In 2016, tabloid newspapers were telling tales of a werewolf-like creature sighted in Yorkshire. Variously known as ‘Old Stinker’ and ‘The Beast Of Barmston Drain,’ this creature seems to have sprung from the misty centuries of English werewolf lore. Or has it? On this episode, Cian sinks a Black Sheep ale while looking into:

-what is the real history or werewolf lore in England?

-is lycanthropy a curse, or something you do yourself?

-links between werewolfism and early modern witch trials

-21st century tabloid newspaper legends

-Re-enchanting the landscape and ‘English Eerie’

-Extinction and rewilding

SOURCES:

Wolf howl by Betchkal

https://freesound.org/people/betchkal/sounds/500646/

The Book Of Were-Wolves, Sabine Baring-Gould, 1865

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5324

Haunted Ireland, Tarquin Blake, 2014

https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=haunted+ireland+tarquin+blake&addon=chrome&addonversion=3.2.0&method=topbar

MALEFICIUM: Wichcraft and Witch-Hunting In The West, Gordon Blake, 2017

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30240646141&searchurl=kn%3DMaleficium%26sortby%3D3

Three Men Seeking Monsters, Nick Redfern, 2004

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/107189.Three_Men_Seeking_Monsters?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=UZBrhYEoza&rank=1

Hull Daily Mail Article

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/beast-barmston-drain-seen-killing-73245

AnomalyInfo.com article by Garth Haslam

http://anomalyinfo.com/Stories/2016-september-1-werewolf-encountered-halsham-england

Wolves In The Wolds: Late Capitalism, the English Eerie and the Wyrd Case Of Old Stinker, Sam M George

https://www.academia.edu/33708017/Wolves_in_the_Wolds_Late_Capitalism_the_English_Eerie_and_the_Wyrd_Case_of_Old_Stinker_the_Hull_Werewolf