By Alice Axe, 38, Guitarist for Sonicide
Lycanthropy is a condition in which a person believes he or she can transform into a wolf. In other words, lycanthropes believe they are werewolves, though some, like Axe, believe the shift stops short of a full-blown transformation.
When I was a kid, I'd constantly get in trouble because in moments of stress, I'd bite other kids or I'd growl at the gym teacher and they'd send me home.
When it's really peaking, I can shift to the wolf state every night. It's true that you are affected by the moon, though a new moon seems to have a stronger effect than a full moon. But for me, it's certain sounds and smells that trigger it. Fires will do it. Or extreme emotions--anger, sadness, sex.
Things sound different. When I'm in the wolf state, I have acute hearing. I hear the whine of computer monitors. And things smell different. Bad odors to people aren't necessarily bad odors when you're an animal. I don't mind body odor or garbage.
I have increased strength and agility. I can run fast on all fours. It's not the crawl that humans do, but a real run. I can even keep up with my dogs. There's also a lack of the sensation of pain. I've often hurt myself in a shift and didn't realize it.
The human side of your thinking gets blocked out, and the wolf takes over. I revert to a primitive state in which I don't recognize language. I think only in terms of color, size, shape, and smell.
If I feel threatened, I can be very destructive. Once when I was a teenager, I was at a party and I got drunk. That opened me up for it, and I chased everybody out of the house. They put it in the newspaper. None of my friends would come near me after that.
Fortunately I can pretty much control it now. I have tricks: I try to think about human things, like math. But other times I don't fight it, and I'll go out to the woods at night and get it out of my system. By the time I come out of it, I'm usually ready to go to sleep.
--AS TOLD TO DOUG CANTOR
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