[ Versión en Español ]

"The werewolf is maybe the most misunderstood creature, neither a human nor a wolf, he is doomed to live alone and sad among humans. The history places werewolves as vile beings always disposed to make bad acts, and never let them to tell their history or to change their fate. Now it's time to let werewolves talk about themselves, to say what is in the other side of the mirror, to show the real darkness of the human and the real light of the wolf."

- Lyceus (June 2002)
Corrected in English by Shane (October 2005)

DISCLAIMER:
This section contents descriptions of murder, cannibalism, nudity, paganism, violence, gore and material no suitable for children. The information posted in this section is taken from actual books, myths and folklore around the world. It is not part of any work of fiction (movies, novels or games). ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK! THE AUTHOR AND THE SITES THAT HOST THIS WEBSITE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE OF ANY CONSEQUENCE OF THE USE OR ABUSE OF THIS MATERIAL.

The Book of the Were-Wolves [1865]
by Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924)

Baring-Gould was a Vicar in the Church of England in Devon, an archaeologist, folklorist, historian and a prolific author. Baring-Gould was also a bit eccentric. He reputedly taught classes with a pet bat on his shoulder. He is best known for writing the hymn 'Onward Christian Soldiers'.

This book is one of the most cited references about werewolves; it takes a rationalistic approach to the subject. The book starts off with a straightforward academic review of the literature of shape-shifting; however, starting with Chapter XI, the narrative takes a strange turn into sensationalistic 'true crime' case-studies of cannibals, grave desecrators, and blood fetishists, which have a tenuous connection with lycanthropy. This includes an extended treatment of the case of Giles de Rais, the notorious associate of Joan of Arc, who was convicted and executed for necrosadistic crimes.

Nevertheless, the first ten chapters of this book constitute an essential work on the subject of werewolves. About the book, it's written in old English language and it lacks of illustrations so for made your reading more interesting, I added some werewolf illustrations from the middle ages. This book is free to use, the original book was scanned at The Internet Sacred Text Archive. The original Greek and other foreign languages translations are taken from the version of MythologyWeb.com. Book donated by Kokiteno in 2002.

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