According to old records, c. 1640 the German city of Greifswald became overrun with werewolves. The lycanthropic population had become so large that they literally took over the city, working outward from their principal hovel in Rokover Street. Any human who ventured out after dark was in certain danger of being attacked and killed by the large company of werewolves.
As the story goes, at last a group of bold students decided that they had had enough of living in fear and staying indoors at night, cowering before their hearths. One night they banded together and led a charge against the monster. Although the students put up a good fight, they were virtually helpless against the powerful werewolves.
But then a clever lad suggested that they gather all their silver buttons, goblets, belt buckles, and so forth, and melt them down into bullets for their muskets and pistols. Thus reinforced, the students set out once again to challenge the dominance of the werewolves---and this time they slaughtered the creatures and rid Greifswald of the lycanthropes.
Sources: Temme, J.D.H. Die Volkssagen von Pommern und Rugen. Translated by D.L. Ashliman. Berlin: In de Nicolaischen Buchhandlung, 1840.
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3 comments:
i have some question about this story. the use of silver bullets in werewolf stories didn't appear unit after beast of gevaudan in 1767, but your story takes place in 1640. what is your source on this story?????
No lo dudo.
Just happened upon this article, but to answer Anonymous' question from 10 years ago (wow), the source is Die Volkssagen von Pommern und Rügen, a book written in 1840. Also, silver itself has long been considered an effective weapon against werewolves, since Europeans considered werewolves nothing more than witches/sorcerers who could transform into wolves, and silver believed to be an effective weapon against witches and sorcerers. The original story does not specify that the silver was melted down into bullets, but that the students gathered their silver and fought the werewolves with it. The bullets appear to be a flourish, as do the many sources of silver indicated.
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