Episode 14 - Werehyenas

You know the person who lives on the edge of town has a reputation. A reputation for magic.

They provided a great service, plying their trade as a blacksmith, but everyone knew they could provide other services as well, for the right price.

They could heal, even afflictions that shouldn’t be possible to cure, they could curse.

But none of that superstition was why you were making your way toward their home at the edge of the village.

Your reason was more mundane. They did fine work with iron, and you had need of a smith, repairs to be made.

You’d never seen them cure, or curse. But you knew the stories, same as anyone. The story that they could wield a magical staff and become a monster.

You just assumed those stories were fiction, fantasy. You knew that they were. Had to believe that they were.

The creatures I speak of today have many names. In the folklore of North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Near East, a creature stalks the night in a hybrid form.

One part human, one part monster.

Qori Ismaris, Bouda, Bultungin. These are some of their names. But under one neologism, they are were-hyenas.

The stories of werehyenas fill the folklore of cultures across Africa.

They were generally considered witches or wizards who wielded magic to transform themeselves into a monstrous hyena-human hybrid.

These stories were grounded in the belief that hyenas were vampiric creatures that attacked people at night to suck their blood; that hyenas were able to mesmerize people with their eyes.

It is no wonder, given the beliefs about hyenas dating back as early as the 1300s, that were-hyenas were spoken of and feared.

Hyenas are scavengers and predators. They have long been perceived as dangerous and their capabilities far-reaching. 

They filled stories and bestiaries with all manner of fiction, right alongside fact.

These animals were so feared that it only makes sense that folklore would develop surrounding them. And so the monstrous were-hyena were born.

Unlike the European werewolf, which is usually portrayed as originally human, many stories of were-hyenas suggest that the creatures are actually hyenas that can disguise themselves as humans.

So today, we look at the traditions and stories of were-hyenas in their many forms.

I am Andrew Eagle, and I invite you to join me as I pass Through the Veil.

When you arrive at the small building, you can hear the ringing of metal.

The blacksmith hard at work behind their home.

You round the house slowly. Unconsciously, perhaps, slowing down to move carefully around the building. There, at the forge, with an assistant pumping the bellows, you see the blacksmith.

The smith hammers away at the anvil, making something, a magic of its own in a way.

You approach him, raising a hand in greeting. The smith does not pause, only simply glances up at you briefly.

The smith gets right to business, asking what you need. And nodding at the request.

“Easily done. Come back in three days.”

You nod, simple as that. You turn to go when the smith speaks again.

“You should hurry home. Dangerous creatures come out at night.”

You do not hesitate. You rush homeward. But you will not reach it in time.

You hear the barking sounds before the sun even sets. Hyenas out and about. Their time is the nighttime, and it is upon you.

You can see their flitting shadows atop nearby hills. A pack of the creatures about.

Then you hear something else. Something Other. A yipping howl, but deeper. Much deeper.

In the distance, a hyena yelps in pain, loosing a terrible howl. On the hilltop, where the pack had been closing in… Something else, something of magic

The Qori Ismaris, translated as “One who rubs himself with a stick” is from the stories of Somalia. Qori Ismaris is traditionally a man who could transform himself into a monstrous hyena-man by rubbing himself with a magic stick. 

This transformation usually took place at night, during which the Qori Ismaris would roam in this form before repeating the process before dawn to return to their human state.

Qori Ismaris appears in a number of Somalian myths and stories.

The stories generally serve the purpose to teach lessons and scare children, as the figure is not only a shape-shifter but a deceptive trickster as well. Dangerous to all who encountered him. He serves, alongside a number of giants, spirits, and other creatures, as a sort of boogey-man in Somalian myth.

In Ethiopian stories, blacksmiths feature in the lore of the werehyena and magic.

The blacksmith’s trade is hereditary both men and women crafting and making all the objects that the community uses. Passed down through families, they hold the great responsibility of making for the community.  

Iron-work is believed to require a vast amount of supernatural power, and thus blacksmiths were held to possess and wield this power.

Sometimes, this reputation and belief has elevated blacksmiths. They, and their profession, are viewed with a sense of awe and power that allows them to easily become leaders in their community.

Unfortunately, this reputation does not always cast a good light on them. When they are not viewed with awe, they are instead seen with suspicion, and many stories recount them robbing graves at midnight in their hyena form.

Blacksmiths with these magical abilities are known as bouda. And this belief is held in parts of Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Morocco.

The creature was far larger than any ordinary hyena. Standing on two legs as well. 

It loosed a yipping howl. When it ran, it did so on four legs. Throwing itself across the ground at a speed that far surpassed its natural brethren.

You were still far from home. Too far. Closer to run back to the blacksmiths. So you turn, and you run.

You can hear it, yipping and panting as it runs. A few times, peering over your shoulder, you can see it dashing across the hilltops. Occasionally vanishing out of sight.

Then, suddenly, you can see light. A pool of it, flickering and cast from the house of the blacksmith. Your breath aches and burns as you run, but the end is in sight.

Then the creature is upon you. It dives out of the shadows nearby and leaps your way. You only avoid it by throwing yourself to the ground.

You stumble back to your feet and keep moving, the creature spinning around to dive again.

Then you are in the pool of light, and the creature pulls up short. It refuses to enter the light. And a moment later, the door to the house opens, the blacksmith emerges.

“Well, come on in then. It won’t trouble you here…”

You spend your night in the small home of the blacksmith, and in the safety of the morning’s light, you travel home.

The lore of were-hyenas is not limited to the bouda and the qori ismaris, however. Many more stories are spoken and shared across many regions.

In the Kanuri language in the area surrounding Lake Chad, were-hyenas are referred to as bultungin, which translates to “I change myself into a hyena.”

There are several villages that were believed to be populated entirely by were-hyenas in the region.

In the western Sudan, stories speak of a hybrid hyena-human creature that transforms each night into a cannibalistic creature that hunts and terrorizes people and young lovers. The creatures were usually portrayed, when in their human form, as woodcutters or smiths, and powerful healers.

They were recognizable in their human form, through several physical signs. Generally, particularly hairy bodies, eyes that gleamed red in the darkness and a nasal voice.

Alongside the many stories of were-hyenas, it makes sense that many legends would persist about hyenas themselves.

In 1406, Al-Doumairy wrote about hyenas in his Hawayan Al-Koubra. He wrote that hyenas were vampiric creatures that attack people to suck their blood. They were claimed to be able to hypnotize and mesmerize people with their eyes or through other means. It was suggested that they might even use pheromones to control their victims. 

For many years, it was also believed by the Greeks, that the body of a werewolf if left unattended, would return to life as a hyena that would haunt battle-fields to drink blood from the bodies of dying soldiers.

And there are members of certain groups, such as the Kore in Mali that imitate the behavior of hyenas through masks and plays. They do this to evoke the reviled behaviors of hyenas and to teach them to avoid those behaviors in their own lives.

Were-hyenas represent certain primal behaviors. They are hungry and dangerous. They have powerful magics. 

And while they may hunt and curse and harm, they may also heal, and make, and protect.

They are used as a boogey-man to scare and teach children. And they are used to represent leaders who wield magical power and lead with wisdom.

They operate in duality, as seems right for a shape-shifter. As they are both merciful and vicious, healer and destroyer, it only makes sense that they would bear two forms.

I hope that you enjoyed this episode of Through the Veil. I would encourage you to subscribe to receive new episodes weekly as our journey continues through folklore, myth, and magic.

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And as always, thank you, for listening.