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so i just watched "never cry werewolf" and aside for it being nothing but i B movie i found it hilarious that the werewolfs have hairy palms in human form.... anyone else have this problem??

It's a silly throwback to genuine werewolf folklore.

yeeeah....


you know, you *can* get a tan on your palms though.

or shave...

Hairy Palms? That is a throwback to the real olde Were-wolf stories and legends. According to the stories, Hair growing on the palms of the hands was proof that you were up to no-good as a Were-wolf (note the ancient hyphenation that is also part of the old stuff).
Nowdays, it just means that you've had skin grafts.

There just isn't any romance these days...sigh...

Sounds stupid!

It's only worse because it doesn't shoot lightning.

Alot of people ahve hairy palms, and a few have unibrows and an index finger that is just as long as their middle one. All of these were "signs" that people were werewolves... All of it crap too. But i feel sorry for people who have a long index finger...
(Why? ... As i didn't know)
Because when ever they point someone thinks their flipping them off...
(oh, stop, stop... That joke was worse than Figarou's...)
Yeah, except his are mostly funny...
(Agreed)

I agree with Werewolf Keeper. Some movie makers just base werewolves off legends and don't come up with anything creative themselves.
Personally, I think that the whole hairy palms thing is kinda weird. Plenty of people have excessive hair growth on their palms (well, also their whole body basically) and it doesn't make them a werewolf.

i can just see it

"Night of the Hairy Palmed guy, with a unibrow and an index figner as long as his middle finger." OOOOOOHHHHHH! Scary.

And there is also the "Werewolf Disease", where people have overactive hairgrowth that causes hair to cover their entire bodies. They're called werewolves too, and are staples in some Mexican circuses.
All because of a little more hair than everyone else...

Oh and Rosiewolf? Thanks.

I never understood the hair palm thing in the folklore. while wolves have fur between their "fingers" for warmth the equivalent area to the palm has pads.

Now that would be a weird trait if it remained in human form, to have pads on one's hands. try explaining those (uh really thick black calusis)

Rhuen wrote:I never understood the hair palm thing in the folklore. while wolves have fur between their "fingers" for warmth the equivalent area to the palm has pads.

Now that would be a weird trait if it remained in human form, to have pads on one's hands. try explaining those (uh really thick black calusis)

half the time i don't understand the legends
Why can't werewolves cross running water, but can swim?
Why can't werewolves stand red roses?
Why is silver the only metal that can kill a werewolf?

Legends are stories that start off as true, are warped through telling from mouth to mouth, and ended up as what we have now... I didn't get the hairy palms either. Nor did i get the whole unibrow thing. I'm guesing the index finger thing is because that is true.

but the rest... well i think i did hear something about silver being the moons light turned against the wolves or something. But that came the book Blood and Chocolate, so i doubt that is true...

WerewolfKeeper3 wrote:

Rhuen wrote:I never understood the hair palm thing in the folklore. while wolves have fur between their "fingers" for warmth the equivalent area to the palm has pads.

Now that would be a weird trait if it remained in human form, to have pads on one's hands. try explaining those (uh really thick black calusis)

half the time i don't understand the legends
Why can't werewolves cross running water, but can swim?
Why can't werewolves stand red roses?
Why is silver the only metal that can kill a werewolf?

Legends are stories that start off as true, are warped through telling from mouth to mouth, and ended up as what we have now... I didn't get the hairy palms either. Nor did i get the whole unibrow thing. I'm guesing the index finger thing is because that is true.

but the rest... well i think i did hear something about silver being the moons light turned against the wolves or something. But that came the book Blood and Chocolate, so i doubt that is true...

Running water was supposedly uncrossible by something totally evil. Hitler crossed a lot of running water without ill effect.
Red Roses supposedly represented the "Passion" of the Christ, and were a symbol of his mother-Mary. The "Passion" I'm not so sure about, but you do NOT want to get on the bad side of a God's MOTHER. ANY God's Mother, for that matter...
Silver was symbolic of the Moon, which gave Werewolves their ability to Shift. Getting shot with your power-metal is gonna hurt...bad. Getting shot with anything isn't much fun, either...

Remember, a lot of legends have been rendered strange by the power of the great charlatan, Hollywood. Mix & Match, whatever sells the film...

The silver bullet I understand was added on by hollywood, based on the folklore that throwing silver over a werewolf's head would cause it to revert to human form.

guess its kind of an expansion on that folklore, that a direct piercing hit by a metal able to do that would be fatal.

Also heard that hollywood was the one who came up with the Full Moon thing. If i remember, most of the legends never even spoke of the full moon turning humans into werewolves... Did i just repeat something someone else said on the boards a while ago, and i just completely forgot about?
(Maybe... but that helps... not surprised RedEye knows that either.)
What doesn't he know?
(the winning lottery numbers? )

Arent hairy palms what church leaders warn teenagers about getting for their "inappropriate behavior" when they're alone?

Sorry. Hope that was broad enough a way of putting it.

MoonKit wrote:Arent hairy palms what church leaders warn teenagers about getting for their "inappropriate behavior" when they're alone?

Sorry. Hope that was broad enough a way of putting it.

If that were fact, there would be a lot of bald guys who wouldn't need Rogaine.

Actually though, according to the Wiki, there are a lot of conditions that might cause hair growth on the palms of the hands...of both genders. The follicles are there, apparently; but they are just inactive, like the ones on the non-beard areas of the face and soles of the feet. Most people who do have follicle activity in those areas wear the hair off in daily activity.

Isn't the Wiki fun?

Rhuen wrote:The silver bullet I understand was added on by hollywood, based on the folklore that throwing silver over a werewolf's head would cause it to revert to human form.

guess its kind of an expansion on that folklore, that a direct piercing hit by a metal able to do that would be fatal.

Silver is, additionally, oft considered a holy metal.

Holy metals are oft choice for creating something to repel an unholy creature.

Aki wrote:

Rhuen wrote:The silver bullet I understand was added on by hollywood, based on the folklore that throwing silver over a werewolf's head would cause it to revert to human form.

guess its kind of an expansion on that folklore, that a direct piercing hit by a metal able to do that would be fatal.

Silver is, additionally, oft considered a holy metal.

Holy metals are oft choice for creating something to repel an unholy creature.

in Catholocism (whome we must look at as the source more Medeval European myths)
Gold=God the Father

Silver=Jesus Christ

Glass=The Holy Spirit.

Hmm no fingerfoods for weres then...

WerewolfKeeper3 wrote:

Rhuen wrote:half the time i don't understand the legends
Why can't werewolves cross running water, but can swim?
Why can't werewolves stand red roses?
Why is silver the only metal that can kill a werewolf?

RedEye pretty much hit the nail on the head with all of these.

Werewolves were said not to be able to cross running water for the same reasons vampires could not: because running water was thought to be cleansing and wash away one's sins, therefore an inherently evil creature like a werewolf or vampire could not cross it.

Early Christians identified the five petals of the rose with the five wounds of Christ, adopted the red rose as a symbol of Christian martyrs and further associated it with the virgin Mary. The red rose was thought to be pure/holy, and it was therefore thought that inherently evil creatures could not withstand it.

Silver has two separate interpretations. On one hand, it's the lunar metal (opposite gold, the solar metal), and since werewolves are associated with the moon, it was thought that the lunar metal would have a greater affect on them. Silver was also thought to be pure, and just like with the red rose and running water, the assumption was that inherently evil creatures would be opposed to anything pure or holy in nature.

Hairy palms, on the other hand, are an old wives' tale and are supposedly a consequence of masturbation. Back then, the assumption was that all things were completely black or white, so anyone who was sinful in one way was sinful in every way, so many self-proclaimed indicators of bad character or bad behavior were in turn attributed to the vampire and werewolf legends.

Unibrows were considered a sign of bad character in general. I guess the idea is that, while not all bad people are werewolves, all werewolves are bad people, so the unibrow was included as well.

ok this is kinda ridiculous, hairy palms? unibrows? werewolf folklore is messed up. the only time the old folklore was any good was in the movie "the Company of Wolves" or w/e its called. I have a unibrow, i shave it off. hell i have hair everywhere! its ridiculous to think that ppl who were hairy like me were actually persecuted in the old days. stupid humanity. the really stupid thing is, we haven't even really grown up. if we found out werewolves were real humanity would freak out! i even started a thread on the subject: http://thepack.network/thepackboard/vie ... =41&t=7447

but please, lets just throw some of this nonsense out the window! Hairy palms! gah!
(sorry if i ranted there, im in a bad mood)

Wolf-man-24 wrote:ok this is kinda ridiculous, hairy palms? unibrows? werewolf folklore is messed up. the only time the old folklore was any good was in the movie "the Company of Wolves" or w/e its called. I have a unibrow, i shave it off. hell i have hair everywhere! its ridiculous to think that ppl who were hairy like me were actually persecuted in the old days. stupid humanity. the really stupid thing is, we haven't even really grown up. if we found out werewolves were real humanity would freak out! i even started a thread on the subject: http://thepack.network/thepackboard/vie ... =41&t=7447

but please, lets just throw some of this nonsense out the window! Hairy palms! gah!
(sorry if i ranted there, im in a bad mood)

Hey, I'm all for throwing it out too. It's total crap for the most part.

Part of it was just general superstition and paranoia running rampant. The other part of it was the monarchy, clergy etc. making up imaginary evils to keep the people afraid and under their control.

Some things, such as a werewolf's relation to silver and the full moon, are harder parted with than others because they did solidify in the modern mainstream perspective, but those few elements are just as well founded as everything else and therefore just as easily discarded.

I'd heard this before, and often found it entertaining that it was also connected to self-gratification. Always figured if it was true, everyone in the world would have sasquatch hands.

WerewolfKeeper3 wrote:Also heard that hollywood was the one who came up with the Full Moon thing. If i remember, most of the legends never even spoke of the full moon turning humans into werewolves...

Although the folklore doesn't seem to mention any connection between the Moon and Werewolves, this motif can be found long before the first Hollywood Werewolf/Wolfman movies. Specifically in the writings of a 13th century canon lawyer - Gervase of Tilbury, who was likely to be the first person to do the association.

The discussion reminded me of "Hairy Palms" picture from http://www.deviantart.com (by Bay-Silver-Werewolf).

I'd rather not post the link itself. Some people might consider it inapropriate.