Here at Thrillvania Haunted House Park in Dallas, Baron Michael Verdun’s dying oath of vengeance on any who enters his realm is just one cause of the many forms of werewolves that abound on the property. The innocent, thrill-seekers who are searching for the ultimate scare enter the grounds never suspecting that they may leave changed forever or never leave at all…
Many believe werewolves to be misunderstood, tragic creatures that have no choice but to transform into a hairy, wolf-like creature that loses the ability to think rationally and is controlled by their darker, animalistic nature. There are those who believe that werewolves can change at will and do not have to wait for the full moon and are truly evil at the core, looking only to ravage and destroy those in their path or those who have crossed or injured them in their human form.
The werewolf and werewolf lore has been around since ancient times. The werewolf has been hunted and even put on trial along with witches as early as the 16th century. Gypsies, the poor, and those who were considered heretics were especially susceptible in these times to the persecution of werewolf hunters. In ancient texts, lycanthropy was used by the gods as punishment for humans who dared to insult or mock them. Over the centuries, becoming a werewolf could come in different forms, you could be cursed, you could be part of a race of werewolves, or the more accepted form today is that you are bitten or sometimes even scratched by a werewolf who has been cursed.
Because it is generally believed or accepted that werewolves have no choice but to transform at the full moon, the lunar cycle and patterns of behavior are linked. Along with this belief comes the theory that only silver can harm or ultimately kill a werewolf. If you study alchemy, you will find that certain metals have been associated with planets, gold is associated with the sun, silver with the moon. During the full moon, werewolves are considered to be at their strongest, most powerful and of course their most dangerous. It is an accepted theory that during the full moon, there is an increased rate of criminal activity and unexplained behaviors. In other words, our more basic, animalistic nature can surface during the full moon. As often happens, what makes us stronger can also be the thing that makes us most vulnerable, so the metal most closely associated with the moon, silver, becomes the werewolf’s kryptonite…
It seems that the attraction many of us feel to the werewolf stems from the fact that we all feel that we have a dark side, a wild side that is barely controlled just under the surface; something that most of us work very hard at keeping hidden and tamped down. Could the fear that we may not be able to control the “wild beast” from bursting forth from our very soul be the catalyst, the very curse that could become so overpowering, so tangible that one day, during the full moon, we lose that battle, that we become a werewolf, a lycan, a loup-garou, a beast that is unable to control our most darkest and primal urges.
Who knows, but what better place to take that risk than at Thrillvania Haunted House Park? After all, the werewolves that wander our grounds choose to be here, well…., most of them…