Werewolf Folklore from Brazil and Portugal: the Lobisomem
Published · text produced with AI under human direction and review; quoted passages were checked word for word against the digitized editions cited.
The short answer
The lobisomem is the werewolf of Portugal and Brazil; we gloss the name as wolf-man. In the records compared here, the animal can be a donkey, a horse, a dog or, in one Brazilian account, an enormous pig wearing boots. The Portuguese versions describe a fado, a fate, with different causes and ways to break it. None of the Portuguese and Brazilian passages checked here gives a bite as its cause.
Quick facts
- Pronounced
- loh-bee-ZOH-mayn (the final "m" is nasal).
- Also called
- lobishomem (old spelling); Tardo or Corredor (our gloss: runner) for the first stage, in northern Portugal.
- Where it is told
- all over Portugal, says Vasconcellos (1882); in Brazil, Pernambuco (1908) and the countryside described in testimony printed in 1918, in the book of the inquiry opened on 25 January 1917.
- What he turns into
- almost always a donkey in one Portuguese version; a horse, a dog, a cat or a hen in others; a horse or a donkey in Pernambuco; a huge pig in boots in the testimony printed in 1918.
- Oldest written record we checked
- Baring-Gould’s English-language survey (1865). For Portugal, José Leite de Vasconcellos, Tradições Populares de Portugal (1882), cites 17th- and 18th-century mentions we have not read directly.
- Closest English-language relative
- our comparison is Baring-Gould’s The Book of Were-Wolves (1865), especially his account of fate in southern France. A resemblance, not a proven ancestry.
- What has no document
- a single origin, a date, a silver bullet, a full moon or a bite, in the Portuguese and Brazilian texts we checked.
The legend, retold
Our retelling, from details the sources give.
In the Valongo version, a godfather’s omission of certain words at baptism gives a child a fate to run. When grown, but before the age of communion, the child goes to roll at a crossroads, hangs the clothes in the tallest tree and becomes an animal called the Tardo. If seven years pass without someone breaking the fate by drawing blood, the Tardo becomes the lobisomem and eats people. Both take human form by day and animal form at night. The book gives thinness and a yellow face as signs.
In Cabeceiras de Basto, a woman had a husband who went out every night and came back very cold, spitting animals out of his mouth. One day she climbed a very tall pine tree, took down his clothes and put them in the burning oven. That, the book says, broke his fate.
In the countryside account printed in 1918, one speaker tells of his sister’s husband. People knew him by day; at night, without his wife seeing, he turned into an enormous pig in boots, ate soap at the washing troughs, licked grease pots and charged at anyone he met, hoping others would change too. The rule distinguishes the sexes: a man who draws a lobisomem’s blood becomes a lobisomem, while a woman becomes a witch. One night the wife caught her husband changing, turning around and chattering his jaw. He left her, and the account says nobody knows where he went.
If you know the werewolf
Sabine Baring-Gould’s The Book of Were-Wolves (1865) records beliefs with named regions. We compare the particular versions rather than treating them as one European rule.
Fate, not infection. In southern France, Baring-Gould says certain men are destined to become wolves at full moon. The Portuguese fado also means fate. A bite is not given as the cause in these particular passages.
A skin or a set of clothes. In Normandy, Baring-Gould says the doomed put on a skin called the hère or hure, lent by the devil. Portuguese versions describe removing clothes, placing them in a tree or burying them under stones. In Cabeceiras de Basto the wife burns the clothes; in Extremadura the clothes are turned inside out in a mill.
A little blood. In Normandy some said three drops drawn by a needle would free him. In Valongo, drawing blood breaks the fate. For Caldas, Vasconcellos reports after C. Pedroso that only the wife can prick him with a pin without being harmed even if the blood splashes on her. In Pernambuco any bleeding wound ends the enchantment. Reinke’s testimony, printed in 1918, reverses the rule: drawing blood makes a man a lobisomem or a woman a witch.
A name. In Schleswig and Holstein, Baring-Gould records that a werewolf called three times by his baptismal name returns to human shape. In Valongo, baptism is where the fate can begin.
The animal. Baring-Gould’s southern French passage describes wolves and, in some accounts, a white dog. In Périgord the figure wears a goatskin given by the devil. The Portuguese and Brazilian passages compared here include donkey, horse, dog, cat, hen and pig.
Individual encounters and packs. Quoting Olaus Magnus on Prussia, Livonia and Lithuania, Baring-Gould describes men turned into wolves gathering on Christmas night, besieging isolated houses and emptying beer barrels. The Valongo and Reinke accounts follow individual figures. In Pernambuco dogs pursue the lobisomem, giving people time to shut their doors.
Similar ideas on two sides of a sea do not prove descent. In testimony printed in the 1918 book of the inquiry opened on 25 January 1917, Procópio Silvestre says the Portuguese brought the lobisomem, unchanged from German and French versions. That is his claim; our comparison above finds differences.
What the sources say
José Leite de Vasconcellos, Tradições Populares de Portugal (1882)
Vasconcellos says the belief is told all over the country, but in fragments. He prints those fragments, naming places for many of them.
Our translation
Both the Tardo and the Lobishomem go about by day in the form of a man, and by night in the form of an animal.Original (Portuguese)
Tanto o Tardo como o Lobishomem, andão de dia em fórma de homem, e de noute em fórma de animal.
Our translation
In the small hours of the night he turns into an animal, almost always a donkeyOriginal (Portuguese)
Altas horas da noute transforma-se em animal, quasi sempre em burro
Our translation
Once the wife climbed a very tall pine tree to fetch his clothes and put them in the burning oven: that is how she broke his fateOriginal (Portuguese)
Uma vez a mulher foi a cima de um pinheiro muito alto buscar a roupa d’elle e metteu-a no forno a arder: assim lhe quebrou o fado
Whose story is this: beliefs recorded by Vasconcellos, often with a locality and sometimes with a named intermediary or collector, including C. Pedroso.
F. A. Pereira da Costa, Folk-lore pernambucano (1908)
Writing about Pernambuco, in northeastern Brazil, Pereira da Costa describes a pale, thin man, born of incest or after a series of seven children. At midnight he rolls where a horse or a donkey has rolled, takes its form, and runs through seven towns until the cock crows.
Our translation
any wound that sheds blood, however little, takes the enchantment from himOriginal (Portuguese)
um ferimento qualquer que produza derramamento de sangue, por pouco mesmo que seja, tira-lhe o encantamento
Whose story is this: popular belief in Pernambuco, as recorded by Pereira da Costa.
O Sacy-Perêrê, organized by Monteiro Lobato (1918)
On 25 January 1917, the evening edition of O Estado de S. Paulo opened an inquiry into the Saci. The answers appeared in book form in 1918. In A. Reinke’s testimony, a speaker tells of his sister’s husband becoming a lobisomem.
Our translation
he turned into an enormous pig, wearing bootsOriginal (Portuguese)
transformava-se num enorme porco, calçado de botinas
Our translation
she caught her husband in the middle of the change, turning around and chattering his jawOriginal (Portuguese)
surprehendeu o marido em plena mutação, dando voltas e batendo o queixo
Whose story is this: a story Reinke includes among those told at country gatherings. The passage calls the people caipiras, country folk. It does not name the town or individually date the event. We read it as testimony about a belief, not as verified fact.
Versions side by side
| Version | Record | What he becomes | How it ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valongo, Portugal | Vasconcellos, 1882 | An animal called the Tardo, then the lobisomem after seven years | Drawing his blood breaks the fate |
| Vila Real, Portugal | Vasconcellos, 1882 | A horse, on Fridays, after rolling at a crossroads | He can be caught by aiming at his shadow |
| Cabeceiras de Basto, Portugal | Vasconcellos, 1882 | A husband who comes home cold | The wife burns his clothes in the oven |
| Normandy, France | Baring-Gould, 1865 | Wears a skin lent by the devil | Three stabs in the forehead, or three drops of blood by a needle |
| Pernambuco, Brazil | Pereira da Costa, 1908 | A horse or a donkey | Any wound that sheds blood |
| Brazilian countryside | Testimony printed in 1918; inquiry opened 25 January 1917 | An enormous pig in boots | Drawing his blood: a man becomes a lobisomem, a woman a witch |
Why this story exists
The Portuguese records tie the lobisomem to family and baptism: one of seven successive children, a godfather’s omission, or children of compadres and comadres. Sandim’s passage does not say they married; the Vila Real passage explicitly names marriage to a comadre or sister-in-law. In Penafiel, a mother with six successive daughters should name the seventh Eva because of the fate. Our interpretation is that these versions give shape to anxieties about kinship, baptism and bad luck.
The testimony printed in 1918 brings the night, transformation and blood rule into domestic life, with soap at the washing troughs and grease pots. Our reading is that the story also turns on a wife discovering something unknown about her husband.
What is documented, and what is not
Documented here: the local versions printed by Vasconcellos (1882), Pereira da Costa’s Pernambuco account (1908), and Reinke’s testimony printed in 1918. The newspaper inquiry opened on 25 January 1917; that is not an individual date for every story in its later book.
Not documented in what we checked: a single origin, a date when the legend crossed the ocean, a wolf form in the Brazilian passages above, or silver bullets and a full-moon rule in those Portuguese and Brazilian passages. The versions disagree: blood breaks the fate in Valongo and Pernambuco, while Reinke’s testimony printed in 1918 makes it pass to a man as a lobisomem or to a woman as a witch.
The film
The Wife Who Saw Her Husband Change starts from the testimony printed in 1918 in the book of the inquiry opened on 25 January 1917, then crosses to the Portuguese villages. It premieres on YouTube on 28 October 2026, 8 p.m. Brasília time (narrated in Brazilian Portuguese; an English audio track is planned). See the film page.
Frequently asked questions
Is the lobisomem a werewolf? It is the Portuguese and Brazilian werewolf; wolf-man is our explanatory gloss of the name. In the passages compared here, the animal forms include donkey, horse, dog and pig.
How do you become a lobisomem? The causes vary. In one Portuguese version any one of seven successive children can have the fate if the siblings are not one another’s godparents; another ties it to a godfather’s omission at baptism. Pereira da Costa says incest or birth after a series of seven children. In Reinke’s testimony printed in 1918, a man who draws a lobisomem’s blood becomes one; a woman becomes a witch. These passages give no bite as the cause.
How do you break the curse? The local rules differ: blood in Valongo and Pernambuco, burning clothes in Cabeceiras de Basto, or turning the clothes inside out in a mill in Extremadura. For Caldas, Vasconcellos reports that the wife can prick him with a pin without harm from blood splashes. Reinke’s testimony printed in 1918 warns that drawing blood changes the person who does it; it does not establish that every possible remedy is unsafe.
Is the Brazilian werewolf real? The sources record it as belief and testimony. None of the texts we checked offers proof of a case, and the 1918 book prints the letter as a story people told.
Does the lobisomem have to do with the full moon or silver? Not in the Portuguese and Brazilian texts we checked. They name Wednesday, Friday and Tuesday nights, midnight, and the crowing of the cock.
One account at a time
Further reading
The Book of Were-Wolves
Sabine Baring-Gould (1865)
The English-language survey most readers meet first; chapter V (Olaus Magnus on Livonia) and the French and German chapters give each belief with its province, which is how it should be read.
Tradições Populares de Portugal
José Leite de Vasconcellos (1882)
In Portuguese: section 348 lists the werewolf beliefs village by village, with the name of each place, including the wife, the pine tree and the oven.
O Sacy-Perêrê: resultado de um inquérito
Monteiro Lobato (org.) (1918)
In Portuguese: the 1917 newspaper inquiry where a reader tells of the pig in boots; the 1918 text is public domain, the modern introduction of the reprint is not.
Cite this page
Vigil Page. "Werewolf Folklore from Brazil and Portugal: the Lobisomem." Published 25 October 2026. https://vigilpage.com/legends/werewolf/
Revision history
- : First publication.
Read next
- The Saci: the inquiry opened on 25 January 1917, whose 1918 book includes the pig in boots.
- The Headless Mule: another night curse that turns a person into an animal.
- The Curupira and the Boitatá.
- Films: The Wife Who Saw Her Husband Change and 12 creatures.
- All legends, with sources
- In Portuguese: our longer guide
Sources
- José Leite de Vasconcellos, Tradições Populares de Portugal (1882), section 348 on the lobisomem: read free.
- F. A. Pereira da Costa, Folk-lore pernambucano (1908), the lobisomem passage, published in the Revista do Instituto Histórico; digitized public-domain edition.
- Monteiro Lobato (org.), O Sacy-Perêrê: resultado de um inquérito (1918), the letter about the pig in boots and the testimony of Procópio Silvestre: read free. Only the 1918 text was used, not the modern introduction of the reprint.
- Sabine Baring-Gould, The Book of Were-Wolves (1865), chapter V (Olaus Magnus on Livonia) and the passages on the south of France, Périgord, Normandy, Schleswig and Holstein: read free.