# Werewolves & Silver Bullets? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2000, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werewolves-silver-bullets/8518 "2000-03-13T20:18:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdonald](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6de8d8/32.png) [@tdonald](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdonald)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werewolves-silver-bullets/8518/1 "2000-03-14T06:24:00Z")
How come silver bullets will apparently kill werewolves? They’ve been a legend for many centuries whereas guns with bullets have only been around for a couple of centuries. Did the early villagers accidently use a silver dagger? Does silver anything supposedly have an effect (like a wooden stake w/vampires)? Might a medieval predecessor to the Lone Ranger (who evidentally had the bucks to use silver bullets) (and why DID the L.R. carry, or at least leave, silver bullets?) have existed in Eastern European prehistory? Would this also mean the werewolves also fear Coors Light? 🙂 Thanks, and have a positive day, TD * * * better living through chemistry ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werewolves-silver-bullets/8518/2 "2000-03-14T06:39:00Z")
I don’t know the answer to your werewolf question but I do know the answer to you Lone Ranger question. When the Lone Ranger radio show was in the developmental stages it was decided that the character should be a composite of Zorro and Robin Hood. A Robin Hood radio serial at the time featured silver-tipped arrows. This inspired the silver bullets that meshed well with the name of the Lone Ranger’s white horse. For good measure they also gave the Lone Ranger silver shoes. Luckily, the shoes were replaced with cowboy boots by the time the Lone Ranger hit movies and TV. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werewolves-silver-bullets/8518/3 "2000-03-13T20:18:00Z")
> [@](#): > > When the Lone Ranger radio show was in the developmental stages it was decided that the character should be a composite of Zorro and Robin Hood. A Robin Hood radio serial at the time featured silver-tipped arrows. This inspired the silver bullets that meshed well with the name of the Lone Ranger’s white horse. The episode detailing Silver’s origin has the silver bullets in use prior to TLR’s acquiring the horse. The backstory of the silver bullets is that TLR and his brother owned a silver mine which they were going to work after leaving the Rangers. TLR’s brother was killed (by the Cavendish gang) and the silver bullets are in part a tribute to his dead brother. The origin of silver as a weapon against werewolves predates the invention of the gun (in the first werewolf movie the beast was done in by being hit with a silver-headed cane). Silver has long been a symbol of purity. When guns and bullets became common, it made sense that popculture would co-opt the image of a silver version of this common weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werewolves-silver-bullets/8518/4 "2000-03-13T20:35:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Otto: > \*\* in the first werewolf movie the beast was done in by being hit with a silver-headed cane\*\* ## That would be _The Wolf Man_ (1941) you’re referring to. Don’t forget _The Werewolf of London_ (1935), in which Henry Hull bites the dust after being winged with an ordinary lead bullet. Uke ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werewolves-silver-bullets/8518/5 "2000-03-13T21:04:00Z")
And in _An American Werewolf in London_ the lycanthrope was done in by a hail of ordinary 7.62mm NATO from L1A1 rifles. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werewolves-silver-bullets/8518/6 "2000-03-14T02:06:00Z")
In Warren Zevon’s _Werewolves of London_ a werewolf was drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s. His hair was perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Yue\_Han](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/eada6e/32.png) [@Yue\_Han](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yue_Han)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werewolves-silver-bullets/8518/7 "2000-03-14T03:03:00Z")
Basically, silver is bad for evil things. For instance, an instrument with silver strings is supposed to be able to break enchantment. –John * * * 'Twis brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gymble in the wabe. Mimsy were the borogroves, And the momeraths outgrabe. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werewolves-silver-bullets/8518/8 "2000-03-14T03:10:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Billdo: > **In Warren Zevon’s _Werewolves of London_ a werewolf was drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s. His hair was perfect.** …and when Warren Zevon played the long gone and much lamented “Main Point” on the Main Line in Philly so many years ago, it was “Wa-hoooo…werewolves of Bryn Mawr”. I loved that place. I saw a concert there, and the last band to gig the night before had left a large sign, it read “Gentleman George Thorogood and The Delaware Destroyers”. \ Takes me back. Just about everyone played there. Legend has it that Jackson Browne rode a bike out from Center City to play a benefit to try to save the place at one point before it closed. ( I actually worked with Jackson about 18 months ago, and of course never thought to ask if the damned story was true…) I don’t even think The Main Point seated 250. Cartooniverse ``` Cartooniverse ``` * * * If you want to kiss the sky, you’d better learn how to kneel. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werewolves-silver-bullets/8518/9 "2000-03-14T14:27:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Yue Han: > \*\* For instance, an instrument with silver strings is supposed to be able to break enchantment. > \*\* Thank you, Manly Wade Wellman.