Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween continues with this look at Canadian werewolf lore.
THE WERWOLVES (1898) – Written by Honore Beaugrand, this story features fairly unique werewolf lore. The tale is not structured in a traditional way but instead expands upon accounts of lycanthropy in campfire tales as if they really, truly happened.
A modern comparison might be with those far-fetched tales of the supernatural from supermarket tabloids or online Creepypastas. The pretense of reality adds to the fun.
Set in the very early 1700s The Werwolves treats readers to a pack of Iroquois lycanthropes rampaging around Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. These werewolves are much more intelligent and gregarious than many other such monsters.
They operate in a pack to steal away victims and even dance around a fire in their wolfmen forms howling and chanting before devouring their victims.
These Canadian variations also look much different than readers might expect: they have the heads of wolves and the tails of wolves but the rest of their bodies remain human after their nocturnal transformation. Continue reading
PENITENTE (Penitent) 
To redeem himself in the eyes of Heaven, the Penitente had to save seventy times seven the number of innocent victims he had killed while alive. As part of this purgative servitude he would also be periodically pitted against dark forces which had escaped from Hell. 
Comment: Our hero rose from his grave and masked his decaying, scarred face behind a red cloth like those worn during Brazil’s Procession of the Penitents. 
THE JOKER (1919) – With the Joker sequel reportedly stinking up theaters around the country I figured why not look at the 1919 pulp magazine hero who used that nom de guerre? 
EZRA PEDEN – This was Allan Cunningham’s tale about the deeds of Scottish Presbyterian Minister Ezra Peden and his encounters with the forces of the supernatural in Scotland from the late 1600s to around 1706. It makes for nice Halloween Season reading and practically makes you feel the chilliness of Scotland in late October as Cunningham depicts the brave, if humorless, Ezra adventuring in the moonlight. 
SWAMP THING Vol 1 #3 (March 1973) 
Alec’s body was dumped in the swamp, where the bio-restorative chemicals his body had been soaked in interacted with his own anatomy, the mud and the plant life in the swamp, letting him rise from the dead as a murk-monster. The Swamp Thing retained Alec Holland’s intelligence but could not speak for the first several issues. 
The Halloween Season has rolled around once again! For newcomers to Balladeer’s Blog let me point out that I post about more than just horror topics in October. I also cover my usual recurring subjects but throw in reviews of neglected, centuries old novels and short stories from around the world in a Gothic Horror equivalent of my Ancient Science Fiction blog posts. I also review horror films throughout the month. 
A NOVA CALIFORNIA (1921) – This short horror story from Brazil was written by Lima Barreto. The tale is set in a fictional Brazilian town called Tubiacango after the river along whose banks it stood. Tubiacango’s population was roughly 4,000. 
NOTE: Something I’ve been struck by as I read more and more Brazilian literature is how even the smallest towns could boast an international population. There will be native Brazilians, newly arrived Portuguese, white Europeans, and – as the literature itself points out – every shade of dark colored people from all over the world. 
THE DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU SPECIAL Vol 1 #1 (June 1974)
Synopsis: Storywise, this tale features three separate sections as Iron Fist, the Sons of the Tiger and Shang-Chi the Master of Kung Fu go up against Fu Manchu in three separate stages of his “master plan.” 
THE FALLEN RACE (1892) – Written by Austyn Granville. If you’ve ever thought to yourself “How come nobody ever combined science fiction, H. Rider Haggard-style Lost Race tales AND kangaroo-human hybrids” then THIS is the story for you.
CAPTAIN BRITAIN Vol 1 #37 (June 22nd, 1977) 
The event is crashed by a new supervillain called the Highwayman, who rides a high-tech motorcycle which uses laser cannons and other weaponry. The villain also wears a monocle that shoots energy blasts and wields a battle chain. 
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