SOURCE: "The Wer-Wolves" (1898) by Henry Beaugrand

DESCRIPTION: ".

PLOT: It is Chritmas Eve at Fort Richlieu in New France. The soldiers are drinking and telling scary stories. A sentry fires his musket but later is arrested for raising a false alarm. One old hunter offers up an explanation and a story about loup-garous. He recounts one time when he and a companion encountered a group of loup-garous around a fire, getting ready to eat some poor captive. They could not kill the offensive creatures because they did not have holy water or a four-leaf clover. Instead they loaded their muskets with beads from a rosary and were able to scatter the werewolves. The next day they looked for remains of the campfire or tracks but found nothing. The old hunter suggests the sentry saw werewolves.

WEREWOLF FACTS: Beaugrand's werewolves leave no tracks or campfires behind them. These werewolves are men who have not done their Easter duties in seven years or Indians who accepted conversion to Christianity in a spirit of mockery. They can be killed by cutting a cross on their forehead or sprinkling them with holy water. A musket ball loaded with four-leaf clover or bullets with crosses cut into them also works. Normal bullets will only flatten out on their impenetrable hide. During the day the werewolves will look human, turning their skin around and keeping their fur on the inside. The hunters hurt or possibly kill some of them by adding rosary beads to their rifle shot.

INTERESTING FACTS: Not a very well-constructed story but a warehouse of werewolf lore. The idea of turning their skins inside out is a wonderful euphemism for hiding your sin if taken figuratively. The movie A Company of Wolves used it both figuratively and literally.