Curiosities of Olden Times

Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924), a scholar, Reverend, and author, produced more than 1,240 publications during his lifetime! He is perhaps best known as a hymn writer (he wrote the hymns “Onward, Christian Soldiers” and “Now the Day is Over,” among many others), but he definitely considered his crowning achievement to be his collections of folk songs from the townspeople of Cornwall and Devon. His studies of folklore and folk music actually lead to the creation of The Book of Were-Wolves (1865), the book where “The Werewolf of the North” was originally published. The Book of Were-Wolves remains an important study of lycanthropy even today.