Lycantrophy

Lycanthropy is the clinical term for the delusion on the part of a person that he or she has turned into a wolf. In most cases, the deluded person believes that this transformation was the result of magic or witchcraft. Skeptics accept that lycanthropy is a real psychological condition and speculate that it is responsible for all claims related to the existence of werewolves, which are supposedly part human, part wolves.

SEE ALSO:

• Werewolves

SOURCE:

The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning