The Werewolf Book - Sabine Baring-Gould

"It has roamed in the deep dungeons of the North, rioted through the Middle Ages and howled in the burial chambers of the Orient. It was of the evil race, and we are glad to be rid of it and its tribesmen, vampires, and ghouls. But who knows! Perhaps our conclusion about its extinction is too hasty. It may still lurk in the forests of Abyssinia, roam the steppes of Asia, and howl in some padded room at Hanwell or Bedlam.”

These are the words Sabine Baring-Gould describes the werewolf in the first chapter of this book. In his work, Baring-Gould tells about the birth of the werewolf myth and its various manifestations from ancient Greece and the North of the sagas to 19th-century France and Britain. Although the Werewolf Book was first published back in 1865, it is still one of the most respected and cited works ever written about werewolves.

Contents of the book:

The beginning words of Finnish translators
Chapter 1 – Introduction
Chapter 2 - Lycanthropy in the ancient world
Chapter 3 – Werewolf of the North
Chapter 4 – Origin of the Scandinavian Werewolf
Chapter 5 – The Werewolf in the Middle Ages
Chapter 6 – Horror stories
Chapter 7 - Jean Grenier
Chapter 8 - Werewolf Folklore
Chapter 9 - Natural Causes of Lycanthropy
Chapter 10 - The Mythological Origins of the Werewolf Myth
Chapter 11 - Marshal de Rais - I: Investigating the Accusations
Chapter 12 – Marshal de Rais – II: Trial
Chapter 13 – Marshal de Rais – III : Judgment and execution
Chapter 14 – Werewolf of Galicia
Chapter 15 – An Unusual Case – Human Hyena
Chapter 16 – Sermon on Werewolves