SOURCE: "The Voice in the Night" (Ghost Gleams, 1921) by W. J. Wintle FZS

DESCRIPTION: "...Then they saw that the cot was hidden by some dark body that seemed to be lying on it. This they hardly saw, though they, were quite clear that it was there, for it seemed to melt away like a mist when they rushed into the room...It had evidently been attacked by some kind of savage animal, which had torn at its throat..."

PLOT: A couple return home to find their child attacked by a misty, dog-like creature. The town's magistrate, John Barron, investigates the attack, finding local sheep harried by a wolf-like creature. His search also produces the unmarked grave of an evil gypsy witch. The town searches for the wolf that is suspected of the crimes, but only Barron sticks it out, waiting night after night for that voice in the night, the howling of a wolf. Barron meets the villain at last, an old woman who turns disappears in a mist. Barron finds the old gypsy grave and sees that it has been dug up. he reburies it but ghostly laughter tells him he has not succeeded. Later the wolf-creature kills his dog. Ever vigilant, Barron saves a child being attacked by the wolf, shoots it while still in solid form and tracks it to the old grave. There he finds the woman dead.

WEREWOLF FACTS: The werewolf in Wintle's story has some of the characteristics of the vampire as well as the werewolf (ala Dracula). When it kills Barron's dog and attacks the sheep, it drinks the blood rather than eating the flesh. It can turn into a wolf, a woman or a mist like a vampire. Typical of pre-Hollywood werewolves, the wolf is killed not with a stake or a silver bullet but an ordinary bullet.

INTERESTING FACTS: The FZS attached to Wintle's name stands for Fellow of the Zoological Society. There is a good chance Wintle knew a thing or two about wolves.