Sabine Baring—Gould

Born into a poor family in England in 1834, Sabine Baring— Gould could speak five languages by the time he was fifteen. His giftedness and obvious intellect enabled him to pursue an education at both the prestigious King's College at Cambridge University. Baring—Gould would eventually become a well—known theologian, folklorist, and prolific writer during the nineteenth century. He is remembered for his unique and well—researched study on werewolves, first published in 1865, from which the following essay is taken.
Baring—Gould's The Book of Werewolves was published at a time when belief in the existence of werewolves was strong, with eyewitness sightings prevalent throughout Europe. Interestingly, the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in France saw the numbers of werewolf sightings...