Gizotso – gizon (man) + otsoa (wolf) – is the Basque wolf man, the Basque werewolf. Though there aren’t many wolves left in the Basque Country, Basques have a long history with wolves, which often terrorized livestock and even people. So, it is no surprise that the Basques, as so many cultures, had stories of men who became wolves, who were more vicious than any wolf ever was. While stories of werewolves are common throughout the world, the Basque version has a few interesting twists. No silver bullets here, but if you hit his shadow an odd number of times, you can hurt him.

• Wolves have been part of the Basque landscape since time immemorial. As elsewhere, wolves posed a problem for the local human populations, primarily by killing both people and livestock. Ultimately, in the Basque Country, wolves were hunted to near extinction. This complex relationship between people and wolves has sparked many stories, including that of the gizotso, or werewolf.
• Half man, half wolf, the gizotso lives in the deepest parts of the forest, sometimes coming out to terrorize people. In some places, the gizotso was said to be extraordinarily strong. In one story, a gizotso chased a woman. Despite her neighbors yelling for her to run home, the gizotso caught her and tore off her breasts. In yet other places, the gizotso is found at nights at crossroads, burdened by chains, and will carry off anyone it can catch.
• How did gizotsos come about? In some places, people believed that the gizotso was the product of nefarious dealings between rational and irrational beings, sometimes the result of sexual relations between people and wolves. In others, it was believed that, on the Eve of St John’s fiesta, there were springs that turned to wine at midnight. If one tries to find the spring and doesn’t, they become a gizotso. Sometimes, in the mornings, the gizotso sheds its skin. If someone else finds it and wears it, they will then become a gizotso.
• To attack a gizotso, you had to go after its shadow. You couldn’t hit it directly. And you had to hit it with an odd number of blows. If you hit it an even number, the wounds would heal. Similar beliefs applied to wizards and witches – when they were in a trance, you could attack their shadows but not them directly.
• This aspect was described in a story told to Jose Miguel de Barandiaran by one Dominica Giltzu in 1941:
  
  The Werewolf and the Tailor
  
  Once upon a time, there were apparently werewolves in many places. These werewolves were men who dressed in wolf skins and walked around at night surrounded by old irons. Completely covered, only a little of their foreheads showed. Apparently they went out to the crossroads to scare people.
  
  There must have been one like that in Ustaritz. Once, when a tailor was returning home late at night, the werewolf of Ustaritz appeared to him, intending to scare him. The tailor struck him on the forehead with the tip of a hoe, and blood flowed. The werewolf shouted at him: “Give me another one!” For the enemy has no strength in odd numbers.
  
  But the tailor did not give him another one, did not hit him again. And the werewolf followed him to the door of his house, begging him: “Give me another one, give me another one.”
  
  The tailor paid no attention to him, until the werewolf gave up and left.
  
  The next day an acquaintance of the tailor, from Ustaritz, came to his house with a ten-pound note, saying: “I have long wanted to get rid of this burden. By making me bleed, you cured me. Take ten pounds in payment.”
  
  “And why did you ask me to give you another blow?” asked the tailor.
  
  “It was not me, it was my companions who made me say it.”
• Of course, werewolves are by no means a singularly Basque phenomenon – they are common to the folklore of many places in Europe, going back to Ancient Greece.

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Barandiaran Ayerbe, José Miguel de. Gizotso. Auñamendi Encyclopedia. Available at: https://aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus/en/gizotso/ar-66361/; Gizotsoa euskal mitologian, Wikipedia