[Gutenberg 41775] • Cornish Characters and Strange Events

ContentsA Book of GhostsThe Book of Were-WolvesCurious Myths of the Middle AgesCornish Characters and Strange EventsCuriosities of Olden TimesBladys of the StewponeyIn the Roar of the SeaCastles and Cave Dwellings of EuropeThe Broom-SquirePabo, The PriestIn Troubadour-Land A Ramble in Provence and LanguedocThe Village Pulpit Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets (1872)Grettir the Outlaw (1889)Old Country Life (1890)A Book of the West (1899)

The Book of Were-Wolves, being an account of a terrible superstitionWritten in 1865 but still holding up to the test of time this book ranks as a classic of European lore on lycanthropy/shapeshifting in particular pertaining to werewolves. Worth its weight in gold just for the two chapters on Scandinavian wolf lore, and the idea that the viking berserkers were werewolves/shapeshifters. But besides that there is plenty of folklore on werewolves/shapeshifting in Eastern Europe, France, and various other places in Europe. Also historical documentation of medieval serial killers who were alleged to be werewolves is recounted, as well as Baring-Goulds own encounters with local werewolf legends that had people in fear to go in the woods alone in various locales in France that he visited.

Bladys of the Stewponey is an historical romance of the close of the last century. The scene is laid partly near the famous Stewponey Inn, near Stourton Castle, at the time when the country on the road to Chester was infested with highwaymen, and partly at Shewsberry. The story contains the last instance of the burning of a woman for "petty treason," i.e.e, the murder of her husband, which took place at Shrewsburry in 1700. This very interesting Red Sandstone country, with its inhabited caves, the refuge of highwaymen and their confederates, is described.