There's A Weird Story Going Around About How Argentina's President Just Saved A Jewish Man From Becoming A Werewolf

IMDB / MGMTeen WolfSo here's the latest in wild internet rumors.

Everyone thinks that the President of Argentina Christina Fernández de Kirchner adopted a young Jewish man in order to stop him from turning into a werewolf. The story was reported by The Independent and others.

Well, the story's kind of true - Fernández de Kirchner did adopt the young man as her godson - but not to keep him from turning into a werewolf.

There's an old Argentinian legend that a seventh child will turn into "el lobizon" - aka a werewolf - after his 13th birthday, and then terrorize the Argentinian countryside at night whenever there's a full moon, as reported by the Independent. In the 19th century, parents were reportedly so spooked by "el lobizon" that they started abandoning and murdering their 7th children.

Around the same time, in the early 20th century, another tradition involving a seventh child came to be. Argentinian presidents started adopting the seventh child born in a family as godchildren.

Over the last few days, sources have been reporting that this Argentinian custom was adopted as a response to the murder and abandonment of these "el lobizon" children.

However, others like the Guardian are debunking this. Reportedly, the godchild custom goes back all the way to 1907 when Russian emigrés asked the then-president José Figueroa Alcorta to become the godfather to their seventh son, reports the Guardian.

"The local myth of the lobizón is not in any way connected to the custom that began over 100 years ago by which every seventh son (or seventh daughter) born in Argentina becomes godchild to the president," Argentine historian Daniel Balmaceda told The Guardian.

So what exactly what special about Iair Tawil's case? Traditionally, the seventh son or daughter could only become a godchild of the Argentinian president if he or she was Christian. But Tawil was the first Jewish young man to do so - making it a tweet-worthy affair. 

Fernández has become the president godmother to roughly 700 children since she took office in 2007, reports The Guardian.

No word on how many children she has saved from becoming werewolves.