick your ass. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_moon) seems to have a bit of mythological info, but not that. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/18 "2007-05-11T06:03:28Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Someone – I don’t recall who – wrote a story about a wolf bitten by a werewolf who becomes a human when the moon is full. [/QUOTE] Boris Vian. One of the hits of Spanish pop group La Unión is Lobo-hombre en París, based on Vian’s story. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/19 "2007-05-11T10:19:11Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] In one of Terry Pratchet’ss books there is an anti-werewolf, where a wolf three weeks out of four turns human. It’s…the Reaper Man? I think? One of my favorites, or at least the Death parts. ETA: There wolf! [/QUOTE] Yep, but Angua has no trouble going wolf any time she wants to (apart from the full moon when she HAS to go wolf). So why can’t the _werehuman_ (wolfman) go human when he wants, to be with the girl he loves? Maybe humans can see an advantage in being a wolf, but wolves see no advantage in being human. Si ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598/20 "2007-05-11T12:18:48Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] In one of Terry Pratchet’ss books there is an anti-werewolf, where a wolf three weeks out of four turns human. It’s…the Reaper Man? I think? One of my favorites, or at least the Death parts. ETA: There wolf! [/QUOTE] Yes, _Reaper Man_. There’s a bit towards the end where the zombie Windle Poons and spirit guide One-Man-Bucket are talking it over. AD&D 1st Edition Monster Manual mention “wolfweres” who were wolves with the occasional ability to become men - otherwise much the same as werewolves IIRC. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-werewolves-become-wolves-at-the-full-moon/403598.md?page=2)