Classification: Mythical Beasts & Cryptids

Temporal Range: Unknown

Geographic Range: Eastern Europe

Diet: Carnivorous

In many parts of the world, wolves are seen as supernatural beings, but nowhere more so than in Eastern Europe, where the wolf is almost revered. It's no surprise that the Vukodlak, the evolutionary precursor to what we now know as the werewolf, has its roots there. If you haven't yet encountered lycanthropy in your travels, it refers to a curse where a person transforms into a wolf under the full moon’s light, becoming a wild and untamable beast until sunrise.

Becoming a Vukodlak often means you have wronged a wolf in some way. One method is to kill and skin a wolf and wear its hide without tanning it first. Even worse is to eat the meat of a wolf. Either way, you'll be howling at the moon and probably dealing with a bad case of roundworms in no time.

Other methods involve curses and the hereditary crimes of your parents, but there is more evidence supporting the former. Case studies of Vukodlaks indicate they cannot remember their actions during a night as a wolf. At this stage, we think that's probably for the best.