Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

The novelist and children's author Catherine Crowe (c.1800 1876) published The Night Side of Nature in two volumes in 1848. This lively collection of ghostly sketches and anecdotes was a Victorian best-seller and Crowe's most popular work. Sixteen editions appeared in six years, and it was translated into several European languages. The stories are intertwined with Crowe's own interpretations and commentaries which attack the scepticism of enlightenment thought and orthodox religion. Crowe seeks instead to encourage and re-invigorate a sense of wonder and mystery in life by emphasising the supernatural. The stories in Volume 1 centre on dreams, psychic presentiments, traces, wraiths, doppelgangers, apparitions, and imaginings of the after-life. Crowe's vivid tales, written with great energy and imagination, are classic examples of nineteenth-century spiritualist writing and strongly influenced other authors as well as providing inspiration for later adherents of ghost-seeing and psychic culture.

The novelist and children's author Catherine Crowe (c.1800 1876) published The Night Side of Nature in two volumes in 1848. This lively collection of ghostly sketches and anecdotes was a Victorian best-seller and Crowe's most popular work. Sixteen editions appeared in six years, and it was translated into several European languages. The stories are intertwined with Crowe's own interpretations and commentaries which attack the scepticism of enlightenment thought and orthodox religion. Crowe seeks instead to encourage and re-invigorate a sense of wonder and mystery in life by emphasising the supernatural. Volume 2 probes the mysterious phenomena of troubled spirits, haunted houses, spectral lights, apparitions and poltergeists. Crowe's vivid tales, written with great energy and imagination, are classic examples of nineteenth-century spiritualist writing and strongly influenced other authors, including Charles Baudelaire, as well as providing inspiration for later adherents of ghost-seeing and psychic culture.

Friederike Hauffe (1801-1829) suffered throughout her short lifetime from severe spasms and nervous fevers, and in her semi-conscious state she allegedly saw spectres and spoke and wrote predictions in an unknown, 'innate' language. When physically well, Hauffe could communicate with spectres of the dead, and created a complex diagram of circles to explain the nervous energy of a person and its changes throughout the year. The flow of consciousness and one's waking state in the spirit world, or 'sun sphere', was individual and seasonal. After continued illness, she was finally taken into the care of Dr Justinus Kerner for the last few years of her life. His use of magnetic treatment apparently gave her some relief, and she was able to use her 'spiritual sight' to aid others. Kerner's 1829 account of her life, depicting a woman with unusual psychic gifts, was published in English translation in 1845.

Catherine Crowe (1790-1872) was a successful author of fiction, non-fiction and plays, who moved in literary circles and corresponded with the prominent authors of her day, including W. M. Thackeray and Harriet Martineau. Her interest in the supernatural and the spiritual dimension, and her frustration with the narrow-mindedness of her generation, are evident in this work, first published in 1859. A strong believer in the possibilities of spiritual planes and of forces beyond contemporary human knowledge, she suggests that much is still unknown to the human race, and that the advance of scientific materialism may hinder the search for spiritual insight. Unusually for her time, Crowe also questions the literal truth of the Bible, suggesting metaphorical interpretations of scripture, and asks how modern miracles or prophets might be recognised, in a society so closed to the possibility of the physically impossible.

Transformation of the werewolf in literature made its greatest strides in the 19th century when the shape-shifting monster leapt from poetry to the short story. It happened when this shorter form of literature was morphing into darker shapes thanks in no small part to Edgar Allan Poe, Honore de Balzac, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Prosper Merimee, James Hogg, and so many others in Europe and the United States.The fifty year period between 1800 and 1849 is truly the cradle of all werewolf short stories. For the first time in one anthology, Andrew Barger has compiled the best werewolf stories from this period. The stories are "Hugues the Wer-Wolf: A Kentish Legend of the Middle Ages," "The Man-Wolf," "A Story of a Weir-Wolf," "The Wehr-Wolf: A Legend of the Limousin," and "The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains." It is believed that two of these fine stories have never been republished in over one hundred and fifty years since their original printing. Read "The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849" tonight, just make sure it is not by the light of a full moon "