Due to recent comments on this blog regarding the 1987 Essex "werewolf" and Hull Werewolf I was looking at other such incidents over the past 2-3 years. Quite a few including a scary one in the Czech Republic!
And its far too hot (about 34c) to do anything else so......
This 2011 account is from Haunted Earths Ghost and is for Mr Dilworth! :-)
Mr Dilworth was talking to me in my flat in Bristol while on a visit. At 0100 hrs, he entered "Hooper's Twilight World" when the radio news announced that police had subdued a werewolf in Essex and heavy tranquilisers had to be used. I still remember the look on his face!
Didn't really take the world by storm as for the next couple days we searched national newspapers -nothing. Then a tiny paragraph appeared later on though the bulk of the item was "How to tell if your neighbour is a werewolf!"
The Warrens...ah...the money making media machine!
THE CASE OF THE WEREWOLF WHO ATTACKED POLICE OFFICERS
Bill Ramsay - Man to werewolf
My tale today concerns an alleged case of Lycanthropy
which occurred during the 1980`s in the seaside resort of Southend on
Sea when a mild mannered carpenter called Bill Ramsey became known in
the press as the `Werewolf of Southend`.
Bill had been suffering since he was 9 years old with bouts of weird
behaviour that people described as being wolf or animal like and
accompanied allegedly by a foul smell.
On the first occasion Bill became possessed with this condition he
was able to rip out a post from concrete and smash it to pieces in front
of his parents. From then the attacks were mild until Bill in adult life realised he
was losing self-control and voluntarily attended hospital where another
major attack occurred and he bit a nurse and ransacked the hospital
before being sedated.
It was clear that Bill had lost self- control of his condition and on
the night of 22nd July, 1987, the now 44 year old decided to visit
Southend Police Station and asked to be locked up for his own and the
public's safety.
During the course of a conversation with a police officer, Bill
suddenly became enraged and `wolf-like` and physically attacked the 6`
tall, 14 stone (196 lb or 89 kg) officer by hurling the him
across a car park and in the course of restraining Bill, it took no less
than six police officers to bring him under control and then finally
taken away to be secured in a police detention cell.
Bill`s enraged `werewolf like` behaviour did not cease under lock
and key, as at one point Bill was able to wedge his head and arm through
a cell door inspection hatch and whilst still snarling and snapping at
officers. Police then were forced to call a doctor who administered Bill with a
powerful sedative whilst the fire brigade were able to free him from
the hatchway.
Bill`s case went global, and in the USA, Ed and Lorraine Warren the
well-known demonologists flew over to Southend to investigate his case.
Suffice to say Bill was later taken to America and his condition was
proscribed as `demonic` and later exorcised in a church ceremony in the
USA. To date Bill has not suffered with any more bouts.
Was Bill possessed? Or was Bill suffering from a rare mental
condition known as Lycanthropy where the term is used in medical circles
as reference to a mental illness in which a patient believes he or she
is, or has transformed into an animal and behaves accordingly. This is
sometimes referred to as `Clinical Lycanthropy` to distinguish it from
its use in legends.
Whatever the truth is, the story makes compelling reading, and here is a video made concerning the event.
