HUGUES THE WEREWOLF (1838): GOTHIC HORROR

If you love Gothic Horror be sure to check out my October 1st review of the obscure Gothic novella Isabella of Egypt (1812)

HUGUES THE WEREWOLF (1838)

Hugues the Wer-Wolf to give it its original spelling, is a very enjoyable 1800s horror story written by Sutherland Menzies. The Wulfric family are from old Norman stock and live between Ashford and Canterbury.

The Wulfrics are largely shunned because of the belief that for several generations lycanthropy has run through their family. Since this is a horror story we know it’s the truth and that the Wulfric werewolves are responsible for bloody deaths of livestock and human beings as well as the digging up of freshly buried corpses when other game is scarce.  
There are only six Wulfrics left alive as the action begins – Hugues Wulfric, his three sisters, his mother and his father. From unintentionally feeding on a human with the plague while in his werewolf form the Wulfric patriarch has come down with it himself. He passes it on to his wife shortly before both of them die. 

Wulfric and his sisters buried their parents’ corpses and did their best to keep their homestead running. On Halloween night ghosts from their vast family cemetery close in on the house and terrorize the young man and the three girls. This gives Wulfric his first notice that something evil lurks in the family tree.   

The three girls die next and after burying them Hugues is left alone in the household. While searching through his late father’s possessions the young man comes across a wolfskin. When he dons it it melds with his body and transforms him into a human-sized wolf creature.

Hugues at last understands the reason for all the hushed whispers and fearful scorn heaped upon his family. All alone and trying to maintain a penniless household Hugues Wulfric decides to embrace his family’s deep, dark secret.

On various nights he slips into the werewolf-skin and unleashes a reign of terror on the nearby towns as revenge for the way the townspeople had always treated the Wulfric family.

Hugues retains his own mind and can speak in his lupine form so – like a practitioner of black magic – he assesses tribute on various moneyed families in the community. Offerings of assorted foodstuffs, livestock and valuables will keep the werewolf from killing. Miss a payment and he strikes.      

Hugues Wulfric’s new prosperity gets him noticed by Branda Willieblud, the beautiful (of course) niece of one of the well-to-do men who had always treated the Wulfrics with the most scorn and cruelty.

This quasi- Romeo and Juliet romance angle adds a certain oomph to the story as it proceeds from there and the ending is rather dark for an 1830s story. I won’t spoil that ending for potential new readers, suffice it to say Hugues the Werewolf is a fun read for the Halloween season and it offers a nice variation on the usual werewolf storyline.  

FOR ISABELLA OF EGYPT, FEATURING A GOLEM, A MANDRAGORE, A LIVING DEAD MAN, A GYPSY WITCH AND A JEWISH SORCEROR CLICK HERE

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