Hello guys, welcome back!
Today we are in a suburb of Angrogna, in Pellice Valley, formerly known as “Preisuch”, which is nowadays known as “Prassuit”, a name that means “dry meadow” because in the whole area there are no water sources (which once made irrigating fields impossible!).
…this story, however, talks about something else, and I suggest you to stay very very close to Mom and Dad while reading it, ‘cause it’s really scary!
The story I’m about to tell you did not happen exactly here, but near Angrogna, in a place called “San Lorenzo”. It is said that a man (who was passing by one night), found himself in front of a fearsome beast: a long-haired wolf with eyes that seemed on fire… just imagine what a fear!
The beast tried to scare the man and snarled at him, but he pulled out the small sword that once people used to keep under the cape (as a weapon of defense) and he wounded the beast at one of the front legs.
The wolf then fled howling in pain and the man managed to escape…
The day after, however, rumours told that a man, who lived right here at Prassuit, became seriously ill because of a mysterious wound in the arm, most probably caused by a blade.
When it turned out about the bad adventure the brave man had lived the night before, everyone understood what the truth was: the man from Prassuit was actually a werewolf who had come out in the night to mistreat and scare people passing round there!
…what is a werewolf? In legends of Waldensian Valleys he is usually a man who has the power to transform himself into a wolf, and he is called “loup ravat” (perhaps from the Latin word “rapax”, which means “rapacious” – referring to a predator); he is then a kind of witch doctor, and the word does not refer to the character of today’s horror stories, in which a werewolf is a man that turns to a beast at every full moon.
The story does not tell us what happened therefore to the man-wolf, but I like to think that, after being discovered, he simply decided not to annoy any more inhabitants of the land!
How to get here:
reach the village of San Lorenzo, capital of Angrogna (Turin). Once in town, take the road on your right and follow signs to Vaccera; after 1.5 km you will arrive at the Prassuit hamlet.
Do you want to read the tale in Italian ?