Werewolf. Macedonia

Bulgarian farmer Trich Draganov was cultivating a new field plot on the outskirts of a village in Macedonia and came across a wooden box wrapped in chains and locked in the ground. After opening the find, he found a skull inside, very similar to the skull of a werewolf (as it is customary to imagine it).

After that, historian Philip Ganev met with the farmer, who was collecting material for his new book about the Balkan Wars in these places. According to Ganev's descriptions, the skull resembles a wolf's, but the cranium is much larger – such are found only in primates.

Ganev photographed the skull and showed the pictures to specialists, who suggested that it could be a wolf suffering from Paget's disease. With this disease, the skull really increases in size and becomes more like a human.

Ganev said that werewolves have been found in Balkan folklore since time immemorial. Legends about how and why a person becomes a werewolf vary significantly in different regions. Some believe that a child is born with the ability to transform into a beast. Babies born with hair are particularly suspicious in this regard.

In other regions, it is believed that a person who died with an unconfessed mortal sin or made a deal with the devil can be born anew as a werewolf.

But despite the difference in the stories of the origin of werewolves in all regions are united in how to bury the body of a murdered werewolf.

The burial of a werewolf always involves a special ceremony conducted by a local priest, decapitation and burning of the body. It is believed that werewolves should be killed on Saturday, because they spend this day alone in their coffins and it is easy to deal with them. In the case of the Macedonian werewolf, judging by the find, his burial took place in compliance with all the rules. At least until a curious farmer unearthed the skull.

Trich is very proud of his find and is glad to have unexpectedly fallen on him fame. However, most of his fellow villagers do not share the farmer's optimism.

"Many of my neighbors were angry that I disturbed the spirit of a werewolf. They say that now I myself will be born a werewolf in the next life. But I think - if this is my destiny, then so be it. What's done is done”"