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Archives On The Air 99: How To Become A Werewolf—Forrest Ackerman Papers

Forrest Ackerman is the man who created the science fiction fan community. In 1953 he co-created the magazine "Famous Monsters of Filmland". It is still published today.

Fans wrote to the magazine in droves, asking questions about sci-fi movies and hoping to have their letters and art published.

One fan of werewolves sent this letter:

"I was reading in this book that I got from the public library, it was about werewolves. In it, it told about how to become a werewolf. The easiest way to become a werewolf is to sleep outside on a Friday of a full moon. So I checked my calendar and saw there is only one Friday with a full moon in the year 1973. That is Friday June 15, 1973."

Forrest Ackerman's papers at UW's American Heritage Center have hundreds of fan letters, movie posters, and a tribble from Star Trek.