Human Animals

Summary

Frank Hamel's Human Animals (published in 1915) is an infamous and classic treatise on the mythology and the evidence of hybrid humans. This was one of the first popular works on cryptozoology, and a primer for those interested in the many stories and accounts of lycanthropy and other strange evolutionary paradoxes. Covering the Were-wolf Trials of 1521, to bird-women, human serpents and witch familiars, Hamel's research into the mythological, hysterical, historical and the subjective with a scholar's pen. Many religious ceremonies and occult practices are studied, and he helps us to understand how these fantastical creatures have become a part of our culture, from books of fiction, to very serious study. Human Animals is a book that contains records and accounts of traditions dealing with the belief that certain men and women can transform themselves into animals. The causes of transformation are various: contact with a wer-animal, touching what he has touched, wearing an animal skin, rubbing the body with ointment, slipping on a girdle, buckling on a strap, and many other expedients, magical and otherwise, may bring about the metamorphosis.