Werecat

Werecat beliefs do not form a single unified origin story but a family of locally specific explanations. In European contexts the category was often conflated with witchcraft during witch-trial eras (shapeshifters identified socially and legally as witches). African variants (werelion, wereleopard, werepanther) may be described as manifestations, offspring, or masquerades of leopard or lion deities and can be linked to royal lineage or divine agency. In South and Southeast Asia and China, weretiger accounts are variously attributed to sorcery (e.g., oil made by sorcerers in Thailand that produces a Suea Saming), hereditary curse, or vindictive ghosts; Chinese narratives also describe 'Chang' (伥) — ghosts of people killed by tigers — who drive tigers to kill and can result in man-eating weretigers.

Reported forms vary by region. European tales commonly describe people who become domestic cats or occasionally very large cat-like domestic forms. African accounts emphasize big cats — lions, leopards, or panthers — sometimes indistinguishable from ordinary large felids and in some reports exceptionally large (e.g., Nunda/Mngwa phenomena). South and Southeast Asian and Chinese traditions center on tigers: humans who become tigers or tigers that are also people (weretigers); Japanese material mentions bakeneko as shapeshifting felines with humanlike behaviors. Modern fictional depictions expand visual variety but are separate from traditional descriptions.

Core behaviours recorded across traditions are transformation between human and feline forms and predation on humans or livestock. European material often associates transformation with witchcraft rather than additional supernatural powers. African variants link feline transformation to political and sacred power. In Indian and Southeast Asian contexts weretigers are often portrayed as dangerous sorcerers or man-eaters; Thai Suea Saming can be created by topical 'Saming oil' applied by sorcerers and are reported to stalk and kill people. Chinese traditions describe hereditary weretigers or those caused by vengeful ghosts (Chang) that compel tigers to kill more humans. Sources in the corpus note localized attributions of sorcery, curse, ancestral/divine origin, or ghostly agency rather than uniform capabilities beyond shapeshifting and predation.