Lycanthropy occurs internationally and always follows the same course. An apparently normal human, usually quite inoffensive in everyday life, changes at sunset into some kind of wild animal. During the night the were-person indulges a taste for human flesh or for the raw flesh and blood of other animals. Were-persons are appallingly dangerous in their own bestial form and may even eat their own human children or other relations.

Such a phenomenon is classified as paranormal and therefore many explanations have been proposed.