Contents
A Book of Ghosts
The Book of Were-Wolves
Curious Myths of the Middle Ages
Cornish Characters and Strange Events
Curiosities of Olden Times
Bladys of the Stewponey
In the Roar of the Sea
Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe
The Broom-Squire
Pabo, The Priest
In Troubadour-Land A Ramble in Provence and Languedoc
The Village Pulpit
Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets
Grettir the Outlaw
Old Country Life
A Book of the West
The Book of Were-Wolves, being an account of a terrible superstition
Written 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.
