The Book of Werewolves

With the shocking histories of ten famous cases, this classic blends science, superstition, and fiction to tell the full story of the werewolves among us. The Book of Werewolves was the first serious academic study of lycanthropy and "blood-lust" written in English. Combining a vast body of observation, myth, and lore, it explores the tradition of werewolves as a widespread and persistent theme throughout history. Sabine Baring-Gould, a prominent Victorian theologian, was a gifted and original thinker who possessed a vast knowledge of folklore and mythology. He draws upon his impressive store of scholarship to trace lycanthropy among the ancients and onward through medieval and latter-day Europe. His real-life case studies examine the bloody deeds of cannibals and grave desecrators, including an extended treatment of the crimes of Gilles de Retz, the notorious associate of Joan of Arc, who was convicted and executed for necrosadistic crimes. One of the most oft-cited references, this book is an essential and primary document on the subject of lycanthropy.