Banshees, Werewolves, Vampires, and Other Creatures of the Night: Facts, Fictions, and First-Hand Accounts

by Varla Ventura

The lusty vampire, the sympathetic werewolf, the tragic banshee are just a few of the dark and frightening creatures you'll discover in Banshees, Werewolves, Vampires, and Other Creatures of the Night. Huffington Post Weird News columnist and author Varla Ventura takes readers on a wild ride through the shadowy hills of rural Ireland, the dark German forests, and along abandoned farms and country roads across the world to discover some of the most frightening and freaktacular tales, tidbits, and encounters with all those beasties that go bump in the night.

Along with classic pieces from Bram Stoker, Elliot O'Donnell, Sabine BaringGould, William Butler Yeats and many others, Ventura
• Famous vampires you may not know
• The identity of the author of the first English vampire novel (and his relationship to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein)
• Excerpts from the first psychic vampire novel ever written
• Stories of 19th century werewolf hunters
• Why banshees are the most feared of supernatural creatures

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Folklore, Mythology, Werewolves, Witchcraft, Short Stories

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2013

About the author

Author of THE BOOK OF THE BIZARRE and BEYOND BIZARRE (Weiser Books). Curator of the MAGICAL CREATURES and PARANORMAL PARLOR e-book collections.

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

for someone like me — who gets seasonal depression in the summer, this book was such an antidote.
yes, it sounds like a bunch of woo woo… who gives a f***?

it provides all the Halloween ambience, from Irish banshees to Slavic vampires… the simple yet astounding descriptions took me back to autumn in Stockholm, with barely any hours of sunlight and just darkness and grey and naked trees and the smell of winter in the air.
i loved the stories, i definitely went back to my childhood when i would read Goosebumps and enjoyed every single page 😻

[Thaydra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't finish this book. It just was not what I was thinking it would be. I was hoping for more actual lore and stories. Instead it felt disjointed and like they were trying to make "facts" where there really weren't any.

[Carbonearts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so much fun! It's got all these cool stories about monsters and stuff. I really liked it.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 stars.

[Mike Romanowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed by this book. Lazy, redundant... It states being Facts, Fictions, and First Hand Accounts which drew me to the book, but it is more Stories, Some facts I googled, and Accounts that have nothing to do with the matierial. The first part regarding Banshees was redundant in the stories presented: "We saw an ugly old crone. Later, old crone screamed. Much later, someone in the family died, somehow." It was interesting with the 1st one, redundant with the rest.

Werewolves was a bit better with the fictional stories told, but I was annoyed by the "first-hand accounts" provided. For example, a SFgate.com article is presented and tells of a wolf hanging out by the California wild fires, catching animals as they fleed. Well, I quickly checked out said article online and nothing in it pertained to anyone, locals or not, thinking it's a werewolf. Just a wolf, one that's been tagged by scientists and was being tracked, entering California, and munching on animals. These first hand accounts simply boiled down to these stories: I saw a wolf. I never saw a wolf here before. Ergo, it must be a werewolf.

Insert eyeroll.

Vampires was the better of these 3 sections, reading an unpublished chapter of Dracula (cool!), plus another long story that I dug. The facts about vampires inserted around the stories seemed meh, nothing new I haven't read before.

Overall, I expected something more from this and set my bar high, and I was disappointed. Perhaps if the first hand accounts were removed and it stuck solely to being an anthology of monster stories, that would have been better. Did learn some things regarding the authors of the stories that was cool, such as Yeats and Sir Arthor Conan Doyle being in the Ghost Club (but wish that was explained more).

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contained some interesting facts and a few good short stories. However, I only gave it 3 stars because it was very disjointed. It felt like the author kept randomly jumping from one topic to another in some parts but then kept repeating herself over and over again in others. Could’ve been a lot better with some editing but overall still worth the read as it wasn’t that long. 👻🐺🧛🏻‍♂️🧚🏻‍♀️

[Ismenis_of_The-Moirai · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. It was enjoyable but was mostly other peoples tales of creatures, it would be been interesting if she'd delved into the history a bit more Especially examining the ways they came about in different societies. Definitely Intresting though

[Maggie May · Rating 5 out of 5]

A more academic approach to the subject and pretty thorough. Definitely recommended for anyone who wants the oldest and most reliable sources of folklore. It probably won’t appeal to readers who prefer simple summaries and pop culture approach to the subject.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting and an amusing book.

[Tracy Ebeling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing! As other reviews have said Redundant. No new information just old tales.

[kenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

very interesting read!! pretty silly at times but i love the history of the folklore!!!

[Alison Solberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool information on my favorite folklores. I love the supernatural and having real life tellings mixed with favored fictions is awesome.

[Sam Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

for lovers of the spooky who want to understand the history behind common folklore of mythical creatures

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short stories and even shorter retold mentions of banshees, werewolves, vampires, and very few other creatures. The three main "monsters" are quickly described and categorized. Then, we're treated to short stories about them, among others by Bram Stoker and W.B. Yeats. Each chapter closes with some more mentions, sightings or other tidbits about the different creatures.

Unfortunately for me, the main focus was indeed on vampires – for me the least interesting of the bunch.
If you like short stories, which are simply reprinted without major changes, of this variety, you will like this book. While it was interesting in smaller parts, I found it rather boring and some stories even tedious to read.

⚠️Trigger-warning:
• mentions of blood, death, suicide

🐺 Recommended for those who:
• like short stories
• don't have a broad knowledge of the monsters mentioned already

[Brenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Banshees and werewolves were cool, but vampires was surprisingly uninteresting. Would have liked more summary or commentary along with the historical passages.

[Madison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I originally purchased this book thinking it sounded pretty interesting, given my enjoyment of the historical aspects of folklore. I will be returning the book. Browsing through the contents, it’s obvious, as other reviewers have mentioned, that this is merely an anthology of writings chosen to be forced within the biased viewpoint of the author. There’s not much analysis of the historical origins of folklore elements so much as pointing at the written material of authors past as though it proves something.

On top of that, five out of nine ‘sources’ in the bibliography at the back (not the original texts compiled into this anthology, those are listed as ‘Volumes of Forgotten Lore 😑 while contemporary texts are ‘sources’) are all books published by Weiser Books, the same publisher that gave us this novel. The author also just so happens to be the ‘curator of the Weiser Magical Creatures and Paranormal Parlor series of e-books.’ I didn’t realize this publisher was, well, a publisher of ‘occult, esoteric, speculative, and New Age subjects.’ This was never going to be a truly historical analysis of folklore; the publishing company’s obvious bias makes that clear.

Final complaint? The ‘online sources’ listed after the bibliography. Most of them are search engines. Thanks. Never guessed the New York Times provided news articles, National Geographic a variety of scientific to historical articles, or Wikipedia literally any subject you want. What really gets me is that also listed towards the bottom of this list is WOOKIEPEDIA. That’s right. The STAR WARS WIKI is listed as an online source for people interested in mythical creatures and folklore. That was the moment I knew this book wouldn’t find a spot on my shelf. Wookiepedia. Seriously. Maybe the author read the changeling article on there about that one character in Attack of the Clones. Or are Wookies now a part of urban folklore? Krayt dragons members of the numerous earth dragon legends? Ewoks cousins of brownies?

[Rebecca Elson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review originally appeared on The Magical Buffet website on 1/9/14.

When we interviewed Varla Ventura for the website, it was primarily in regards to her role as the curator for a line of ebooks for Red Wheel/Weiser Publishing. After reading her two latest books, “Among the Mermaids: Facts, Myths, and Enchantments from the Sirens of the Sea” and “Banshees, Werewolves, Vampires and Other Creatures of the Night: Facts, Fictions, and First-Hand Accounts”, I can safely say is curating is what Ventura does best.

In a paranormal landscape where it may feel like you’ve read every bit of trivia and tale about vampires and werewolves, Ventura manages to find fresh new takes on the subject matter. And let’s face it, how often does anyone talk about banshees? She even discusses a few other rarely touched upon creatures like Pookas and Changelings. The back of “Banshees, Werewolves, Vampires and Other Creatures of the Night” has a huge list of resources such as books, movies, and websites where you can learn more.

For as cool as that was, “Among the Mermaids” is, for me, a million times cooler. I have always been fascinated by mermaids and sirens. Other than a passage here or there in a paranormal or creature encyclopedia I had never found much reading about them. Then Varla Ventura comes along with “Among the Mermaids”, a whole book devoted to merrows, mermaids, and sirens. Again, Ventura finds legends and factoids that you’ll never find anywhere else! At the end, you not only find resources such as movies and books, but also shopping. Looking for mermaid art or jewelry? There are links for that! Looking for your very own, custom made mermaid tale? There are links for those too!

As I said at the start, curating is what Varla Ventura does best and the wonderful work she did with these two books proves it. Both books are filled with unique myths and facts that make these must haves for lovers of legend.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all I would like to state that I won this from Goodreads Giveaways. I guess I was expecting a "report" on research from the author on banshees, werewolves, and vampires. However, it was pretty much the author using complete, or mostly complete stories from other authors in the book. The author did do little blurbs on some facts she found, but when she did she had to put in corny tidbits about her personality. I would give this more of a 2 to 2 1/2 stars, but since I felt I walked away with a tiny bit more knowledge than I had before, I'll leave it at 3 stars...

If you're expecting in depth research, this book isn't for you, it's mostly stories written by other people about the main title topics.

[Isis Molina · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I did find the historical facts unique and interesting, I didn't care much for the stories that were included. They were long and kind of dull.

Overall, I enjoyed the facts provided, and the movies and books suggested near the end. It was interesting to learn about banshees because I had no idea what they were. I don't like werewolves as much as I like vampires, but they were both good to read about.

3.5 stars.

[Roderick Brunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wild sort of monographic anthology, with endnotes; very well done.

[Tony Parsons]

my fav all of them, luv 2 win/read this book