hi nick, well I haven't read all that much about it, but I remember reading an explanation awhile ago that said lycanthropy was disease around the time of the plague that caused madness, abnormal hair growth, a leathering of the skin, and the lips to perpetually be curled back as to expose the teeth, etc etc
i guess that's probably common knowledge at this point though, and personally I don't know anything remotely fringe about the subject. But I love it and have always wanted to be a werewolf.
(even though they're mammals)