Mardagayl Armenian Werewolves

In old Armenian folklore there are many creatures into which humans and evil spirits can transform by free will or curse. Often such tales involve Werewolves, roaming at night, snatching children and causing fear. These creatures are known as “Mardagayl” in Armenian. Some tales speak of women who, in consequence of deadly sins, are condemned to spend seven years in wolf form. In a typical account, a condemned woman is visited by a wolfskin-toting spirit, who orders her to wear the skin, which causes her to acquire frightful cravings for human flesh soon after. With her better nature overcome, the she-wolf devours each of her own children, then her relatives’ children in order of relationship, and finally the children of strangers. She wanders only at night, with doors and locks springing open at her approach. When morning arrives, she reverts to human form and removes her wolfskin. The transformation is generally said to be involuntary, but there are alternate versions involving voluntary metamorphosis, where the women can transform at will. These werewolves run like the wind and are able to make a journey of many days in just one hour—such that no one can detect their absence from home. A werewolf cannot be killed by a knife or weapon. The only way to save oneself from them is to take and burn the pelt. However, during the day mardagayl hides the skin and it is difficult to find. After seven years, the wolfskin ascends to Heaven on its own accord, and the person returns to being a normal human being. Sometimes, only one trace remains of the prior condition, usually a tail.

Other tales related to werewolves have a mythical character, such as the creation of the Milky Way. A young newly married woman, one Armenian folk story says, had been transformed into a werewolf. Once when washing a guest’s feet, she observed that the feet were very white and tender. She liked this a lot. At night, when everyone was asleep, she put on the wolf’s pelt and came to devour the guest. However, the brave guest stabbed her in the breast with his dagger. Milk squirted from her breast into the sky, and traces of this milk are till now visible as the Milky Way.

Vampires in Armenia

Armenia is a country of countless legends and myths. Most of which still remain very much unknown in the west. Nevertheless, ever now and then such legends would reach the lands of western Europe. Among such legends a rare account of Vampirism recorded by a traveler to Armenia. In his book “Transcaucasia: Sketches of the Nations and Races Between the Black Sea and the Caspian,” published in 1854,  Baron von Hauxthausen recalls a tale of an Armenian vampire known to the locals as “Dakhanavar” (also called ‘Dashnavar’). The account has been made mention by then leading occult research figure, Montague Summers (1880-1947) en Jonathan Maberry author of “Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings That Haunt Us, Hunt Us and Hunger for Us”.

According to legend, there was a vampire, Dakhanavar, who resided in the mountains of Ultmish Alto-tem. He was very protective and did not like anyone intruding in around his residence among the mountains and valleys. If one did, he would attack them in the night and kill them by sucking the blood from the soles of the intruders feet. At last outwitted by travelers aware of his presence, the Vampire ran away from the valleys never to be seen again.

The story of the Dakhanavar as documented in 1854 by Baron August von Haxthausen:

“There once dwelt in a cavern in this country a vampire, called Dakhanavar, who could not endure anyone to penetrate into these mountains or count their valleys. Everyone who attempted this had in the night his blood sucked by the monster, from the soles of his feet, until he died. The vampire was however at last outwitted by two cunning fellows: they began to count the valleys and when night came on they lay down to sleep, taking care to place themselves with the feet of the one under the head of the other. In the night the monster came, felt as usual and found a head: then he felt at the other end, and found a head there also. “Well,” he cried. “I have gone through the whole 366 Valleys of these mountains, and have sucked the blood of people without end, but never yet did I find any one with two heads and no feet!” SO saying, he ran away and was never more seen in that country; but ever after the people have known that the mountain has 366 Valleys.”

Acording to Jonathan Maberry’s:

“The Dakhanavar is ferociously territorial and will assault anyone who tries to make a map of its lands, or even count the hills and valleys in the region, correctly fearing that a thorough knowledge of the landscape would reveal all of its secret hiding places. Even today some travelers in Armenia, particularly those going into the region of Mount Ararat, generally take precautions against evil beings such as Dakhanvar. Often, they put small cloves of raw garlic in various pockets or mash it up and rub the paste on their shoes. At night, if camping out of doors, these travelers build a large fire and toss garlic bulbs into the flames. The combination of garlic aroma and a blazing fire will drive almost all of the world’s many species of vampires away.”

Another supernatural legend recorded in Armenian concerns Werewolves, covered in one of my previous posts HERE.

Werewolves in Armenia

Did you know we had werewolves in Armenia? 

In “The Book of Were-Wolves” – 1865, Sabine Baring-Gould describes all sorts of folk-lore related to Were-Wolves. Among other stories he describes an account in Armenia with the following:

That the same belief in lycanthropy exists in Armenia is evident from the following story told by Haxthausen, in his Trans-Caucasia (Leipzig, i. 322): –“A man once saw a wolf, which had carried off a child, dash past him. He pursued it hastily, but was unable to overtake it. At last he came upon the hands and feet of a child, and a little further on he found a cave, in which lay a wolf-skin. This he cast into a fire, and immediately a woman appeared, who howled and tried to rescue the skin from the flames. The man, however, resisted, and, as soon as the hide was consumed, the woman had vanished in the smoke.”