So you're the gringo who's come to challenge his majesty, huh?

Sorry for you, my friend.

Full Wolf Moon...coming January 10th. It is a Saturday! Prepare yoself. You will need a flashlight (just in case), and something silver or (at the least) silver colored. Knives are strictly prohibited.


...and that was when Wolfmen really knew how to dress. You probably won't look so Good. Lousy sweatpants wearing modern lycanthropes...mumble,mumble

I took D to see that last year, as part of a Halloween tribute double-feature week. It was paired with "Abbot&Costello meet the Mummy" (also awesome!). And even though Lon Chaney Jr. as the wolfman looked like he had a chocolate cake stacked on his head- the movie is so well done, it scared D enough that he jumped in his seat several times. That is Quality Parenting.
(In the process of digging out all these gems, I found that there will be a new version of this movie released next summer and starring Benicio delToro. Could be good.)

When I was a youth, I checked out all the monster books from the school library. All of them. I was particularly concerned with vampires and werewolfs.One of the books listed the physical tells of both werewolfs and vampires. I memorized them. Apparently, if you have hair on your palms, you are a werewolf. (This was confusing, as it was also listed as one of the signs of vampirism, but I resolved this by assuming that once the hairy palmed werewolf died, then he'd become a vampire. Sort of a deliciously double-whammy curse of horror.)
I walked several miles to school at the time. It was plenty of time to indulge myself in theories as to who might be living a double life. I became convinced that one man I frequently saw working in his yard shirtless was, in fact, a werewolf. I took to running past his house.

A fewl years later, I saw "The Howling". It affected me.

Later still, I attended Scout Camp for several summers. One year I broke my arm the 1st day, and had to go home. One year a counselor/Scout Master from Cuero, TX led a full moon hike. Rumor had it that he was a werewolf. We scouts were told to bring flashlights, and something silver colored just in case. Knives were specifically prohibited. Of course we all brought knives! There was gonna be a werewolf! I had received a 4"bladed folding Buck knife from my uncle that year.
The hike was very well done. The Cuero Scout Master told us a long story about how he'd gone to Africa as a youth, etc. He was surrounded by several burly Scout Masters. I and my buddies crowded right up behind them. As he told his story, he began to make strange guttural noises. We opened our knives. He seemed to grow taller. I remember vividly how he looked so large framed against the night sky- it scared the bejebus out of us. He began howling and had to be restrained by the burly Scout Masters. As they wrestled him to the ground, they yelled at the scouts to "Run for your lives!" We did. I remember running down the dark gravel road with a (n open) 4" blade in my fist. Terrifying.


Still. These are not issues that should concern you on Saturday! night. Fort Ord is not spookily Redwooded like Santa Cruz and the locations in "The Howling", it is wide open (beaver) all night long. My palms are clammy, sweaty and frequently red- but they are smooth and hairless. My ring finger is only slightly longer than my index finger, and even though I will have it with me, I promise not to take my knife out. You know, unless I need it.